The Power of the Present: a Meditative Approach to Living in the Moment
There is no better time than the present. Book Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” shows how to get rid of pain, stress and anxiety using the ancient teachings and modern ideas, designed to balance your life, living it from moment to moment.
This is part of a new series of Lifehacker book reviews . Not all life hacks can be described on a blog, so we decided to look at some of our favorite life changing books to dive deeper into the most important topics in life.
The Power of the Present is the first book by author Eckhart Tolle , but it made a splash when it came out in the late 90s. It quickly gained traction and has since been translated into 33 languages and sold only in North America. Tolle is now one of the most popular spiritual authors , and he is constantly referenced in other books with interviews or passages. Inside the book you will find lessons and guidance from spiritual leaders, exercises for staying present in the moment, and approaches to meditation that do not focus on positive thinking alone.
Who is this book for?
This book is for people who are stuck in their past, people who cannot get out of their heads, and people who feel like they are waiting for happiness to come to them. It is also for those who find themselves complaining too often and for those who experience constant worry or anxiety on a daily basis. If you are interested in meditation as a practice or have never tried it but want some of the benefits , this book may be for you. This book is probably not ideal for people who are not interested in Zen teachings, think meditation is stupid (in fact, it is not), or do not appreciate philosophical lessons.
What do you get
The book focuses on one important topic: how to be consciously present in the moment and what it can do for you in your daily life. Along the way, you will find several exercises and examples to help you better understand the concepts and put them into practice. The book isn’t all that short, so here’s some of what you’ll learn:
- In the chapter “You Are Not Your Mind,” you will learn what presence means, how you can reach this state, and how it will help you become more aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it.
- In the chapter “Consciousness – Out of Pain,” you will learn that personal pain and suffering are created in the mind by identifying with the past or longing for the future, instead of just being in the present.
- In the chapter “Diving Deep into the Present” you will learn not to identify yourself with your problems (your “ego”). When you do this, you will never get rid of them, because then the loss of problems will mean the loss of yourself.
- In the Inner Body chapter, you will learn how to use your body to stay in the present moment and how to truly listen to someone else without staying in your head.
- In the chapter “Beyond Happiness and Unhappiness, There Is Peace”, you will learn that you can feel peace without feeling happy, and that the source of the drama in your life can be traced back to rejection.
It is also important to mention how this book is organized. There are chapters, as in any other book, but the chapters are divided into different questions asked by the intended confidant of the reader (as if you were at the presentation and Tolle answers the questions). Sometimes it’s a question that you already think about when you read, and sometimes it’s not what you think about at all. You will probably find it helpful to read each section, but if you feel you have a good understanding of what it is about, it’s not a bad idea to skip the section because you already “got it”.
There is also a symbol found throughout the book. When you see this, then you should take a break from reading and stop so that what you just read, immerse yourself in reading, or practice an exercise. I took breaks for every exercise and every section that contained something I had never thought of before. This helped me to understand each lesson personally. Whether you choose these breaks is entirely up to you, but I will say that this is not the book you want to read anyway.
One trick you won’t succeed
It’s easy to get stuck thinking about the past. Maybe you’ve had a bad breakup, lost your job, or just want things to go differently. Worse, you can sit and wait for the future to come and save you. You hope someone finds you, a great job knocks on your door, or things get better. Combine both of these thought processes, and suddenly the present moment in front of you loses all its value. To truly move away from your past and take control of your future, you must put them out of your head and focus on what you can do right now. Tolle proposes to approach your past and future only at the level of the present moment:
Everything you need to know about the unconscious past in you will cause problems of the present. If you plunge into the past, it will turn into a bottomless abyss: there is always something more.
You don’t want to deny your past or give up on your future, you just want to use them as tools when you need them:
Whereas before you lived in time and made short visits to the Present, live in the present and make short visits to the past and the future when necessary to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.
Basically, you are throwing away the burden of the past and the stress of the future, so that you can only focus on what is happening right now in order to actually get something done. Since something is happening in the moment, you can apply the lessons from the past without letting it take over. As you strive towards your goals, you can make plans for the future without drowning in dreams of what “might” happen. Focus on what’s happening right now and everything else will fall into place.
Our opinion
Overall, this book contains many really great ideas about presence, attention, peace, and acceptance . This is the kind of book I would read if I was upset, and it is probably one of those books that you keep close at hand when you need it. The concepts are deep, the teachings that Tolle uses from spiritual leaders like Buddha and Jesus are well presented, and there is a lot of helpful advice in the form of truthful quotes. There aren’t many step-by-step exercises other than a few on the mind and breathing , but that’s not what this book is about. Instead, you’ll likely find yourself highlighting passages that just make sense and that you carry around with you.
That being said, there is a lot to try here. Even if you get some useful ideas the first time around, it may take a few readings to really “understand” what Tolle is trying to explain. I have already mentioned the language that Tolle uses and it will probably be a hindrance for some. He kind of repurposes the words so that they have their own meaning in the context of what he is trying to teach. So if you go to a random page, you are probably very confused. Start from the beginning, stick to it and it’s all worth it.
The book also has ups and downs. Tolle can be quite repetitive – and sometimes indirectly – when trying to explain what presence means and how important it can be. Unfortunately, this can make the book seem a little longer than it really needs to be. However, the structure of the book makes it feel fluid, and if you want to read it again, you can write out certain sections yourself, instead of going through them entirely.
While reading a book doesn’t necessarily change your life instantly, its ideas and ideas will stay with you when you’re done. Even if you don’t immediately succumb to his teachings, you will most likely find yourself trying to use his tactics to be present in your own life. Approach the Power of the Present with an open mind, give it a little time to realize, and you may find that your view of the world will change slightly for the better.
You can get The Power of the Present: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment on Amazon for $ 8 on a Kindle, or about $ 8.50 in paperback. You can also read more about the author Eckhart Tolle on his website .