“The Power Of Now” book by Eckhart Tolle was first published in 1997.
In 1997 only 3000 copies were printed. First larger publishing took place in the year 1999. Today – 20 years later – the book is still booming. Looks like it is booming like never before.
A New Earth
What happened though during the last 20 years and when “A New Earth” (a shift in consciousness) will come to life?
Let’s have a quick look what has happened so far.
Eckhart sold probably more than 10 million books. There are various Facebook groups about Eckhart Tolle and his books, they group around 200k members from all over the world.
Eckhart Tolle’s Instagram page has almost 1 million followers.
“The Power Of Now” is the #1 New York Times bestseller.
People like Oprah or Jim Carrey were publicly recommending Eckhart Tolle’s teachings and books. There are over 20k Google searches monthly for keywords related to Eckhart Tolle and his books. For sure we can assume that millions of people somehow got in touch with Eckhart or his books.
What is the effect of that so far though – how far we are with being present and detaching from the ego?
And how can we bring “the shift in consciousness” described in “A New Earth” into life NOW?
Looks like the revolution is more an evolution so far. There is a movement, it is growing but it is not a massive worldwide revolution for the moment. Why? Many people just read the book like it would be any other book and they would left it on their book shelf afterwards.
Problem with The Power Of Now
Most of the people are claiming that it is possibly the best book ever and they would recommend it to others and possibly even they felt the glimpses of what Eckhart Tolle is describing in “The Power of Now” as a “pleasant bliss and deep inner peace” but still they didn’t go further.
The difference (and the problem) between this book and the others is that to read it (add it as a mind content) is not the thing and not enough. You have to go a bit further. Practice it.
Eckhart Tolle is even encouraging you in his books to turn them into your daily practice. Many people however don’t follow that encouragement and they just mentally acknowledge the content of the book. The thing is that to be present is kind of a skill, so you have to actively practice it. You can’t learn driving a car just by reading car instruction. You have to get into the car and learn to drive it.
To be fair – there is still a great number of people who do practice “being present”. If not deeply and on a daily basis then even briefly as they read the book and they do experience the glimpses of the feeling that the author is talking about – deep and pleasant inner peace called “being present in the moment”.
This is exactly what you should be feeling – kind of unknown before bliss and deep inner peace. It can come for a short while in the beginning but eventually it will stay longer with you. It will also open your mind and make you see things from a greater perspective. It will open a lot of doors for you. If you didn’t get there yet, if you didn’t feel it yet – it means that it is still in front of you. And that’s great news! Exciting times ahead 🙂
What Is The Power Of Now About
My experience with recommending The Power Of Now shows me also that it is quite difficult to explain to people what the whole “NOW” thing really means. Usually we fall into the same trap – it is not really a thing that you can explain to someone.
“The Power of Now” is a spiritual book, you have to read it and then practice it and feel it, not only mentally acknowledge its content. Many people who have a strong ego are also simply not looking for anything that will affect their own mental construct, and they will defend themselves (their ego) from everything that can affect it.
Not everyone is ready for a shift in consciousness. And it’s perfectly fine.
However if you are reading this article – it means that you are ready for it.
I’m very happy to say that in my case practice pays off and the moments of presence are longer and longer. I was wondering many times how to share with the world what I already have in a way that will be approachable. Then a great idea came to my mind (as it usually happens to me after being present for a while).
There are several practices how to enter the state of presence.
A common problem is that it is very difficult for people to stay present in the moment as our mind produces a constant noise that is hard to calm down (compulsive thinking). And this is where in my opinion the problem really lies. You have to calm down the mind in order to stay present, but it is just so difficult.
Practicing The Power Of Now
I found a way to trick the mind, to calm it down which allows to stay in the present moment way longer and access it more easily. Benefits of that are unmanifested.
Unmanifested is a word used by Eckhart in his books. It just means that it opens all the doors. Staying present is the goal itself and everything will follow and everything will fall into its place when you will be present here and now. Probably you already know that.
