"Practicing The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle - My Book Review
- Erin Matthews
- Jul 31, 2024
- 2 min read
Practicing the Power of Now extracts the essence from Eckhart Tolle’s teachings in The Power of Now, showing us how to free ourselves from “enslavement to the mind.” The aim is to be able to enter into and sustain an awakened state of consciousness throughout everyday life. Through meditations and simple techniques, Eckhart shows us how to quiet our thoughts, see the world in the present moment, and find a path to “a life of grace, ease, and lightness.”
Yesterday, I was feeling super overwhelmed. Being over-stressed is unfortunately the constant state I live in. As I was lying on the couch feeling too overwhelmed to do anything, I remembered "The Power of Now" a book I bought my Mom for Christmas. I searched the whole house for it, but could only find the mini version. Luckily this quick and efficient read was enough to get me out of my slump!
My favorite part about this book is the idea that the now is all we have. The only state we ever live in is the now, so why make it so stressful? Why do we spend the now tormenting ourselves over the past or creating false illusions of the future? How many moments do we truly spend being present? My answer to this was none. I am always paranoid about the future and trying to live up to some self-created image of myself.
Tolle explains that the only suffering is self-created. We make it up in our heads. He suggests, to ask yourself, are you at ease right now? The answer is most likely, yes. The idea is that you aren't in any immediate detriment in which you have a conflict to act upon. Most of the time we spend in our heads is rambling about the past or future, that is the ego talking.
Tolle explains the ego as our false identity that feeds on negativity and stresses over the past and future. The only way to overcome this is to surrender. We have to surrender to life and become watchers of our minds. As we become aware of our ego talking, we gain control. Once we can control our minds, we have all the power to gain the present moment. We gain our lives back and truly start to live.
I loved this book. It is the perfect pick-me-up when you are drowning in your thoughts. I plan to read the full version once I find it somewhere in my house!
Xoxo,
Everything I Want
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