The Moment-Minded Month

Tyler gave up many things in his search for God—food, television, alcohol, and even masturbation during his teenage years. In his memoir, The Moment-Minded Month, he takes sacrifice to the next level and attempts to fast thinking. Disappointed after years of seeking God using typical Christian disciplines like prayer, study, and worship, Tyler decides his spiritual journey is a failure, and looks to discover another path to the Divine. He draws a connection between Jesus’ teachings that we must “change and become like little children” and also be “born again” to experience the kingdom of heaven. Taking the Bible literally, he turns to his four-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, for ways to change and become as close to an infant as an adult can, and realizes her innocent heart is rooted in her childlike attention to the present moment, while his thoughts, on the other hand, are clouded by “grown-up” fears of the past and future. On January 31st, 2008, Tyler begins a journal to documen

Tyler gave up many things in his search for God—food, television, alcohol, and even masturbation during his teenage years. In his memoir, The Moment-Minded Month, he takes sacrifice to the next level and attempts to fast thinking. Disappointed after years of seeking God using typical Christian disciplines like prayer, study, and worship, Tyler decides his spiritual journey is a failure, and looks to discover another path to the Divine. He draws a connection between Jesus’ teachings that we must “change and become like little children” and also be “born again” to experience the kingdom of heaven. Taking the Bible literally, he turns to his four-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, for ways to change and become as close to an infant as an adult can, and realizes her innocent heart is rooted in her childlike attention to the present moment, while his thoughts, on the other hand, are clouded by “grown-up” fears of the past and future. On January 31st, 2008, Tyler begins a journal to document his month-long experiment of no thought. Using the here-and-now as the primary tool to meditate on all things, and with Elizabeth as his guide, a unique outlook on marriage, parenting, addiction, death, God, and self unfolds as he concludes his spiritual journey is grounded in fear. In exchange, he finds faith in himself, realizing he is the answer to all his wanting.

In a field dominated by so-called “experts”, Tyler stands out for his everyman approach. He's just a guy who spent some time trying to find peace, and wants to share it with others. He’s a bit of an oddball in the small, Bible-belt town of Cleveland, Tennessee. He's an atheist. He's an atheist with a degree in Bible and Theology. He's an atheist who advocates meditation, present-moment awareness, and most things that encourage personal transformation and positive thinking.