On one of the online forums to which I belong, whenever anyone asks for book recommendations to help them with personal development, spiritual growth, becoming more intuitive, meditation, relationships or the Law of Attraction, the first book recommended and endorsed over and over again, is Eckhart Tolle’s The Power Of Now. This book has clearly had a profound and powerful effect on many people’s lives, including my own.
Like Tolle himself, this is a quiet book. And it is in this quietness, in the spaces between the words, that the book’s power becomes apparent. The book gently and lovingly, yet firmly, deconstructs our egoic minds and allows us to experience the pure spiritual presence that lies behind the identities created by our egos. Letting go of the incessant chatter of our analytical minds, and living in The Now, is far from being an empty and boring place to be (as many people starting out on this journey imagine). Instead it is a rich and fulfilling experience, full of intense joy and peace. It can be quite overwhelming the first few times you experience this – I dipped in and out when I started, each time increasing the length of time for which I was able to sustain such presence.
The concepts Tolle discusses are both profound, yet simple, but it can be a challenging process to implement. Our egoic minds are strong and they do not give up their hold on us easily! But, the more you practice the principles, the easier it does get. It is worth persevering – the rewards for doing so are enormous. For example:
- Going about daily life with a strong background hum of joy and peace is infinitely preferable to one of anxiety and stress. And this is noticeable to others as well – people (even those who are not into woo-woo things themselves) have often said things to me like “I enjoy being around you, you have good vibes”.
- You are able to focus on tasks before you with much more clarity. The full strength of your mind is brought to bear on your work (and play!) as it is no longer cluttered with unrelated issues.
- You feel alive and your health usually improves. You glow with vitality. Tolle himself is one of the best examples of practicing his own teachings – he looks about 40 years old, but is actually in his early 60s!
- Your life circumstances change to reflect the abundance of love, joy and peace to which you are connected. Life flows more smoothly, problems seemingly disappear, and new and exciting experiences and things are drawn to you.
Eckhart Tolle is currently working with Oprah Winfrey on a series of teleclasses based on his second book, A New Earth, which expands on the concepts in The Power Of Now. While I found it most helpful to me to read the books in the order in which Tolle wrote them, you can start with the books in any order, and some people have found A New Earth more easy to digest. If you’d like to follow the New Earth webcasts live, you will need to register on Oprah’s website. Be warned though that they have experienced some bandwidth issues because of such high demand, resulting in some viewers not being able to log in. You don’t need to log in, however, to download the classes after they have taken place (you can download the video, audio, or a pdf transcript of the show, depending on your preference and internet connection).
2 comments:
I am so greatful to Eckhart Tolle and Oprah for turning me onto Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and her beautiful book ""My Stroke of Insight"". Her story is amazing and her gift to all of us is a book purchase away I'm happy to say.
Dr Taylor was a Harvard brain scientist when she had a stroke at age 37. What was amazing was that her left brain was shut down by the stroke - where language and thinking occur - but her right brain was fully functioning. She experienced bliss and nirvana and the way she writes about it (or talks about it in her now famous TED talk) is incredible.
What I took away from Dr. Taylor's book above all, and why I recommend it so highly, is that you don't have to have a stroke or take drugs to find the deep inner peace that she talks about. Her book explains how. ""I want what she's having"", and thanks to this wonderful book, I can! Thank you Dr. Taylor, and thank you Eckhart and Oprah.
Welcome, and thank you for the information about Dr Taylor. I have been remiss in listening to her talk, and this was a good reminder to me to do so right away!
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