Why Your Inner State Matters More Than Your Goals

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Why Your Inner State Matters More Than Your Goals

A few notes and thoughts in reaction to watching a snippet from one of Eckhart Tolle's seminaries.

This blog is not meant to be viewed as a promotion campaign to become an Eckhart Tolle disciple or follower. I listen to many but follow no one. I extract tiny gems of insights and wisdom from a diverse range of persons I stumble across on my lifelong learning journey.

Having been raised in a strict Christian-based religion, I was amazed at his definition of and distinction between belief and faith. Maybe I had been taught this and forgot, or it never fully clicked in how he described it, but it felt like a profound new insight.

However, the valuable and practical life lessons that can be gleaned from this lecture go beyond religion and this whole manifestation theory concept. We all believe and have faith in something. We all want to achieve, possess and manifest stuff. The common denominator, however, is where our focus and attention lie.

Whether we are pursuing a prize or some achievement, or we want to contribute something that can make a difference to our local community or something we want to invent, design, or build, we often reside in the future, imagining how we will feel in that moment of realisation. Will it work, fit, or even be enough? Will people even like it? Little to no awareness or attention is given to how we feel in the present moment.

There is one exception, though, in the artistic world, such as painters, writers, and composers.

Correct me if I am wrong, but these artists achieve their greatest inspiration and creation when fully conscious and aware of their present state. They must feel and be in a specific state of mind to create (admittedly this not always a happy one).

Eckhart, along with so many other great thinkers and teachers, including Jesus Christ, states that we already have to feel that we have received what we are striving and praying for; we have to be in the elevated state of our desired reality right now within ourselves. It is not something we have to wait to experience and feel in that future realisation.

This concept of present awareness might help us comprehend the strange phenomenon experienced by some athletes who win gold at the Olympics and other national and international competitions.

Their ecstatic happiness is often very short-lived, quickly levelling back down to a normal level of satisfaction that, in some ways, was not substantially higher than before their victory. Many quickly turn their attention and focus to the next race, competition or fight. They have difficulty sitting still in inactivity. They have itchy feet and can't wait to return to their daily training routine.

It was almost as if their most happiness state was beforehand, working towards their goal of qualifying and being able to compete in the Olympics instead of that moment standing on the podium and indulging in the glory of victory afterwards.

Just like the phrases;

"Your mind is your greatest asset",

"Your ability to earn is your greatest asset",

"The skill and ability to fish is more significant than a catch of fish"

These athletes' most remarkable achievement was not in winning a race but developing a winner's mindset, attitude and discipline. They had already been standing on that podium long beforehand within. In fact that person within carried them in new ventures and projects after retirement as athletes

Quoting the words of another great thinker,

'The path is the goal.'

Mahatma Gandhi