Friday and Saturday I received 2 rare presents. There aren’t very many of these presents in the world and I managed to get two of them. I have yet to fully appreciate Astrology but to use their their terminology – the planets were aligned.

I’m not using the word “presents” as a synonym for gifts here – although both these presents are gifts.

These presents are Jerry Stocking and Eckhart Tolle. By presents, I mean each one of these people are in the present moment when they shower you with their gift – thus the term “presents.”

I went to New York City with the express purpose of experiencing Eckhart Tolle – Author of The Power of Now, Stillness Speaks, and A New Earth. Just before I left, I found out that Jerry Stocking was going to be in New York over the weekend as well.  

Before I blog on about Eckhart and Jerry, let me share a personal piece of serendipity that also happened over the weekend. I walked from my hotel to where Jerry Stocking was conducting his Embodied Relating Workshop. When I arrived, the group was at lunch. I sat on a bench at the meeting center awaiting their return. I noticed a young woman sitting across from me and I felt compelled to strike up a conversation with her.

Her name was Mary-Claire and when I asked what she did, she said she was an actor. She was from Birmingham, Alabama and was in New York to follow her dream. I asked if she did anything else while her dream was becoming fully formed. She said that she was a Yoga instructor. I then asked if she was here for the workshop and she said, “No, I’m here to see Doug O’Brien.” I said, “Doug O’Brien the hypnotist?” and she said, “Yes.”

A little background here may prove helpful. Doug is one of the finest hypnotists on earth and he conducts seminars for me and lives in New York. I haven’t seen Doug in almost 3 years. We talk regularly but we had not chatted about my trip to NYC. So I said to Mary-Claire that she was about to see a hypnotist go into a trance when Doug arrived because the last person he would expect to see would be me. It was comical. Doug walked in and greeted his client and then looked at me. He looked away with a dazed expression and then came back to me and said, “What are you doing here?”

I told him I was here to say hello to Jerry Stocking. Doug didn’t know Jerry was in town but Doug, Jerry & I all met close to 20 years ago at a seminar conducted by another wizard named, Dr. Dave Dobson. Then Jerry walked in and we had a bit of a mini reunion before Doug went off with his client and Jerry went to conducting the afternoon session of his workshop.  I don’t know the odds of all that happening but I’m sure glad it did. It was great to see Doug in the flesh and it was a pleasant quick trip down memory lane for all 3 of us.

So back to the 2 presents. Jerry invited me in to the afternoon session of his workshop and his work is truly amazing. It’s difficult to put into words because it’s really an experience. Watching Jerry field questions is spell-binding. His answers cut to the core of a person’s spirit so that the person can discover the answer themselves just about the same moment that  Jerry wraps some words around his answer. Jerry rarely gives you a pat answer. He gets quiet and goes to a place where all the answers are and he takes you there with him. Jerry is a gift because he is present. Thank you, Jerry!

Eckhart Tolle was giving his talk on the upper west side of Manhattan at the Beacon Theatre – one of those old theatres loaded with architecture from an era gone by. People came from all over to see him. The woman who sat next to me was from Quebec, the people behind me were from Pennsylvania, and another woman I rode a city bus with was from Tampa, Florida.  Eckhart Tolle is an international phenomenon and people are drawn to his message – which is simply this – you are not who you think you are, you are something much deeper than the thought forms in your head.

Eckhart speaks from a place of presence. There are no notes, there is no pre-rehearsed patter. His message comes from that place of stillness where all the questions are answered. He was magnificient. The transformation that you get to observe in yourself and others when drawn into his state of awareness is to be treasured.

I watched one of the security people from the Beacon Theatre get caught up in this awareness. He was a hardened city person. You could tell he had built up layers and layers of defenses over the years just from gowing up as a minority in a city that’s filled with things you have to dodge. I saw this man begin to soften and open up to the message being delivered and saw him beaming at the end of the session. He was there to do his job – not to hear Eckhart Tolle. In the process of doing his job, he got a perk he wasn’t expecting.

I highly recommend that if you ever get a chance to experience Jerry Stocking or Eckhart Tolle, grab it. Whatever you invest – time, money, travel – will deliver benefits that are priceless.

All the best,

John