The Power of The Present

Lessons from The Power of Now, By Eckhart Tolle

Question: What is the most precious resource you have? Time, money, relationships, your career, a hobby, something you own (car, home, etc.)? While all of these things hold importance, consider this:

Now is the most precious thing — it is the only thing there is.

— Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now [paraphrase]

Tolle’s book, The Power of Now, challenges our assumptions about life and what’s important. He says that this current moment in time, Now, the very moment in which you are reading this sentence, is the most precious thing. Do you believe this? Do you believe this very moment is the most important thing in your life? What’s more important @ this very moment than Now? Nothing!

We’ve all heard the adage, “Time is your most valuable resource.” But, time is not the same thing as Now. Time encompasses both the past and the future. And here’s where we get challenged. The only slice of time that matters is Now. I think the author would probably say that “time” doesn’t include Now — Now is merely your current existence. I know, that’s a little weird, but consider how often we connect the current moment with something in the past or future. We do it constantly. We tend to see the present thru the lens of the past and the future. We analyze endlessly. We need to stop thinking about what has been or what might be and live in the moment.

The power of Now is releasing the compulsion to “think” about everything and just exist in the current moment — Eckhart Tolle

Nothing is more important than Now. Think about it: When do things happen in life? Not in the past, nor in the future, but Now. The past is nothing more than a series of previous Now moments and the future is Now moments that haven’t occurred yet. Now is when things happen, but we tend to ruin it with frequent visits to the past and future.

Now is when my life unfolds — not in the past, nor in future. In fact, the past and future are enemies to most of us.

• THE PAST: Our identity is wrapped up in the past. The past gives us an identity through our former experiences.
• THE FUTURE: We look to the future as our savior, hoping that something will happen to save the day.

So, together the past and future hold power over us. The past with its identity-giving power and the future with hope-filled promises.

We certainly shouldn’t ignore our past or avoid looking toward the future. But, we need to question how we utilize the past and future.

• What we normally do: Dwell in the past & future with brief trips to the present
• What we should do: Live in the moment only visiting the past and future, briefly, when needed

Have your permanent dwelling place in the Now and briefly visit the past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation. Do you need to plan for the future, then do it. Do you need to analyze an event in the past to improve your present situation, then do it. When you’re finished come back to the present. But face it, we tend to wallow in the past, ruminating over things we have done wrong and we aggressively chase the future with the hope of deliverance thru an outcome or result. Our social acceptance, result/performance culture causes us to think about and analyze everything. One reason we have trouble focusing on the task @ hand is that we’re compulsive thinkers.

Compulsive think[ing]…means almost everyone, lives in a state of … separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind

— Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Mentally, we’re doing too many things @ once. We’re working on our current task, but our minds race to previous experiences and yet-to-be hopes — we’re spread too thin & fragmented.

We’re all aware of how technology negatively impacts our ability to focus. We now have a word, phubbing, to describe snubbing someone to look at your phone. Phubbing occurs because we aren’t present in the moment. While it’s inconceivable that we would never have to look at our phone during a conversation, admittedly, most of the time it’s unnecessary (and damaging to our relationships). If what’s going on right in front of you, in the real world, isn’t important then leave and do something else. The phubbing phenomenon reminds us that most people always want to be somewhere else.

Mentally we snub ourselves by over-analyzing — constantly ruminating over the past and hoping for the future, snubbing the Now.

So, how do we fix this? The author says the fix is “The Power of Now.” By living in the present. But how do we accomplish this? We need to realize that while we exist in this present moment, many times we aren’t living in the present. Mentally we have traveled to some other point in time. Our past disappointments and future expectations take hold, and we cease to focus fully on the present. Existence and living are not the same things. We are capable of living in a time other than the one in which we exist.

