The Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle

📚 GENRE: Health & Wellness

📃 PAGES:  236

✅ COMPLETED: December 18, 2021

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle shows readers how to get out of the mind and into the present moment. Tolle sets the record straight on what enlightenment is and how to get closer to it by eliminating the concept of time and ego. 

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Get in the Now — It’s so easy to live in the mind by constantly replaying the past, worrying about the future, and dwelling on mistakes. You have to find ways to get out of your mind and into the present moment, whether that’s by focusing on the breath, feeling the inner body, or devoting your full concentration to the task at hand. When you catch yourself living in your mind, direct your attention back to the present.

2️⃣ You Are Not Your Thoughts — Your thoughts are not the source of truth, they are products of the ego. You always have the power to believe, or not believe, the thoughts that come by. Instead of believing every thought, position yourself as an observer of your thoughts — watching them float by like clouds in the sky. You give a thought emotional power when you believe it.

3️⃣ Master the Art of Inner Body Awareness — You should always keep some attention in the inner body. The inner body is the best portal to the present moment. Feel the sensation of the inner body and keep your focus there, regardless of what you’re doing. When you do this, you can’t get dragged by your thoughts and emotions. 

Favorite Quote

"The moment that judgement stops through acceptance of what is, you are free of the mind."

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • Buddha means “the awakened one.”
  • The unhappy or fearful self is ultimately just a fiction of the mind.
  • In essence, there is and always has been only one spiritual teaching, although it comes in many forms.
    • Religions
    • Teachings
    • Etc.
    • This book aims to consolidate all the important information into one text. 

Ch. 1: You Are Not Your Mind

  • Definition: Enlightenment — The Buddha defines it as the end of suffering. 
  • Definition: Being — The eternal, ever-present One Life beyond life or death.
    • It is your very essence.
    • Can’t be understood by the mind. 
    • Can only feel it when the mind is still and you’re locked in the present.
  • The greatest obstacle to Being is your mind, which causes thought to become impulsive.
  • Quote (P. 29): “Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everyone is suffering from it, so it is considered normal.”
    • Thinking prevents you from finding the stillness that is needed for Being. 
  • Thinking has become a disease.
    • Your mind is a superb instrument, when used correctly.
      • In most people, the mind USES you rather than YOU USING your mind. 
    • You believe you are your mind, and that is false. You are not your mind. 
    • It’s OK to use your mind to solve problems, but the issue is that we can’t STOP thinking. We can’t hit the “off” button and we end up becoming a slave to our mind’s destructive thoughts. 
    • Much of today’s thinking is involved in the past or trying to project the future. These thoughts are usually accompanied by ‘mental movies’ that are usually negative.
      • This is called worry. 
  • Quote (P. 32): “The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity— the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.”
    • ‘Watching the thinker’ involves hearing the voices in your mind and observing them without judgement. Just watch them float by. 
    • You are witnessing your thoughts.
      • This creates peaceful ‘gaps’ in the mind stream as your thoughts subside. 
  • Beauty, love, creativity, joy — these are all things that arise beyond the mind.
  • Another way to create peaceful ‘gaps’ in the mind stream is by directing your focus to the present moment, or into the Now.
    • Become deeply conscious of the present moment.
    • Ways you can do this:
      • Focus on the breath
      • Take super focus to ordinary tasks, like washing your hands, walking, etc. 
    • Quote (P. 35): “In this way, you draw consciousness away from the mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert but not thinking.”
      • This is the essence of meditation.
  • Quote (P. 36): “The single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: Learn to disidentify from your mind.”
    • Learn to smile at the childish stuff your mind is saying. Again, you are not your mind. 
  • The mind is an instrument to solve problems, but it should be put to rest after resolving an issue.
    • 80-90% of most people’s thinking is negative and energy-draining (drama).
  • Thinking is literally addictive because we derive our sense of self from the content of our minds.
    • We form an ego that we become attached to. 
  • The present moment holds the key to liberation but you can’t access it if you’re always in your mind. 
  • Emotion is the body’s reaction to the mind — a reflection of your mind in the body.
    • Ex. Fear — the body contracts and tenses up. 
  • Quote (P. 46): “Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind.”

