The Power of Now

I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle's "Practicing the Power of Now". I like the premise of it, in short, live in the moment, but the premise also feels so desparately self-important. This idea of watching your thinking self rather than letting your thinking be who you are. Breathe in and out and focus on your breath, freeing yourself from you mind. At one point, the reader is asked to observe a plant of a dog and essentially try to be like them, because they have no past or future - they live in the moment. My thinking is a huge part, (and often because I cannot seem to slow my over-thinking, it's to my detriment), of what makes me who I am. I wish I could slow my thinking, yes, but I'm not interested in being a plant either - quite literally a wall flower.

I understand and appreciate the idea that the past is the past and more importantly, one cannot live now thinking only about how things will be better in the future. I want to live more in the moment, but how can I if the particular moment I'm living in isn't doing much for me? What if that moment is boring?  I know Tolle is thinking differently - that you must think within yourself and just "be". At least, I think that's what he's getting at. It doesn't help me that I am extremely impatient. How impatient? Well, I'm reading "Practicing the Power of Now" which is essentialy the cliff's notes to "The Power of Now".

Living in the moment has always been something I have struggled with. It's extremely rare that I can just sit quietly and just be content with whatever's going on around me. I think that's why I'm trying this book out.  I am rarely enjoying my life in the moment. I am always wondering when it will get better and I am rarely appreciating simply pleasures. I have to be engrossed in a project or watching a movie (which in truth, I am finding harder and harder to do - have the patience to sit and watch a movie). Granted, some good meds would probably do the trick with less work on my part, but I'm not so keen on being a hopped-up (though happy) zombie, even if it does make me ignorant to the point of bliss.