The book offers some practical suggestions. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Are you always trying to get somewhere other than where you are?
• Is most of your doing just a means to an end?
• Is fulfillment always just around the corner or confined to short-lived pleasures?
• Are you always focused on becoming, achieving, and attaining, or alternatively chasing some new thrill or pleasure?
• Do you believe that if you acquire more things you will become more fulfilled, good enough, or psychologically complete?
• Are you waiting for a man or woman to give meaning to your life?

Piercing questions, no doubt about it. We can all relate to one or more of them. Our lives have become result/achievement oriented. The point of these questions isn’t to immediately solve any problems, but to alert us to how this diseased type of thinking operates as a pattern in our lives.

Thinking has become a disease. Disease happens when things get out of balance.

— Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem! These questions expose the destructive patterns in our thinking and reveal the problem. Now that we see the problem, how do we fix it?

Step 1 — Become the “watcher.” When this destructive pattern of thinking emerges, observe yourself. Tolle calls this observer mode, “Watching the thinker.” Watching involves noticing without judgment. We have continuous dialogues in our minds. But we can short-circuit them by observing without judgment. Since we have these internal recording playing often, ignoring them might seem like the wise thing to do. Tolle says, not so, we should listen to them often. But when we listen, we listen without evaluation. Just listen. Overtime we get used to the internal dialogue and we become better at noticing without judging. Watching ourselves is much like increasing our awareness by closing our eyes. Closing our eyes heightens our other senses. Likewise, when we watch ourselves without judgment, we are more able to focus on the present moment rather than interpreting the present situation through the lens of the past or future.

Step 2 — Further the mental disconnect. Watching ourselves creates a disconnect with our current mode of thinking. You can ask yourself, “I wonder what my next thought will be?” This question allows you to further disassociate from your thinking Other questions to ask are: “Am I at peace?” “What’s going on inside me right now?” These questions cause a mental distraction.

Step 3 — Cultivate a sense of presence in your daily life. Take any routine task: meal preparation, laundry, or cleaning the dishes and give it your full attention. Generally, these tasks are a means to an end. Instead of rushing through the task, focus on it. Fully experience it. Center your mind on your actions instead of something else. Connecting our minds with our actions is a form of meditation. It brings us into the present and connects us with real life. Take the simple act of walking. We all do it every day, but what’s the purpose of walking? Merely to get somewhere? Maybe so, but we can use walking as a form of active meditation. We only need to be aware of our walking rather than daydreaming. Be aware of your steps, the sensation of the air around you, and your breathing. When you get where you’re going, you’ll be focused and clear. When we were kids, we walked to enjoy walking. Now we rush around. We always feel like we need to be somewhere other than where are.

Step 3.1 — Stop focusing on arriving (literally and metaphorically). When we walk (or are stuck in traffic) why are we so rushed? Our focus on arriving causes us to feel rushed. We need to stop fixating on arriving, we can’t control traffic so why not enjoy the ride? Metaphorically, we fixate on arriving through our goals and achievements — we’re seldom satisfied with where we are currently.

Think this all sounds odd, weird, & strange? Well, it does since it’s miles away from the way we currently live as “compulsive thinkers.” But, it costs nothing to try one idea from Tolle’s book. What have you got to lose? Besides, living in the past and future will rob you of happiness.

Consider this:

Knowledge generally falls into 2 categories:

• Incremental — Adding to and confirming what you already know. E.g. reading another book on sales or communication when you’ve already read 20.
• Breakthrough — Knowledge that has power to change your life.

For most of us The Power of Now, falls into the breakthrough category. It’s new and different enough that the book can greatly impact our lives. Knowledge that rubs us the wrong way and does not fit into our mental framework is valuable. Disconfirming knowledge is worth more than knowledge that confirms what we already know & believe. This is how science progresses, through disconfirming evidence.

Social media conditions us to live for the expectations, approval, & recognition of others. We feel that if we can get these things from others then we’ll be happy. But, The Power of Now gives us a new way to live. A way that is focused on happiness through wholeness with yourself, your environment, and those around you. That’s disconfirming and potentially life changing.

Still not convinced…then follow Bruce Lee’s advice: