Book Summary: The Power of Now (by Eckhart Tolle)

One of the books I’ve read and listened to over 10 times is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. With over 10 million copies sold and translated into 33 languages, it has truly helped people to be more present happy and probably also enlightened.

So we’ll go through chapter by chapter and I’ll also tell how I implemented them into my life for maximum productivity and how you can too.

CHAPTER 1: YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND

In the first chapter, Eckhart introduces the radical idea that we are not our minds. We are not our inner commentator, our thoughts, or even our sense of self.

What we are instead is simply the awareness, the thing that observes. You might occasionally catch yourself talking to yourself in your own head. In this case, the observing is what you really are, and the talking is some entity trying to be you. And for all Lord of the Ring fans, imagine that Wormtongue is your mind and Theoden is the real you.

But according to Eckhart, almost all people in the world are identified with their minds, or with their wormtongues. This creates the illusion of separation and a feeling of not being satisfied, no matter what happens. But as soon as we realize that we are not our thoughts, we can observe them and start paying attention to the…