Ch. 2: Consciousness — The Way Out of Pain

  • The mind always tries to deny the Now, or the present moment. 
    • It thinks about the past and future to cover up the present moment. 
    • This concept of time is essential to the mind’s operation. This is why focusing on the present frees you from the mind. 
  • The more you identify with the mind, the more you suffer. 
    • The more you can honor and accept the Now, or the present moment, the more you are free from the pain and suffering of the egotistical mind.
    • Focus in on the present moment!
  • Quote (P. 50): “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelled on time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future to deal with the practical aspects of your life.”

Ch. 3: Moving Deeply Into the Now

  • The present moment is ALL you ever have. 
  • Quote (P. 63): “Here is the key — end the delusion of time. Time and mind are inseparable. Remove time from mind and it stops — unless you choose to use it.”
    • Stop involving yourself in the past and future.
    • The past gives you an identity 
    • The future holds the promise of salvation and fulfillment, in whatever forms.
      • Both are illusions.
  • Quote (P. 67): “The whole essence of Zen consists in walking along the razor’s edge of Now — to be so utterly, completely present that no problem, no suffering, nothing that is not who you are can survive in you. In the Now, in the absence of time, all your problems dissolve. Suffering needs time; it can’t survive in the Now.”
  • Quote (P. 69): “Break the pattern of present-moment denial and present-moment resistance. Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed. Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in daily life.”
  • When you observe your mind, you’ll notice that the future is usually depicted as better (hope) or worse (anxiety) than the present. Both are illusions.
    • Notice how often your attention is in the past or future. It’s a lot.
    • The key is to get out of the time warp of the mind. Get into the Now. 
  • Psychological Time — Identification with the past and continuous compulsive projection into the future.
    • We want to reduce this as much as possible. Get into the Now.
    • Psychological time usually involves dwelling on things mentally, which leads to self-criticism, remorse, guilt, etc. 
    • All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present.
      • Unease, fear, anxiety, stress, worry — these are all caused by too much future and not enough present. 
      • Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness, bitterness, non-forgiveness — these are all caused by too much past and not enough present. 
  • The dysfunctional mind is attached to the past and future, and it denies the Now.
    • It’s addicted to time. 
  • The Now is this very moment.
    • “Problems” are built in the mind. They are ‘life situations’ — they aren’t part of the present moment. They are perceived negatively because your mind is caught up in the past or future — time — rather than being in the Now.
    • It is impossible to have a ‘problem’ when you are in the Now.
  • Get into the Now by using your senses. 
  • Quote (P. 83): “See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the results that you want to achieve through it.”
    • Process goals! Focus on the process of what you’re doing, not the result. 

Ch. 4: Mind Strategies for Avoiding the Now

  • Quote (P. 87): “To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need of past for your identity and future for your fulfillment.” 
  • Just realizing and becoming aware of when your attention is not in the present and is instead caught up in the dimension of time is a huge success.
    • This is the first step, even if you only remain in the present for a few seconds. 
  • Once you start becoming aware that your focus is in the dimension of time in your mind, you can start to CHOOSE to shift your focus to the present.
    • Try to be present for longer than a few seconds. 
  • With practice, your power of self-observation — monitoring your inner state — will become sharpened. 
  • When you’re a driven person, you have to be careful to still enjoy the present moment.
    • When you are constantly going for goals and striving to accomplish things, there’s a tendency to get frustrated in the here and now because you want to hurry up and accomplish your goals. You want to get ‘there’ rather than enjoying the ‘here’. 
    • It’s easy to become dissatisfied and unfulfilled if you aren’t careful. 
    • That said, there’s nothing wrong with setting goals and being driven. You just need to be mindful and make it a priority to still enjoy the Now.
  • Quote (P. 101): “When you honor, acknowledge, and fully accept your present reality — where you are, who you are, what you are doing right now — when you fully accept what you’ve got, you are grateful for what you have, grateful for what is, grateful for Being.”
    • Gratitude comes from accepting the present moment and everything you have RIGHT NOW.
    • You become ungrateful when you want things, people, etc. that aren’t currently in your life. It causes you to lose sight of what you have right now. You become dissatisfied. 
  • The more you practice monitoring your mental-emotional state, the easier it will become to catch your mind caught up in time and bring your attention back to Now.
  • Quote (P. 106): “Give attention to the present. Give attention to your behavior, reactions, moods, thoughts, emotions, fears, and desires as they occur in the present.”

