The Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle
“Peace lives in the present moment.”
The Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle · 1997
Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany in 1948 and studied at the University of London and Cambridge. He writes that at the age of 29, after years of anxiety and depression, he went through a deep inner transformation. He later became a spiritual teacher, and published The Power of Now in 1997. It became an international bestseller, helped greatly by Oprah Winfrey's recommendation.
Tolle says most of our suffering comes from identifying with the constant stream of thoughts in our head. He invites us to watch the thinker: notice the voice in your head without judging it. The moment you observe your thoughts, you realise you are the awareness behind them, not the thoughts themselves. This brings a sense of space and calm.
The past lives only as memory, the future only as imagination. Life always happens now. Tolle suggests that much worry and regret comes from living in time rather than in the present. Try it: feel your breath, notice the sensations in your hands, listen to the sounds around you. In that moment, most problems disappear, because problems live in the mind, while you live in the now.
Tolle describes the pain-body: an accumulation of old emotional pain that can suddenly take over us, for example in anger. The way out is to become the watcher of the emotion, rather than being swallowed by it. He also teaches acceptance, or surrender: not giving up, but accepting what is, in this moment. Then, if action is needed, you act from clarity instead of resistance.
You do not need a mountain retreat. Use ordinary moments: washing your hands, walking up the stairs, waiting in traffic. Bring full attention to what you are doing. Each time you return to the present, you grow stronger. Your life is not somewhere in the future. It is here, now. Breathe, and begin.