The Power of Now is in the Surrender and Other Lessons

The gift of life is focusing on the now

In the ‘Power of Now,’’ Eckhart Tolle makes you question your state of living, physically and mentally.

He teaches us how through surrender from pain, life becomes easier to navigate.

Through this book, it teaches you how to manage the difficulties that life brings by focusing on the present moment.

I want to share some of my favourite quotes from this book and what it means to me.

Your Pain is Self-Inflicted

‘All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — -all forms of fear are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.’’

I took that quote very personally because in my life, I can see how much my dwelling in the past is associated with negative emotions.

There is a tendency to fuss over what was. Wanting things to have been different and better. Wanting to go back and change the past. Yet, there is so much anxiety and resentment that comes up. We cause ourselves pain by not letting go.

Choose to let go. Choose to free yourself from the bitterness and sadness of what yesterday brought.

Forgiveness is the way to Freedom

‘The moment you truly forgive, you have reclaimed your power from the mind. Non-forgiveness is the very nature of the mind, just as the mind-made false self, the ego cannot survive without strife and conflict. The mind cannot forgive. Only you can become present, you enter your body, you feel the vibrant peace and stillness emanate from being. That is why Jesus said: ‘Before you enter the temple, forgive.’

When we don’t forgive, our mind takes hold of that anger, and it creates images to feed into it. This takes over and manifests in our behaviour. In how we show up in the world.

Yet, we when we choose to detach from what happened and be okay with it, we free ourselves from the imaginary prison we have put others in. We free ourselves by letting others be.

Peace is in living where you are not where you want to be

‘‘But make sure you don’t start to run mental movies, project yourself into the future, and so lose the Now. Any action you take may not bear fruit immediately. Until it does — do not resist what is. If there is no action you can take, and you cannot remove yourself from the situation either, then use the situation to make you go more deeply into the surrender, more deeply into the Now, more deeply into the Being.’’

How many times do you catch yourself saying that tomorrow will be better? How many times do you imagine yourself having that future that would be the life of your dreams?

In the future, you will have more money. In the future, you will attain a better status. In the future, everything will be better…but is that really how life works?

There will always be problems. Unpleasant situations will always arrive. We must stop associating the future with a fairy tale and accept that our future is not even guaranteed.

All we have is now. All we have is this moment. You do with it what you can.

Surrender is the way to Bliss

‘‘Surrender to the grief, despair, fear, loneliness, or whatever suffering takes. Witness it without labelling it mentally. Embrace it. Then see how the miracle of surrender transmutes deep suffering into deep peace. This is your crucifixion. Let it become your resurrection and ascension.’’

Much of our dissatisfaction with life is due to resistance, especially to unpleasant emotions.

But it’s not just poking at the wound, it’s accepting that there is a wound there instead of denying it or ignoring it. That acceptance can initially seem like torture, but it frees you in a way because you admit the truth.

In admitting this truth, you can then choose how to heal from it. How to move beyond the sadness and loneliness.

Surrender is bliss because you can’t get to bliss without approaching surrender. Surrender is seeing, accepting, admitting, and then moving on.

Life is the Journey and not the Destination

‘One day I’ll make it. Is your goal taking up so much of your attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end? Is it taking the joy out of your doing? Are you waiting to start living? If you develop such a mind pattern, no matter what you achieve or get, the present will never be good enough, the future will always seem better. A perfect recipe for permanent dissatisfaction and non-fulfillment, don’t you agree?

When I was a child, I couldn’t wait to grow up. I wanted to be older. In my teenage year, I longed for my college days when I would get more freedom.

In my college days, I then longed for my professional working days when I would get more independence.

Now, as a working adult, I often smile at children and long for the days of being a child free from responsibilities and having to earn a means of living.

There is always the longing for more that sets up the cycle of unhappiness.

Rather than longing, I enjoy where I am now. It’s a constant fighting battle to stay in the Present and not three months or five months from now. Where I am is good.

Final Thoughts

The Power of Now is such an insightful read that will really get you thinking about the way you live. This book can free you if you allow it to. The secret is holding on to the words it teaches and allowing it to guide our daily living.

All we have is now. The good and the bad is in the now. How you choose to be around this space is up to you so choose your peace.