Ch. 5: The State of Presence

  • Method: Ask yourself “I wonder what my next thought going to be?” Then become alert and watch for the next thought.
    • This should produce a long wait for the next thought.
    • When you are in a state of intense presence, you are free of thought.
    • The second your attention sinks below a certain level, thought rushes in. 
  • To stay present in every day life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself, otherwise the mind will drag you. 
    • This means to always have some of your attention in the inner energy field of your body. To feel the body from within. 
    • Body awareness keeps you on the present. It anchors you in the Now. 
    • This is so key! 
  • Be present by focusing your complete attention on the present moment.
    • As Jesus says, be like the servant waiting for the master to arrive. He doesn’t know when the master will be back so he waits with his full attention on the moment so he is ready for the master’s arrival.
    • Again, focus on your senses. What you hear, see, smell, feel, etc. 
  • Method: When you’re reading or listening, be aware of the silence between and underneath the words.
    • Be aware of the gaps.
    • Listening to silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present.
    • Listening to silence creates stillness inside you. 

Ch. 6: The Inner Body

  • The inner body can serve as an access point to the Now at all times.
  • The egotistical human mind is crazy — humans killed over 100 million of their own species in the 20th Century alone.
    • You have to get in the Now and prevent the egotistical mind from dragging you. 
  • The physical body is just a shell. There is an inner body force field within you that is YOU in your most natural state.
  • Quote (P. 124): “To ‘inhabit the inner body’ is to FEEL the body from within, to FEEL the life inside the body and thereby come to know that you are beyond the outer form.”
  • The problem with the mind is that when you think compulsively as everyone does, the mind takes over and your sense is derived from mind activity and thoughts.
    • Quote (P. 125): “To become conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.”
      • One of the best ways to do this is to direct your focus away from thinking and instead direct it into the inner body. 
      • The inner body is the force field within that you can FEEL. It’s almost a tingly sensation. I personally feel it the most in my legs, but can feel it anywhere in my body if I really focus. 
  • The inner body serves as an anchor to the present moment. You can always have your focus on the inner body. 
    • When you focus your attention to the inner body, you have no choice but to be present. You won’t be able to feel the inner body if you are thinking and caught up in the mind. 
  • Quote (P. 130): “The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body — to feel it at all times. This will rapidly and deepen and transform your life.”
    • The inner body is a portal — an anchor — to the present and the Now. Never lose touch with it.
    • As you go through your day and perform all of the tasks you need to perform, always have at least some attention in the inner body. This will keep you rooted in the Now and the present moment.
    • The more attention you place in the inner body, the less attention you have in the mind. 
      • A good analogy is a light dimmer.
  • Quote (P. 131): “If you keep your attention in the inner body as much as possible, you will be anchored in the Now. You won’t lose yourself in the external world, and you won’t lose yourself in your mind.”
  • Quote (P. 131): “The art of inner-body awareness will develop into a completely new way of living, a state of permanent connectedness with Being, and will add a depth to your life that you have never known before.”
  • When you are rooted and anchored in your inner body, nothing that happens on the outside can shake you. You have a foundation in the present.
    • Jesus used the parable of the two men building a house to explain this. 
      • One man built his house on sand and it was swept away when floods and storms hit.
      • One man dug deep into the rock to establish a foundation for his house. It therefore withstood all storms and flooding.  
  • Being focused in the inner body:
    • Raises your vibrational frequency so you are above negative emotions, like sadness, anger, jealousy. 
      • By being in a higher frequency, these emotions won’t enter your force field because they operate at a lower frequency. 
      • This prevents you from getting caught up in negative emotions for days and weeks. 
    • Significantly slows the aging process of the physical body and allows it to perform better as well. 
      • It will feel lighter, clearer, more alive. 
    • Boosts the immune system. 
  • Inner Body Practice Routine:
    • This is just to enhance your ability to feel the inner body. You should be focused on the inner body at all times, if possible.
    • Essentially, lie flat on your back and go through all the different parts of your body and FEEL the energy in those parts as intensely as possible for about 15 seconds each.
      • Like legs, hands, feet, abs, chest, etc. 
    • Then, feel the energy in your whole body like a wave starting from your feet up to your head and back down to your feet.
      • Do the wave for a minute or so.
    • Finally, feel your inner body completely in ALL areas. Hold this feeling in totality for a few minutes. 
      • Be as intensely present and focused on the inner body as possible. 
  • Allow the breath to help you focus on the inner body. Focus on your breath at first, then allow it to lead you into feeling the inner body. 
  • Focus on your inner body when listening to someone. 
    • This gets you out of your mind and allows you to really listen with stillness.
    • I think this can help me a lot. I’m usually caught up in my mind when listening to someone rather than being focused on what they are trying to say.

Ch. 7: Portals Into the Manifested

  • You can meditate with the inner body:
    • 10-15 minutes of clock time
    • Sit comfortably
    • Focus on the breath first
    • Then go into the inner body. Feel it. 
    • Eventually, open your eyes and scan the room while holding that feeling of inner body awareness. 
  • Quote (P. 145): “Now let your spiritual practice be this: As you go about your life, don’t give 100% of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within.”
    • Always be anchored in the inner body as you go about your day. 
    • It provides a deep sense of peace in the background that never leaves you and it prevents your mind from dragging you because you have to be present in order to be in the inner body. 
  • To be present, you can also focus on a particular thing super intensely. Like an object in the room. Focus on it and every aspect of it. 
    • This is one of the portals into the Now. It stops your thinking when you are intensely focused on an object. 
  • Quote (P. 148): “Get in touch with the energy field of your inner body, be intensely present, disidentify from the mind, surrender to what is — there are all portals you can use but you only need to use one.”
    • These portals have all been discussed previously in the book. 
    • The inner body is the one I like the most and seems to be the most important.
  • Other portals to the Now:
    • Silence 
      • Listen intensely for silence. Silence between words that someone is saying. Silence between a dog’s distant bark. Etc. 
      • Paying attention to outer silence creates inner silence — the mind becomes still. 
      • Tip: Pay more attention to the silence than the sounds. 
      • You can’t pay attention to silence without being still within. 
      • Tip: Even during conversations, become conscious of the gaps between words and the silent intervals between sentences. 
      • Sound can’t exist without silence. 
    • Space
      • Objects can’t exist without empty space. 
      • Pay attention to the space in the room. When you do, you become still. Doing this connects you to the space in your mind; the space between your thoughts.
      • Thoughts are the mind equivalent to objects in the room. By paying attention to the space in the room, you tap into stillness.
      • You cannot think AND be aware of space or silence. 

