To: SACH-INTERNATIONAL@yahoogroups.com
From: "geraldine1113" <geraldine.upfold@...>
Date: Tue, 08 May 2007 14:12:48 -0000
Subject: [SACH-INTERNATIONAL] Sport and other things

Dear Gary and fellow Sachians

You say you are in the process of trying to change your thoughts from
negative to positive – I would like to suggest that instead of trying
to change them, you – quite literally – rise above them. This quote
from `The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle explains all…..
`The beginning of freedom
is the realisation that
you are not `the thinker'.
The moment you start watching the thinker,
a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.
You then begin to realise that there is a vast realm
of intelligence beyond thought,
that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence.
You also realise that all the things that truly matter,
beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace –
arise from beyond the mind'.

If we can become the observer of our thoughts, instead of being
caught up in them, we become aware of our `higher self' or our true
self – which is not the part of us that `thinks' – it is not the
voice in our heads. This true self is consciousness in its purest
form and should not be confused with `being conscious' which usually
just means not being asleep or unconscious. Consciousness brings
with it awareness of our internal and external realities as our lives
unfold moment by moment. Thoughts are almost entirely concerned with
remembering the past or projecting the future. In a state of
awareness `thoughts' do not exist, only the present moment and the
present moment, no matter what is going on in our lives, is calm and
peaceful. So be `in the present moment' Gary as often as you can but
especially if you are being plagued by troublesome thoughts.

Re sports

I would strongly recommend Timothy Gallwey's `Inner Game' books – the
inner game of golf, tennis, work etc. The key message I would say of
these books is also about the need to be in the present moment. So
the golfer for instance, instead of having disruptive thoughts going
around in his or her head about how to stand, how to hold the club,
how hard to hit the ball etc., simply comes into a state of pure
awareness where thoughts do not exist. If we have learnt and
practiced doing something, we know at a deeper level what to do and
how to do it - mental activity in the form of thoughts simply gets in
the way. I believe golfers and other sports men and women call this
state of awareness being in `the zone'.

Kind regards
Geraldine