Author: Eckhart Tolle
_Eckhart Tolle_
Reading time: 22 minutes
Synopsis
Eckhart Tolle explains in The Power of Now that problems, worries, and suffering come only from not feeling present. He shows how to get rid of worries in your life and find inner peace. You can do this by living fully in the Now.
The book teaches us how to free ourselves from our inner Ego. This is the part of the mind that always wants control. By doing this, you can learn to accept the present moment. This helps to stop problems caused by not being aware.
What this book offers you: Use the Power of Now to find happiness in life.
Many of us often feel bad, have regrets, or are scared. We think about how things could have been different in the past. We also worry about what might happen in the future. For example: “Why didn’t I go on that world trip then?” “Why didn’t I finish all my tasks at work on Friday? Now I have a never-ending to-do list today. How will I ever finish it?” “When will I be able to take that trip?” By blaming ourselves for past choices or planning how we will change everything in the future, we waste a lot of energy. This makes us feel unhappy every day.
Eckhart Tolle himself also struggled with sadness for a long time. He was unhappy and even suffered from serious depression. But then he started what he calls his “inner change.” This opened a way out of what seemed like a hopeless situation.
He gained ideas about what he needed to change from studying different teachings. These included Christian mysticism, Sufism, and Zen Buddhism. In his book The Power of Now, he brings this knowledge together. He then creates clear steps for people to follow.
The key to happiness is to live in the present moment. You need to forget what has happened and what will happen.
In the summaries of Tolle’s book, you will learn:
- how living in the Now helps you in everyday life,
- why your mind sometimes stops you from being happy, and
- how you can use the power of the present moment in a good way.
Blink 1 – What really matters: Live in the Now, don’t hold on to the past or future.
Do you want to live a life without worries? Do you want to find inner peace and be happy with what you have? In short: Are you looking for enlightenment? The first step is simpler than you think.
The biggest problem for living this way is that we often get stuck in the past. For example, we constantly think about how things could have been better. Or we look too much to the future. Then, we usually think about things we want to achieve later. But by doing this, we completely forget what is truly important: the Now.
Only the present moment matters. This is because nothing ever happens in the past or the future. Our life is a constant series of “Now” moments.
When you feel something, you feel it now. Your senses only give you information about this exact moment. So, if you say something happened in the past, that is not really true. It happened in a single moment of the present, which was the “Now” at that time. Now it is over. In the same way, all events that will happen are individual “Now” moments. They are just still waiting for us in the future.
So, you see: It is good to focus on the Now. If you can live in the present, you will quickly see that many of your “big problems” do not exist. They are just separate situations that you need to deal with, one at a time.
Solving a complex task, like writing a research paper, often feels impossible. It’s like trying to reach the top of a very high mountain. If you always worry about what you still need to do in the future, or what you will regret, or how many chances you missed in the past, you will not move forward. But if you take each step one by one, in the present moment – like collecting facts, planning the structure, writing the first chapter – you can succeed.
Blink 2 – The Pain-Body within us: Most of your suffering comes from yourself.
You live in the here and Now, not yesterday or tomorrow. But what about pain? We feel pain in the present, whether it’s physical or emotional, right?
Not exactly. Pain is an inner resistance you create yourself. It’s against outside situations that you cannot change. That’s all it is. You feel pain when you are unhappy with how things are. But you don’t feel strong enough to change them. Emotionally, this resistance appears as a feeling of constant unhappiness.
Someone who thinks too much about the past and future has a problem. This is because they live in the present and cannot change the things that make them so unhappy. This is where pain comes from – an inner fight against things as they are. For example, someone who was left by their partner still feels pain even after years. They cannot change what happened, but their mind stays stuck on that event.
You collect these kinds of negative feelings in your “pain-body.” This is a part of you made up of all your past painful experiences. This pain-body grows with every painful event, becoming stronger. The pain-body wants you to suffer so it can live on. So, it will try to make you unhappy.
In the end, the pain-body becomes a fixed and separate part of you. You start to see yourself as this pain-body. Only by breaking this link can you free yourself from your pain-body.
When something annoys you and you get angry, the pain-body has taken over. Your old anger from past events, through the pain-body, now stops you from dealing with the current situation in a clear way. This automatically leads to more suffering.
It may seem like all pain comes from outside. But most of it comes from within us. The good news is: If we create it ourselves, we can also overcome it!
Blink 3 – The destructive power of the „Ego“: A part of your mind stops you from being happy.
Have you ever wondered why some people hurt and destroy themselves? Or why many people live unhappy lives when no one wants to be unhappy? The answer is: The “Ego” is to blame.
The Ego is the part of your mind that controls you. You might not even know it. Most people don’t know that their lives are guided by the Ego. This is because it is not easy to see.
If you look back at a heated talk, you might see that you reacted too strongly. You might regret how you acted, which was not like you at all. But during the argument, you don’t notice this. It feels like something is leading you in a way you would never go normally.
