The Power Of Now Book Review
Are you a habitual waiter? Eckhart Tolle poses this question to you in his book, The Power of Now. How much of your life do you spend waiting? Tolle makes a distinction between “small scale waiting” and “large scale waiting”. “Small scale waiting” is waiting in line, in the post office, in a traffic jam, etc. On the other hand, “large scale waiting” is waiting for a better job, to make money, to become enlightened.
I can certainly identify with”large scale waiting”. I have spent quite a number of years waiting to start living that I pretty much qualify as the mother of all “waiters”. Top off my list is that I have decided that I will not be at peace until I know I have accumulated enough to afford an overseas education for my kids. Another one of my favorite was also to live for the next holiday vacation. My mind is always on the future. Very often, it is always on what’s next. Occasionally, it dwells on the past too. But seldom in the present.
My husband was “guilty” of the same thing. He wanted to push for financial freedom. He felt that he would be happy only when he can reach his goals. He chided me for not living in the present but failed to see that he was in the same mind trap.
The Power Of Now is a book that suggests that you can be far happier when you focus on the Now. Tolle says that “Waiting is a state of the mind.” When your attention is on the Now, you feel peace and stillness. You no longer depend on the future for fufilment and satisfaction. You no longer look to the future for salvation. Neither do you become attached to the results. Failure and success has no power over you henceforth.
What I like about this book, is that answers are laid out to the practical questions that are typically asked by the layperson. For instance, one important question is whether there is a still need to pursue external goals, if focusing on the now is the most important. The answer? It is. There is still a need to pursue external goals.
But here is what is key: when you focus on the Now, you no longer have the illusions that anything or anybody in the future will save you or make you happy. You experience gain or loss in the physical world. Yet at the deeper level, you are already complete because the Now is already joyous.
Being free from the reins of the future, there is no longer a need to pursue goals driven by fear, anger, discontent or the need to become someone. You do not seek permanancy in the physical world either, because there is none. You do not demand that external events make you happy and then suffer needlessly when they do not go according to your expectations.
Tolle also talks about having an outer purpose and inner purpose in one’s life journey. The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal. It refers to the horizontal dimension of time and space. On the other hand, the inner purpose has nothing to do with the direction of your goals. It is about the quality of your consciousness at this moment. It is a deepening of your inner self in the vertical dimension of Now.
What usually happens is when your attention is so much on the future that you miss out on the importance of the one step you are in Now. When you become deeply aware of this one step, you realize that it already contains all the other steps as well as the destination. This one step therefore is all the meaning and purpose that you need to find – the journey of deep self discovery.
So how have I been applying this concept? Well, here are some real life examples of how I’ve been living in the Now recently…
– I linger just awhile more in the midst of lush greenery in the park downstairs.
– I take the time to examine the delicate petals of the flowers in the park.
– I take two mouthfuls of fresh air rather than one made in a hurry.
– I am fully present when I am with my kids.
– I listen more attentively to my husband.
– I dared myself to let go of past habits.
– I also dared myself to let go of my attachment to the future.
Yes, I still have my doubts or worries about the future every now and then. But I remind myself that I need to delve deep into the inner recesses of my mind – to examine its flawed thinking and to retrain it for greater stillness.
I have certainly discovered a life far more joyous than the one that I used to live in. And it gets better day by day! I highly recommend The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
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