Now? Can You Hear Me Now?

I just finished listening to an Eckhart Tolle lecture. He spent a lot of time discussing the Now; not surprising since one of his best sellers is The Power of Now. There were a couple of ideas that I wanted to share. We get so wrapped up in what we want in the future yet when we get there we are often disappointed. Why? Tolle's point is that we are disappointed because we are still focused on the future and we can never get there, because we perpetually find ourselves in the Now instead.

Even as I was listening to the lecture I caught myself jotting down a reminder for my grocery list and thinking about what I wanted to eat for dinner. I am clearly a future addict. I went for a walk and kept repeating, "Am I still in the Now?"--usually I would find I had rabbited off down a side, thought path. Hrrumph. Tolle is very forgiving of this habit and just suggests practicing remembering that the future doesn't exist yet, so why not enjoy that which does exist.
Tolle also presented the idea that we can have thoughts or thoughts can have us. When we no longer separate our identity from our thoughts, they have us. Made me start thinking about my time with Lyme disease. My brain wasn't able to sustain long, convoluted thought patterns. I was pretty foggy and out of it. I was forced into the Now quite abruptly and my ego took a major blow during that adjustment. I realized how much of my identity I had built on my mind functioning quickly and adeptly...when that wasn't in the cards, my ego said, well then, um, who am I?

I am so happy to be healthy, but I have once again become a thought and future addict (to be honest a slight caffeine addict as well). C'est la vie. I will find my way back to the Now in bursts. Like Now. How about Now. And Now.

Where are you?