“The way we see the problem, is the problem.” — Stephen R. Covey

Before you begin to decipher the above quote and apply it to this moment in your life, first excuse yourself from your own company and become silent. No this is not a game, however, if you have never experienced the silence of your existence . . . it makes problem solving almost impossible. When you cannot get out of your own way . . . you become the problem. Of course, becoming consciously aware of this is tantamount to your initial success. Without a preconceived intention, we become a problem to ourselves as Eckhart Tolle suggests, “Your unhappiness ultimately arises not from the circumstances of your life, but from the conditioning of your mind.”

Let’s take this a step further by asking a basic question, how does one recognize consciousness? We all have a stream of thinking that never stops speaking . . . you may call it a “voice” if you wish or something else. This “voice” is a continual stream of information that infuses endless “stuff,” 24/7. Sound familiar? When you ultimately step out of that constant “white noise” in your mind, something amazing takes place. Eckhart Tolle explains it this way, “When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice – the thinker – but the one who is aware of it. Knowing yourself as the awareness behind the voice is freedom.”

This application may take a little practice and experimentation, it is not futile or impossible . . . quite the opposite. All that’s needed is the conscious choice of will to climb through your mind, and arrive on the other side. It really depends on how important it is to you, like everything else in this journey . . . the first step is always the toughest, but not impossible. Eckhart Tolle had another way of looking at the time we have on earth, “What will be left of all the fearing and wanting associated with your problematic life situation that every day takes up most of your attention? A dash — one or two inches long, between the date of birth and date of death on your gravestone.“ Finality arrives in the hush of a muted whisper, and releases consciousness through eternal freedom. JLR