Raising My Vibration: • Inner Peace, a.k.a. Losing One's Mind

Among all the spiritual teachings I've come across in my journeying, Eckhart Tolle's have stood out to be, for me, the leader of the pack. He's like the quiet torch-bearer of peace in a loud and noisy world. Among the energy-moving din of OMing, chanting, crystal-bowl playing and tribal drumming, he silently raises energy by simply exuding the presence of a true Master in the flesh. He teaches inner peace simply by Being it.

I've read all his books, watched several videos of him and attended meditation classes that feature audio recordings of his as part of their practice. All of it is uplifting and healing. All of it helps me practice my own mind-quietness. All of it teaches presence.All of it shows you how you can consciously quiet the mind, let Being take over, and simply Exist.

Eckhart has been my true teacher of how to "actively" achieve of inner stillness.

But then, I learned, there is actually *another* way one can quiet the mind. One can have a stroke.

Yep, a stroke.

It sounds extreme - and isn't something you consciously intend - but the story told here by neurologist Jill Bolte Taylor, MD, - who HAD a stroke and lost the capacities of her left (read: thinking/logical) side of her brain - occurred to me as simply another explanation of what presence IS.

Presence is the joy that happens when you really, truly and honestly shut up that damn chatty left side of the brain. It is, in a sense, losing your logical mind, and letting the creative, intuitive, conceptual, free right-side reign.

Keep the concept of presence in mind, and watch to Jill's story, and then take a listen to her NPR interview after. It's truly some amazing insight into the mind, the spirit, and where the two intertwine and divide.