Eckhart Tolle - Using And Relinquishing Negativity

I first learnt of Eckhart Tolle through Susan G. Wooldridge's Foolsgold. She had shared with us this phrase:

Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now.
Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity - which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real.
Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and
dying into a problem.

Nature nurtures us.
Nature enlightens us.
Nature is our teacher.

So I did a google search on this phrase and found Eckhart Tolle's Using and Relinquishing Negativity article.

I can veer into extremes easily though thankfully I never stayed in either sides too long for comfort. I believed that one must know unhappiness to appreciate happiness and must have negative thoughts to understand how to make things positive for you.

But the author reminded me that
No other life form on the planet knows negativity, only humans, just as no other life form violates and poisons the Earth that sustains it. Have you ever seen an unhappy flower or a stressed oak tree? Have you come across a depressed dolphin, a frog that has a problem with self-esteem, a cat that cannot relax, or a bird that carries hatred and resentment? The only animals that may occasionally experience something akin to negativity or show signs of neurotic behavior are those that live in close contact with humans and so link into the human mind and its insanity.

Hmm then the zoo animals who do exhibit certain signs of depression probably had too much human contact?

But it is indeed not hard to figure out why these animals are actually your best zen masters. Afterall
This is natural wisdom, and it is easy for them because they do not have a mind that keeps the past alive unnecessarily and then builds an identity around it.


But of course do not discount negativity. Use it as a kind of signal that reminds you to be more present.

And most importantly remember the Banzan (Zen master) story.
Before he became a great Zen master, he spent many years in the pursuit of enlightenment, but it eluded him. Then one day, as he was walking in the marketplace, he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer. "Give me the best piece of meat you have," said the customer. And the butcher replied, "Every piece of meat I have is the best. There is no piece of meat here that is not the best." Upon hearing this, Banzan became enlightened.

When you accept what it is, every piece of meat (every moment) is the best. 
That is enlightenment.