Ever since I left CTEK (my last job) back in Jan 07, I’ve been trying to figure out what I should be doing with myself.  It’s been a quest, thusfar unfruitful.  I’m working, but most, if not all, leaves something to be desired.  My mother, in an effort to help me obtain focus, bought be a book and made me promise to read it, and participate in the corresponding online class.

About the class & book – Eckart Tolle has written a book called A New Earth, Awaken to Your Life’s Purpose.  In partnership with Eckart, Oprah Winfrey has put together a live, online webcast where you can watch and actually participate.  It’s a 10 week long course, or rather a book discussion, with Eckart.  Last week was week 1 and I couldn’t attend, but watched it with Mark (my husband) last night.  I watched Week 2 tonight, live.  Regardless of what you think about the book and the class, it truly is a technological feat what they’ve pulled off.  About 700,000 people watched the show last week, live.  An additional 1.5 million people watched it during the week.  Even if you don’t want ‘spiritual awakening’, you have to appreciate there are a ton of people out there that do, and if this brings people closer to goodness, then Oprah has truly achieved something great.

Anyway, my formal education is in psychology and science, so many times eastern philosophies leave me with many unanswered questions.  I find most of it hoakey, fluffy, lacking substance.  But I did promise my mother…

So I’m at chapter 3, and I’ve watched 2 of Oprah’s & Eckart Tolle’s classes now.  And while much of the conversation is saying the same thing over and over again, I’m finding it rather fascinating.  My quick summary so far is this:

I am different that the sum of my thoughts, my pasts, my future, and my opinions.  Those are things, concepts in my life.  I am an entity that is separate from them, and the more I recognize this, the more in the present I can live.  The more in the present I can live, the happier I can be b/c I am not affected by my past, by other’s impressions of me, or of my wants of tomorrow.  Interesting.

Instead of asking myself what I want to do with the rest of my life, I need to ask the world what it wants from me and how I can best be of service.  This too is a fascinating concept.  It takes me off the pedestal (what?!?) and turns my life into one of other-service instead of me-service.

Be at one with nature – this is a quick way to shed the “ego”, which is my past, my thoughts, my opinions.  I do this already though so this isn’t a new lesson for me.

So this morning, I sat in complete silence and stillness in my living room.  It gets great morning light and this is where most of my plants reside.  I sat there and tried to quiet my mind as much as possible for as long as possible, and when my mind went active again, I tried to redirect it to ‘asking the world how I can best service it’.  I’m not exactly sure how I’m supposed to know when the world answers me, but I sure hope it does and I can recognize it for what it is.

This has been my first ‘spiritual journey’ and I’m keeping as open of a mind as I can.  If you are interested in discovering your life’s purpose, go buy the book, and sign up for Oprah.  I’ll keep blogging about my experienes on my first spiritual journey.