This “something” is your Ego. Unhappiness and sadness are vital for it to survive. So, it works against what you really want. It tries to stop you from seeking happiness. The Ego, this harmful part of the human mind that wants pain, explains why many people suffer, even though no one truly wants to.
This is exactly why some people purposely ruin their own happiness. For example, they stay in a harmful, painful relationship.
Our Ego wants to control us. To do this, it leads us into bad situations and arguments. For example, when two or more Egos meet, problems always happen. We all want to live together in peace. But our Ego stops us and makes us get angry even over small things.
If you suddenly find yourself in a growing argument about a small thing, like whose turn it was to do the dishes, or what TV show to watch, it is most likely your stubborn Egos at work.
The Ego is a harmful force that is part of our human mind. It really wants to be the most important part of us. If you let it take control, it will make you unhappy. So, you should try to free yourself from your Ego.
Blink 4 – Free yourself from your mind and pay more attention to your body to get closer to your goals.
Many great teachings say it’s important to focus more on your body. Jesus, for example, used the body in many stories and sayings. He said the body is a temple. Stories about his return to life and going to heaven show that his body also left the grave. He went to heaven with his body, not just his soul or spirit.
The Ego is just one of many reasons why you should move away from your mind and give more attention to your body. Another reason is that your mind causes pain and suffering. As we have seen, most suffering comes from remembering painful or bad things from the past. Or it comes from thinking about future things we feel unable to handle. Which part of you does this thinking outside of the Now? It’s your mind. It uses a lot of your energy thinking about memories and future plans. This always stops you from living in the present.
Thinking makes us ignore the present in an unhealthy way. So, we need to start separating ourselves from it. We must get closer to our body again.
Your body knows what is good for you. People often say in hard times to turn off your mind and listen to your gut. By paying close attention to what your body tells you, you will get a good sense of what is truly important. If you have ever seen an accident, you probably know the feeling of acting fast without thinking. Your body moves on its own, and every action is right. You should make this instinctive way of acting your normal behavior.
Another reason to listen to your body more is this: No one has ever found true understanding or enlightenment about a happy life by only focusing on their mind and ignoring their body.
Buddha supposedly tried to separate himself from his body. He fasted and lived a very strict life for six years. He lost weight and felt less connected to his body. But this did not bring him more inner peace or enlightenment. Only when he stopped this practice and became one with his body again did he have a deep understanding.
Blink 5 – Watch how your mind works without judging – then you can free yourself from it.
René Descartes’ famous saying, “I think, therefore I am,” is deeply set in our minds. But it leads us to a big mistake. We should not see ourselves as our minds. Instead, we must see the mind as a tool. After you realize that your mind causes you much suffering and stops you from living in the Now, you must separate it from yourself. To do this, try the following:
The first step to free yourself from your mind is to fully know its power over you. It can influence you in very subtle ways – you must understand this first. To do this, you should start watching yourself think.
Try this experiment: Ask yourself, “What will my next thought be?” If you focus strongly enough on this question, it will take some time for the next clear thought to come. By watching and paying attention to your mind, you have created a space in your constant stream of thoughts.
If you do this often, you will see how busy you usually are with your many thoughts. You will also see how this can take your focus away from more important things. With this small exercise, you can learn to stop your mind. This helps you to separate yourself from your thoughts.
When you watch your thoughts, try not to judge them. This is because judging is an act of the mind itself – the very thing you are trying to turn off.
For example, if you are in the middle of a task and suddenly feel like running around, follow your body’s urge. It knows what is good for you. Then listen quietly as the small voice in your head says: “You should be working now, not jumping around and wasting time.” But do not judge the voice as good or bad. Just smile and accept the thought as it is. This way, you learn to notice your mind without having to obey it.
Blink 6 – Practice being always alert – this is a good way to live in the Now.
As you get better at freeing yourself from your mind, you can try a new way of living: It’s called active waiting. This does not mean waiting for something in the future – you want to avoid that. Instead, it means being very alert, as if something important could happen at any second. This way, you learn to focus all your attention on the Now.
Once you are in this state of active waiting, there is no more room for useless daydreaming. There is no more room for pointless planning or extra thinking that takes you away from the present moment.
For example, if you have to take an exam, you cannot afford to worry about the results beforehand. You must be fully present to focus during the exam. It can help a lot to enter the state of active waiting just before the exam.
In this state, you also pay more attention to your body. This is because it must be ready for anything. For example, Zen masters used to sneak up behind their students. The students had their eyes closed. Then, the masters tried to hit them. This waiting made the students focus completely on their bodies and senses. Only then could they hear or feel the master coming near and avoid the hit.