Ch. 8: Enlightened Relationships

  • Quote (P. 158): “True salvation is a state of freedom — from fear, from suffering, from a perceived state of lack of insufficiency and therefore from all wanting, needing, grasping, and clinging. It is freedom from compulsive thinking, from negativity, and above all from past and future as a psychological need.”
    • Salvation is available right now. You don’t need to ‘achieve” something or ‘become’ something to have it. 
    • The point of access is the Now.
  • Many intimate relationships are highly addictive.
    • They are built on a neediness by both sides. You are seeking satisfaction through somebody else.
    • When this happens, if the relationship ends, there is huge pain. Because your sense of self became attached to them.
    • This is why some relationships turn very violent. One person seeks freedom from pain and a sense of self and purpose through another person. When it ends, the pain returns on steroids.
  • Quote (P. 165): “To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom from salvation, and enlightenment.” 
  • Quote (P. 165): “To disidentify from thinking is to be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior, especially the repetitive patterns of your mind and the roles played by the ego.”
  • Quote (P. 166): “The moment that judgement stops through acceptance of what is, you are free of the mind.”
    • Do not judge! Do not judge yourself, your thoughts, people, situations.
    • Accept what is. Let go. Accept. 
  • True love is not dependent on others. It’s deep inside you and is yours to share.
    • You can feel this love inside of others as well. When you connect with that, you become One. This is love. 
  • Quote (P. 167): “Love is not selective, just as the light of the sun is not exclusive. Exclusivity is not the love of God but the ‘love’ of ego. However, the intensity with which true love is felt can vary.”
    • Great thought here.
    • Love everyone and everything. You’re love for certain people can certainly vary and be more intense, but the bond that connects you with those people is the same bond that connects you with the person sitting on the bus with you, or with a bird, a tree, a flower.
      • The degree of intensity differs. 
    • You can love others more, but you should love everyone and everything. This starts with loving yourself. 
  • Quote (P. 172): “The ego needs problems, conflict, and ‘enemies’ to strengthen the sense of separateness on which its identity depends.”
    • You have to let go of these. Let go of your ego. 

Ch. 9: Beyond Happiness and Unhappiness There is Peace

  • Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive in the mind. Inner peace does not.
  • No matter what is happening, you need to refrain from judging the situation, person, thing, etc.
    • Let it be. Accept the situation as it is.
    • When your mind resists, that’s when you get suffering.
  • FORGIVE the past and ACCEPT the Now. Accept the situation at hand. Accept the present.
  • Feeling sorry for yourself, being anxious, dwelling in the past — these are all forms of drama.
    • When you live in complete acceptance of what is, that is the end of all drama in your life.
  • If you are not identified with the demands and expectations of your mind and instead accept what is in the present moment, you can’t possibly experience internal or external conflict.
  • Quote (P. 192): “All suffering is ego-created and is due to resistance.”
  • Do not perceive things as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ 
    • Again, accept what is and do not judge. 
  • Quote (P. 193): “There are cycles of success, when things come to you and thrive, and cycles of failure, when they wither or disintegrate and you have to let them go in order to make room for new things to arise, or for transformation to happen. If you cling and resist at that point, it means you are resisting to go with the flow of life, and you will suffer.” 
    • The cycles aren’t good or bad, that’s just the mind’s judgement. 
      • You have to learn to not judge situations, results, etc. 
  • Quote (P. 195): “When a condition or situation the mind has attached itself to and identified with changes or disappears, the mind can’t accept it. It will cling to the disappearing condition and resist the change. It’s almost as if a limb is being torn off the body.”
    • Ex. Actress who grew very unhappy as she got older because she was attached to her beauty and that was starting to fade. 
  • Quote (P. 197): “To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad.”
    • It’s a paradox. When you let go in this way, people and things tend to come into your life without any effort. 
  • All inner resistance is experienced as negativity in one form or another. All negativity is resistance.
    • When you just accept what is, there is no negativity. 
    • The ego loves negativity. It thrives on it.
    • Ex. Public speaking. When you are uncomfortable up there on stage, you haven’t accepted the moment. You are resisting the moment rather than accepting what is. 
      • Regardless of the moment and what’s happening in it, ACCEPT IT fully.
  • The mind unconsciously believes that resisting — which you experience as negativity in some form — will somehow dissolve the undesirable condition or situation. 
    • This is a delusion. 
    • You need to, again, ACCEPT the situation at hand. Accept the Now.
    • To me, this means resistance, and wanting something to be different, literally doesn’t help at all. You’re better off focusing on what you can control and accepting the situation as it is. The resistance only hurts you, really. It doesn’t help at all and doesn’t aid in you in any way. The resistance, or wanting things to be different, is only destructive. Get you mind out of fantasy land and into the present.
    • Offer no resistance! 
  • You are like the deep ocean underneath the surface. The surface of the ocean can be still and it can also be very choppy. But underneath is a still deep ocean that remains constant regardless of what’s happening on the surface.
    • You are that deep ocean.

