Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - The Power of Now | Eckhart Tolle | Book of the Week

Episode Date: January 3, 2021

"The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step you are taking at this moment. That's all there ever is." - Eckhart Tolle Book List: Week 5 (This Week) - The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3rwCqga Week 6 (Next week) - Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power by John Meacham Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3rzTFNA Episode Breakdown: 0:00 Introduction 1:48 You Are Not Your Thoughts 3:29 All You Have Is Now 5:18 Accept What You Can't Control 7:35 Closing/Next Book

What's going on, guys, this week for the book of the week. I'm going to do The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, a guide to spiritual enlightenment, and a perfect book for this fast-paced world we live in where, you know, it's, you know, always a battle to combat negative thoughts, negative self-talk, all the noise and the minutia. You know, it's a great tool to peel that back. He says, you know, the mind is a powerful weapon. It's a powerful tool, but you give it too much power. It takes over the show.

And that's what this is about, that awareness, understanding that what we think is not who we are. We can separate the two, and as he puts it, live consciously. So he starts off with the parable that kind of frames the book. He's talking about a beggar on the side of the road. And the beggar's asking for money. He's been doing it for years. And eventually this guy comes along, and he's talking to the best. beggar and he says what's in your bucket that you're sitting on the beggar says nothing it's

empty and the guy says you sure take a look and the beggar says no it's empty and eventually he gets him to look the guy flips it over and the beggar sees that the bucket he's been sitting on has gold in there and that is obviously a metaphor for this book and the idea that everything we need is within we have the tools the power the resources inside ourselves right now to combat all the externalities that we think control our life, but they don't control our life. We're letting them control our lives. And we don't have to. Right. So that's the idea here. And I'm going to break it into kind of the three big pieces that I thought, hey, this is useful for me. I'm going to use this in my own life. And, you know, hopefully there's something here that you can take and use as well.

So the first idea that I found incredibly valuable is the idea that the things we think about are not us. And we tend to conflate the two, right? We think of. our thoughts as who we are, one package. But what he says is when your mind is constantly filled with worries and ideas and remembering the past and trying to figure out the future, you're sabotaging yourself. You're unconscious. You're not there. You're asleep.

You're on autopilot. So we need to find an off switch so that we can gain control of our lives. And he's amazed at how human beings walk around. As sleep, as he puts it. We have conversations face to face with each other. Asleep, unable to break away from the thoughts in our head. And so that's kind of the first thing that I found valuable in this book is like, dude, step back from that.

See the difference, you know? And he, I think if I remember correctly, he uses the idea of a hole and maybe a mouse hole. I don't remember, but he's like, watch it. Wait to see something coming out of it. You know, like imagine being fixated on that to see what happens next. Well, take a step back from your thoughts and do the same thing. Ask yourself, what thought is going to come next? And sit there in stillness and wait.

And then when something does pop into your head, you can observe it. So you make yourself not the thought, but the observer of the thought. And that distinction is really the foundation for this book, realizing that you have that control and you have that ability to do that. And that is the gateway into a more conscious, happy, healthy life. The second idea and arguably the most important is, as the title states, the power of now. The idea that all we have is now. All we have is the present moment. He has a great quote that just like the moon borrows light from the sun. Well, the past and the present borrow from the now.

That's all we can ever have. It's all we'll ever be. And that's why the idea of, you know, constantly looking down the road thinking the future will solve our problems is a fool's errand. because the future is just going to be another now. And until we learn to solve and understand and immerse ourselves in the now, it'll be the thoughts in your head that control you. You don't have control, right? 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, its concepts, its thoughts. Or, again, that future state. which is not real. And eventually, we'll be a now, will be a present moment, but thinking about the future as an entity down the road

doesn't make sense in this context, right? You can't control the future, but you can control the now. He mentioned a professor that would talk to his class, and he would say, what in this moment is stopping you? What's the problem? What are you running from? What do you need? What's the emergency?

The answer's, you know, nothing, right? Everything's fine in the now. Our pain, our suffering, our issues come from either bringing back up ideas and stories and thoughts from the past or worrying about the future, which doesn't make sense. Because the only place you can fix the future is the now. And a really great distinction and what I believe to be a very powerful idea. Number three is the idea of acceptance, right? Accepting those things all around us that we can't control, as the Stoics point out.

You know, if you don't, they lead to what he calls problems. The things that make us uneasy, things that we hear about, they give us a bad feeling in our stomach, things that all these thoughts around our day-to-day life that make us uneasy or bring pain or suffering, those are problems. And he's saying, if that's happening, you're either in the past or in the present, but you're not in the now. He says if something needs to be dealt with in the moment, deal with it. Why make it a problem? The mind likes problems because they create identity. And this is both normal and insane, which that made me laugh.

The first time I heard it that juxtaposition. It's like something can be commonplace and done on a mass scale and still make absolutely zero sense, which is just interesting to say the least. But it's not suggesting that we accept the bad. I don't want that to come through. It's not saying things aren't great, whatever, accept them and move on. No, it's saying that when you're in the now, you realize that you have control, right?

The past doesn't define you. The future hasn't arrived yet. In this moment, you have the ability to do something about it. And he says there are three things. You can remove yourself from the situation. You can change the situation or just accept the situation. And the reason I found this so powerful is because there are things in my life, right? When they pop up, they do create.

It's like I need to do something about this or this is a this bothers me every time I hear it and well, then you're not living in the now because you either need to accept it and come to peace with it. You know, remove yourself from it so that it stops presenting itself or change it altogether. But it reminds us that when we are present, when we are here, we have control and we can mitigate that pain and that suffering in those thoughts and that anxiety. You know, and that's certainly in our day-to-day life a powerful thing to remember. So that is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Very good book, very useful.

Definitely going to implement some of these practices and, you know, make a point to be more aware, be more conscious of my day-to-day, separate my thoughts from what's underneath and, you know, excited to see where that clarity takes me. And hopefully you guys do the same and enjoy this over. review. Next week, I'm going to be doing Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power by John Meacham. I've already started, and I think it's going to be very impactful. You know, not just from the historical sense. I'm not going to dive into like the political philosophy, you know, much. I know that's not the point of this channel or why we hang out digitally here.

But just the man himself and how, you know, he thought of personal development, how he broke up his day in valued versatility. And, you know, not just being versed in law, but exercise and history and philosophy and being well-rounded, the power of the individual. How he broke down kind of found a middle ground between the real and the ideal so that he could make things happen. A lot of people live in this conceptual world and it's like, yeah, but where's the meaning? Like, how do you get the wheels on the pavement? And he had a very good way of, you know, taking his philosophies and his beliefs and implementing them. He's very good around people, very good at just making things happen, obviously. And that's where I think the true value is going to be and I think you'll really enjoy it.

So if you get a chance to check it out, it's actually not as long as it seems. on Audible 1.5 speed, knock that out in 10, 12 hours. So, you know, I think it's worth it. And I'm excited to dive into all the key points. And we'll catch you guys next week. Have a good one.