Many spiritual teachers advised their students to practice active waiting to find a good life. When Jesus’ followers asked him what they could do to live a peaceful life as he meant, he gave them this advice: “Be like a servant waiting for his master to return.” The servant does not know when the master will come. So, he is always alert. He does not make big plans for the future or think about the past. Instead, he always lives in the Now so he does not miss his master.
What do everyday situations look like when you have learned to live in the Now?
Blink 7 – When the Ego finally stops: Living in the Now can build relationships full of happiness and love.
If you have managed to follow all the steps so far, you can now live better in the Now. You will no longer depend on your thoughts.
Especially a partnership can get better and finally find the harmony it has wished for. But this only works if both partners live in the Now in the same way. For a person who is not yet aware of the power of the Now, it can be hard to live with someone who lives fully in the present.
The reason is that the other person’s Ego still needs conflict. It will see a person living in peace in the Now as a threat. So, it is likely that the Ego will create more and more problems to break the peace. For the relationship, this usually means a big test.
However, if both partners learn to live in the present, this is a perfect base for an equal and good relationship. Partnerships where both partners are unknowingly led by their Ego often rely on power struggles between Egos. They have little to do with true love. That is why they often turn into hate so quickly.
But if partners live in the Now and have freed themselves from their minds, they stop judging, sizing up, and criticizing. They also stop trying hard to change the other person. Instead, they will want to accept their partner as they are. They will build an equal relationship where no hurtful arguments or strong power fights get in the way of love.
Living mindfully in the Now can put a strain on a relationship. This happens if the other person is not ready to overcome their Ego and focus on the present. But if both partners manage to improve this awareness, the relationship can become an endless source of pure happiness and true love.
Blink 8 – Pain is a fact – to accept the present means to accept it.
There is real pain in the Now. Most of our suffering is caused by focusing on the future or the past. But even if you live fully in the present, you will feel things like sadness. So, what do you do with these feelings? Do you hide them and pretend everything is fine? No. But you can learn to accept them. This way, you take away their power.
A good example of negative feelings you can hardly avoid are those caused by other people. These people are still controlled by their harmful minds. You cannot change every person you meet and bring them to spiritual understanding. So, worries or fears are likely to happen when these people insult or make fun of you. By accepting the bad situation, you can handle it better at that moment. Then you can move on, so it does not bother you later.
The pain when someone close to you dies is even stronger. You cannot control this either; it hits you in the here and Now. When you have such bad experiences, the best way is to accept the pain and let your feelings be. The feelings will still be there. But you can learn to handle them better by accepting them.
So, if you have lost a loved one, you will naturally feel sad. But by accepting this as something that just is and cannot be changed, you will suffer less. Accepting your pain means that you don’t always wish things were different. This would only make your sadness worse.
Some of these negative feelings are a part of being human. Living in the present does not mean pushing away or hiding every pain. Instead, it gives you the inner strength to accept bad events. This way, you don’t make the pain even stronger.
Blink 9 – Even if you have learned to accept all negative things in the Now, you still have the freedom to act.
You might wonder if you can only do nothing in every bad situation. Inner peace is good. But if your life makes you unhappy, it seems to help nothing. Does accepting the present moment without question really mean you will live a passive life? A life where you cannot change what bothers you?
The answer is no. This is because living in the Now mostly happens inside you. Your actions on the outside do not have to be passive.
If you get stuck in the mud somewhere, no one expects you to be happy about it. No one expects you to tell yourself you always wanted to be stuck in the mud. Instead, your inner calm can stop you from panicking or getting angry. You can then calmly try to get yourself out of the mud.
Living in the Now can show you new ways to solve problems. First, being connected to the present gives you new strength and purpose. With this, you can deal with challenges better. You get this new energy because you don’t waste your inner power creating problems for yourself, which happens when your mind is in charge.
In fact, there are fewer problems to solve. This is because, in the Now, you don’t see things as problems. Instead, you just see separate challenges that you can handle.
Feeling and accepting the present as it is does not mean you are completely powerless! Living in the Now can even help you see clearly where something is really going wrong at this moment. It can also show you how to change it. This way, you can fully enjoy the Now and make the best out of every situation in your life!
Summary
The main message of this book is:
Living in the Now is the only way to find inner peace and lasting happiness. To reach this state of being fully in the present, we must ignore the past and future. We also need to move away from our very active minds. By doing this, we can avoid a lot of suffering. We can also find the path to the life we are meant to live.
What you can do:
Try to turn off your mind. Watch how much time you spend thinking. When you know how negatively your mind affects you and how many worries it gives you, you can practice turning it off sometimes. Instead, you can have periods of not thinking.
Be in a state of constant awareness. The more carefully you look at the current situation, the more your focus will be on the Now. This means your mind will less often wander to the past or future. Try to use all your senses to notice what is happening around you right now. Then, most of your problems will disappear on their own.
Source: https://www.blinkist.com/https://www.blinkist.com/de/books/jetzt-de