Pages

Thursday, May 8, 2008

a new earth


i read eckhart toll's A NEW EARTH over the past couple days. i am usually not a huge fan of self-help books, but i had heard some good things about this one and i felt like i needed a little reminder to put things in perspective and to "re-energize" my life. i am not a writer, nor do i pretend to be, which is why this blog usually doesn't have much writing, but i will attempt to share some quotes and insight that maybe will enlighten someone else. As i went through this book rather quickly, there were some statements that stuck out in my mind and that i hope will remain in my thoughts for a while:

1) " ...we can not really honor things... if we try to find ourselves through them. Ego-identification with things creates attachment to things, which in turn creates our consumer society and economic structures where the only level of progress is always more. The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and a disease. ... A large part of many people's lives is consumed by an obsessive preoccupation with things."
---- i know this, now why can't i remember that when i look on anthropologie's website...

2) "In the West, it is the physical appearance of the body that contributes greatly to the sense of who you think you are"
---- this pregnancy has definitely challenged me in this aspect... i now realize that i have been identifying who i am, with what i look like... silly, ignorant and needs to be changed... NOW

3)
"No ego can last for long with out the need for more. The ego wants to want more than it wants to have. And so the shallow satisfaction of having is always replaced my more wanting. This is the psychological need for more , that is to say, more things to identify with . It is an addictive need, not an authentic one. "
--- basically this is telling me to find joy now... don't say i will be happy when.... be happy everyday, now and always....

sometimes the repetition in self-help books drives me a little nuts, but other than that, I think I will be a better person for reading it and i think i have been "awakened" (for a little while anyways)

3 comments:

Jek said...

WOW! THat was a great post. NOw if only I would read it the book.

MIMOM2 said...

NIce job reading and then having the time to post with everything else going on.

Erin said...

Great words....if only I could live by them!! I started reading the book too and downloading the podcasts. I am ashamed of my ego driven actions many days! We will be in Vegas in July so I would love to see you again!!

 
09 10