The Power of Now book helps you to grow spiritually and emotionally. It gives the lessons and courage to accept what is, stay in the moment, and remain grateful. This book covers a lot about consciousness, spirituality, mindfulness, and the art and the practice of being in the moment and aware. It’s the type of book that will keep teaching you lessons and stuff you can learn. But it’s about applying it in your life, practicing gratitude, practicing mindfulness, and being more conscious.
Nothing happens in the past or the future. The past is a collection of nails but hasn’t happened yet. Everything that happens is always in the now. But still allow our minds to take our consciousness away directly in ways that hurt us. But 80 to 90 percent of our thinking has no practical purpose, and that’s all negativity.
5 Key Lessons From The Power Of Now Book
We’re going over one of the most influential spiritual awakening books of the past couple of centuries, going over the power of now Eckhart Tolle. I’m giving you the best 5 lessons from The Power Of Now. Let’s start!
1. Observe your thoughts
You’re sabotaging yourself when your mind is constantly filled with worries and figuring out the future. You’re unconscious, and you’re on autopilot. So we need to find an off switch to gain control of our lives. We have conversations face to face with each other, asleep, unable to break away from the thoughts in our heads. You do step back from that and see the difference.
- Wait to see something coming out of it, like imagine being fixated on that to see what happens next. We’ll take a step back from our thoughts and do the same thing.
- Ask yourself what thought will come next, and sit there and wait. Then, when something does pop into your head, you can observe it.
Notes: You make yourself not the observer’s thought, and that distinction is the foundation for this book. You have that control and ability to do that. That is the gateway into more conscious, happy, and healthy life.
2. Realize the power of now
The past in the present borrowed from the now we can ever have so will ever be. That’s why the idea of constantly looking down the road, thinking the future will solve our problems, is a fool’s errand. It is because the future is going to be another now.
Until we learn to solve and understand and immerse ourselves in the now, the thoughts in our heads will control us. You don’t have control. So the idea is the pain in our lives is not from the present moment. It’s rarely ever from the present moment. The pain in our lives is from the past, which is not real. Its ideas, concepts, thoughts, or that future state is unreal.
- In this context, thinking about the future as an entity down the road doesn’t make sense. You can’t control the future, but you can control the present. The author mentioned the professor that would talk to his class and say, what at this moment is stopping you? What’s the problem? Everything’s fine now.
Notes: Our pain or suffering comes from bringing back ideas, stories, and past thoughts or worrying about the future. It doesn’t make sense because the only place you can fix the future is the now, and there is a great distinction.
3. Accept the reality
Accepting those things all around us that we can’t control. If you don’t, they lead to problems. They give us a bad feeling in our stomach, things that all these thoughts around our day-to-day life make us uneasy or bring pain. You’re either in the past or present, but you’re not present.
Why make it a problem? The mind likes problems because they create identity. It’s like something can be commonplace and done on a mass scale, making zero sense. But it’s not suggesting that we accept the bad. It’s not saying things aren’t great. Accept them and move on.
- The past doesn’t define you. The future hasn’t arrived yet. At this moment, you can do something about it. The author says there are three things you can remove yourself from the situation. You can change the situation or accept the situation.
Notes: Remove yourself from it so it stops presenting itself, or change it altogether. When we are present, we have control and can mitigate that pain. Also, It is the best lesson from The Power Of Now.
4. Watch the thinker
The next time you encounter negative thoughts, observe them. Listen to the voice in your head, feel the emotion, and see your reaction to it. Do not fear the efforts with analysis or judgment there. As you’re watching presence as they come and go, the voice is here. Thinking and consciousness are not synonymous. You are separate from your mind, a silent observing presence that can only survive by entirely focusing on the present moment.
- Ask yourself what’s going on within me at the moment as an exercise. Sit down and wait for your next effort. When it comes, observe it. Don’t judge or analyze. Let it go, and then do the same for the next one.
Notes: You are present when you recognize and observe what’s happening in your mind from this perspective.
5. Live in the present
You can also enter the present moment by being intensely conscious of the experiences that you are having right now in everyday life. You can practice this by taking any routine activity that is usually a means to an end and giving it your undivided attention so that it becomes an end in itself. For example, when walking down the street, pay attention to every step, every movement, and the people around you.
- Make it your practice to withdraw from the past and the future whenever needed. Start noticing your mind’s tendency to pull you away and become conscious of it. Instead, as you decide to identify from the mind, the thoughts lose their significance.
Notes: You can and should identify parts of your life that need improvement and set goals for yourself. But learning to be present will help you achieve those goals. So instead of focusing on the hundred possible things, focus on the one thing.
Conclusion
When you worry about the future, you tend to move away from what you can do now. Think of it as climbing a mountain. If you only have eyes on the mountain peak, you’ll miss what’s in front of you. You won’t be able to tackle the smaller challenges, and you know the actual climbing of the mountain. So keep track of where it is, but no more than necessary.
Future imaginings are a distraction from the present without helping you get anywhere. What you are doing is the only thing real in your adventure, progression, and self-development right now. Surrender to the reality of each moment. So you may as well work with it. If you find the now intolerable, you can remove yourself from the situation, change it or accept it.
If your current path is not joyful, turn around and take a different path. Beware of a destructive city of the unobserved mind. Don’t let yourself succumb to compulsive negative thoughts. Know when they are harming you and shift your consciousness to the present. Because tomorrow never terms. That is only for now.
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