Ch. 10: The Meaning of Surrender

  • Quote (P. 216): “If you have lived long enough, you will know that things ‘go wrong’ quite often. It is precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced if you want to eliminate the pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of what IS immediately frees you from mind. Resistance is the mind.”
    • Again, whatever it may be, you have to learn to accept situations that are happening Now. 
    • Putting up any resistance is an indication of the mind working and will result in negativity and suffering. 
  • Surrender and acceptance are purely internal things. It doesn’t mean you can’t take action and change the situation on the outer level.
    • You can still progress and get better and go for your goals. But in the Now, you need to accept the present moment, whatever is happening.
    • Ex. Car stuck in mud. You accept the Now (being stuck in the mud), but you know you want to get out of the mud and take actions towards that. But you accept the fact that you’re stuck in the mud at the present moment. It’s all about accepting the present moment. 
  • When you resist, you boost the ego and take on a “me vs. everyone” outlook. When you accept the Now, you take positive action forward.
    • When you are run by your ego, people and situations seem like a threat and you are constantly governed by fear.
  • Quote (P. 218): “If you find your life situation unsatisfactory, it is only by surrendering first that you can break the unconscious resistance pattern that perpetuates the situation.”

Steps:

  1. Accept the Now
      • As discussed, this involves not judging and not labeling anything involved (the situation, yourself, others).
  1. Focus on ONE THING you can do now to help the situation.
      • This is key. Don’t allow your focus to be hindered by thinking of the hundreds of things you might have to do to resolve the situation. 
      • Focus on one thing at a time.
  1. Execute
  2. Continue to accept and repeat
  • Quote (P. 220): “By witnessing the resistance, you will see that it serves no purpose.”
    • Resistance doesn’t help the situation at all! This is key. ACCEPT THE NOW. 
    • I feel that sometimes I dwell on things (resistance) and that literally doesn’t do any good whatsoever. That doesn’t help the situation at all. Instead, ACCEPT WHAT IS, focus on one thing you can do to improve the situation (put a solution on the board), and execute it. Repeat. 
  • To know if you are resisting, just look for any internal negativity (sadness, anger, unhappiness, anxiety, jealousy, etc.). If you find these and feel these, you are resisting rather than accepting. 
  • Present moment awareness dissolves negativity. 
  • A good way to think about acceptance is to think about accepting people. 
    • This means you don’t judge them, criticize them, or label them — you accept them for who they are, as they are.
      • Do this with life situations too.
  • ACCEPT YOURSELF
    • Accept yourself for who you are, how you look, your tendencies, your strengths, and your weaknesses. Be grateful!
      • This is how God made you. 
      • The beginning of everything great is self-love. You have to love yourself and build yourself up. 
  • Feeling sorry for yourself will keep you stuck in suffering. 
  • Quote (P. 235): “Enlightenment consciously chosen means to relinquish your attachment to past and future and to make the Now the main focus of your life.”  
    • Consciously CHOOSE to focus on the Now rather than dwelling on time — past and future. 
  • Quote (P. 237): “Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, and pain. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.”
    • If you’re experiencing internal negativity, you simply aren’t present enough. When you aren’t present, your mind takes over. When you are present, your focus and attention is in the here and Now — there therefore isn’t enough ‘attention bandwidth’ leftover to be involved in the mind and caught up with the mental games and mental movies of the mind. 
      • Get in the present. Accept the situation as it is without judgement, feel the inner body, take in your surroundings using your senses. When you do these things, you can’t possibly be caught up in the negativity of the mind. There just isn’t enough attention to be placed there because it’s all directed to the present moment.Â