I’d been meaning to read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle for a long time – I finally read it (well, listened to the audio) and it was truly life changing!
Most people spend a majority of their time thinking about what might happen in the future, or replaying stories from the past. The purpose of the book is to take you out of the past and future and allow you to really live in the present. The present is all you have.
This book takes that phrase “living in the moment” to a whole new level! I recommend listening to the audio for this book – Echkart Tolle’s voice is truly mesmerizing.
There is a lot of amazing information in this book, and to do a full review would be pretty lengthy – so I’ll share a couple of things here that I found especially significant, and if it interests you, you can dive right into the book yourself.
Watch your thoughts. The opener of the book describes an experience Tolle had one evening when he felt severely depressed. He thought, “I can’t live with myself anymore.” Then he realized – wait – if I can’t live with myself, there must be two of me. “I” and “myself.” Sound schizo? Might feel that way at first, but you’ll find out it’s no joke. Start to pay attention to your thoughts, and feel the YOU that is paying attention to the thoughts. You’ll begin to notice a separation and will understand that you are not your thoughts. Instead of just thinking, start watching your thinking. What’s behind the noise of the thoughts? As Tolle says, it’s your true nature.
What are you waiting for? Tolle poses an important question – what are you waiting for? Is there something you want to do, achieve, begin, end, etc – that you’re not doing NOW? You’re waiting for some other time in the future when you’ll finally start doing it? Do you want to lose weight or look for a new job or get rid of an unhealthy habit – but you’re putting it off? What are you really waiting for? Do it now. That’s right – just do it NOW. See how you feel. I swear, when I heard that part in the book, I went running for the first time in weeks! This lesson, although it seems simple, is very significant.
“Nothing ever happend in the past, it happened in the now. Nothing will happen in the future, it will happen in the now.” – Eckhart Tolle. Yeah, you heard right. All we have is the here and now. This is not to say that you shouldn’t make plans or use past experiences as lessons – he’s just saying that there’s no use worrying about things that happened in the past because they aren’t real anymore. The future isn’t here yet. How are you doing right now? Is there a step you can take right now in this moment towards what you want? Are your constant thoughts of the past and future blocking you from taking those actions?
That’s my Power of Now at a glance for you. If your intuition says you want to learn more about the concept of quieting the mind and focusing on the present moment, you might want to dig deeper into the Power of Now. Here’s a link to the audiobook – I’ve listened to it 3 times now, and I plan to listen again.
Oh – I also got the Power of Now Meditation Deck – 50 Inspirational Cards. I have the iPhone app for this, but it comes in a deck of cards as well. This is a great way to get quick tips anytime, or if you want to check out the concepts without digesting the whole book.
Is there something you want to do?
DO IT NOW!
;)
[…] the past that being “in the now” doesn’t always come easily. After reading The Power of Now I catch myself more often, but it still doesn’t come naturally to me. Today, though – I […]