So how to do that? Here it is:
I call it “MINDFULNESS GAME“.
The idea is to calm down your mind. Your mind is constantly looking for another task or a thing to do in the future, a future goal or maybe a problem from the past that you want to mentally resolve. It’s just the everyday noise that you are probably very familiar with.
So to calm down the noise and the stream of thinking you need to give your mind a task. Calm it down – assure that you are doing something. It will put your mind at ease. The mind will have its task and a future goal that it is constantly looking for.
Already a great realization for you might be the fact that we are talking about our mind as a “part of you”, not as a “you”. You are not your mind. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Mind is playing with you. Play with it as well.
Behave as you would be the presence, the spacious space behind your mind and your ego.
You received a body and mind that was given to you in this world. Play it as a player plays the game.
On a daily basis name what you are doing and combine it with the gateways to the Present Moment that Eckhart Tolle presented to us.
How To Practice The Power Of Now – 5 steps list
- Feel Your Whole Body
- Feel Your Hands (for the start feeling only your hands might be easier for you than feeling the whole body)
- Observe Your Breathing. Breath consciously.
- Look for the silence among the sounds.
- Observe your mind. What thought will come next? Observe and wait for the “rabbit to get out of the hole”.
Here’s also a video that describes Practicing The Power Of Now and the mentioned above gateways – it’s a good reminder:
How To Stay Longer In The Present Moment
The problem that many people have is that the mind is so noisy that it does not allow you to stay present.
What to do? You have to trick the mind. Calm it down.
- Choose a gateway to presence. Let’s choose Feel Your Whole Body.
- Feel Your Whole Body.
- Name what you are doing. For example: I’m walking home.
- Be present here and now. Feel your whole body.
- You can name additional things that are happening to you ( “I feel a breeze of air on my face”, “I feel the warmth of the sun on my body” etc). Best is to name a thing that you can feel in your body as it is also a gateway to presence. If you are thinking about something – you can name it as well. But don’t treat it as a mind exercise. Rest from the mind for a while. Return to presence. Return to your gateway – Feel Your Whole Body. Be present.
- Do it 30min – 1h a day for the start. For sure you will be able to find this amount of time daily for this practice.
- Everyday choose a different gateway and after a while you will see which of them work best for you. I encourage you to try all of them at least 3 times before you will stay with only some of them.
So let me explain you again what happens here.
Your mind needs to have some future goal that is defined. It is just so used to it. It won’t allow you to stay present for a long time as it will escape to the past or future thoughts.
You have to calm it down. Play with it – give your mind a future goal (for example: I’m walking home) in order to calm down the noise. Then you will access the presence more easily. Practice the exercise described above. When your mind is escaping from presence repeat the whole exercise (points 1-5).
As an additional thing – you can name other things that are happening to you. Try to choose things that are happening to your body as it will root you more in the presence (feel your feet when you are walking, feel the heaviness of your body, breeze of air, feel, try not to think, always return to the presence using your gateway).
Most important – don’t just read this article – PRACTICE IT.
We have also a product on this website – 5 cards with described above Mindfulness Game. You can order it from there or just download it for free and print if you wish.
Good luck and stay present!
Every attempt to learn to be present in the NOW is the best way you can spend your time. This I can guarantee you 🙂
Just make time to pay attention to yourself and your surroundings where ever you are intentionally. Be present to your life, vs being on automatic pilot or preoccupied. Notice who you are where you are. Being present to another is a great gift, I know I received it.
Well said. By being present to another you mean being in a relationship?
I am practicing now.
Great. Please let us know how it goes.
Using the realization that you are lost in compulsive thinking as the clue to come back to Presence, using one of the Portals suggested here, is a very effective Practice.
Another portal that works for me is Gratitude.
That’s a very good remark. Also acceptance is a great gateway.