Ask yourself what "problem" you have right now, not next year, tomorrow, or five minutes from now. What is wrong with this moment?
- Eckhart Tolle from Practicing The Power of Now

This quote provides a powerful antidote to feelings of overwhelm, despair or fear. For the most part, those negative states come from trying to live in the past or the future.

Think about the last time you felt afraid. Chances are you were either fearing that some event from your past would happen again, or you were fearing that something would (or wouldn't) happen in the future. Very rarely do we ever have real problems in the present moment.

This past week one of the clients that I coach called me and told me he was feeling overwhelmed. As we worked at examining this feeling, he came to recognize that it came from trying to live in an imagined future of worst-case scenarios. To help break him out of this negative thinking pattern I asked him: "What is wrong with THIS moment?"

I helped him to examine his life and he realized that he is healthy and has a wonderful wife and child. He has a great home and a very supportive group of family, friends and colleagues. Suddenly, he wasn 't feeling overwhelmed any more and he was in a much more resourceful state to think about his "problems". By focusing on the moment, he was able to regain his perspective and come up with more creative solutions.

I urge each of you to print out the quote above and keep it handy. It really helps you keep things in perspective and is an excellent way to anchor yourself in the moment.

ENJOY NOW!

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National Library of Canada ISSN 1708-0606

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Contact him at: http://www.mathieu.com or email patrick@mathieu.com.