What's the very first thing you do when you wake up? If your answer is "check my email," "curse my alarm clock," or "start making a to-do list," you are missing the chance to begin your day with the sense of peace and purpose that will give you focus.

Deepak is definitely helping to create a wiser and more compassionate world through his teaching. He has what the Tibetans call ding. This is similar to confidence but more of a deep inner unshakeable confidence when you are comfortable in your own skin.

Here's another thing -- receiving generously a gift of authentic love has nothing to do with deserving. It's called unconditional love for a reason. That love that embraces us, even when we mess up. This love surpasses our calculations of right and wrong.

So I'm writing a new book. I haven't completely given up on the first book. After all, I have a number of people who are counting on me to write that book. But for now, my focus has to be on where my heart and soul are taking me.

I know why people journey from around the globe to be in Eckhart Tolle's presence; he personifies the awareness and stillness of which he writes. Sitting with a human being who is absent of compulsive thinking, judgments and mental commenting is a remarkable and unique experience.

In a modern global world that increasingly encourages a 24/7 connected lifestyle, it is important that each of us manages to find balance, harmony, and coherence within our inner states.

It may not look like it, but this moment is the most powerful time to shift your story. This month, the planet celebrates a new beginning. Summing up the past, we're given the opportunity to witness who we really are beneath the charade, writing a fresh, preferred chapter.

When we talk about a collective shift, we are talking about an awakening of our collective consciousness. And even though there are not yet massive indications of that happening "out there" in the world, it is happening as an "inside job," within those who are ready to awaken.

May you step into this time with awareness, conscious of the collective intention to meet at this threshold and birth humanity anew. May you fulfill the promise of this time as you gather up those around you and embark on this new journey.

These are some of the keys I have discovered to showing up more fully and authentically, to engaging my "self" as an instrument of service and love in this world. They're the kind of things I think we need to figure out anyway.

Today I wake and I am not a therapist or teacher, but a student. I am a humble student in awe of the new world in which we live.

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However you do it, get back in touch with your body, your heart, and reconnect to your source of wonder. Because that wonder is you.

Sometimes, spiritual growth is just seeing it sooner. You see sooner that you are silencing your voice. You see sooner that you are acting out of fear. You see sooner that you are projecting the past on to the present.

To no longer be a prisoner of sexual desire, to discover the power and joy of finding fulfillment within ourselves is a wonderful thing. It requires commitment, but it is definitely worth it.