The Power of Now is a particularly precious publication and always will be one of my top favourite books. Eckhart’s message is simple yet powerful: you are not your mind. You are life itself.
You live in the now: be fully present right now, where you are - do not think about anything else. In fact, stop thinking for a second. Feel the life in you.
Don’t you see how you create your own problems by constantly overthinking and mentally chat to yourself about regrets from yesterday or worries about tomorrow? Do you actually have a problem right now, at this minute, as you are reading these words?
Relax your jaws. Soften the space between your eyebrows. Release your shoulders from your ears. Remove your tongue from the roof of your mouth. Breath.
You see, problems are not really problems: they are either situations to be resolved or something for you to go through as a life experience – either way, it is not a problem.
You do not need to suffer in this life. Everything you judge good or bad is simply your own mind putting words on it – the being itself, inside of you, who is only life and love, knows that already. If you acknowledge this and surrender to living in the now, without anxiety or fear, you will be free.
You are not your ego either. You do not need to be threatened by others. You are already enough just as you are. There is no competition, no violence – only love, the joy of being. In the now, you discover inner peace, bliss. Surrender to that. Recognise it in you. Share it with others. Try to love others for who they are, not for who you want them to be or what they can bring you. Don’t argue with others - to be right is overrated. Try listening instead. Connect. Be there. Fully. In the moment.
This can absolutely be applied into everyday life.
Eckhart Tolle invites us to realise and acknowledge the craziness of what’s actually going on in our minds at all times and how we are influenced by our ego and the inherited collective consciousness. We are indeed so completely identified with our mind, that we don’t see ourselves, or others for that matter, for the being that we are. When we experience difficulties, we can’t think outside of it, we’re too trapped in this identification of who we think we are, what our lives are and what others think of us, to be able to take a step back and see and feel that we are not it.
We are beings put on this earth for development, experiences, love, and joy of the little moments. We are here to be fully present in the now. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Now. You are not the person filled with anxiety, depression, anger or gossips: that’s just the you created and shaped in this physical world – but if you stop just for a moment and notice the life and divine in you – your higher self – you will sense how much at peace you already are and how much you already are enough, just as you are.
If you acknowledge that you can disidentify yourself with this fictional character that you have created, there is no more suffering. Once it genuinely sinks in, it frees you completely – just like that.
It is a message that we are already familiar with and keep somewhere in the back of our hearts, it’s just that the mind makes too much noise for us to hear it. Of course, there is more to this and Eckhart Tolle, the author of “The Power of Now” answers several questions exquisitely in the book and puts things into perspective through practical examples. He also talks about his personal story and how he became a spiritual teacher.
I sincerely invite you to get yourself a copy of this book, if you do not already own one, and have a look at what Tolle is preaching. It is quite quick and easy to read and can even be opened at any random page and read as you see fit; depending on the passages that resonate the most with you. This is the type of manual that makes more and more sense each time you read it, so it is money and time well spent.
Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany, studied and lived in the UK for a long while and now resides in Canada. There are several videos of him on YouTube where he gives talks and answers people’s questions about anything and everything and has a remarkably interesting and refreshing logic. He has also written other books, such as “A New Earth”, which I also like and recommend. It goes deeper into his outlook.
If you’re interested to learn more, here are a few good links to go through for starters: