The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment / Eckhart Tolle

RATINGS

Overall: 4 / 5 stars

Text Level: Easy

Entertainment: Medium

Self-Help: High

Genres: Non-Fiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Psychology, Personal Development, Inspirational

Page Count: 229

Buy on: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Is this book right for me and/or my inmate?

If you find yourself constantly circling back to the feeling of self-loathing and despair about your current life situation because you’re focused on the past and future, this book offers a new perspective on how to gain a peaceful mind.

Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)

Spiritual growth by focusing on your here and now.

Speaking with fellow inmates, I hear frequently about how they wish an event in the past was different or how they are waiting to rebuild life once they get home. Rarely do I hear them talk about what they can do at this moment of now to begin to find health. I have also often found myself in this mental trap of agonizing over my past ‘what if’s,’ leading to guilt, sorrow, and suffering. The Power of Now wants readers to break these mental habits of focusing on only the past and future to live a fulfilled life of the Now.

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher that provides a simple message to his readers. If you can free yourself to concentrate on the current moment of the Now in life instead of worrying about the future or past, you have a better chance for inner peace. Written in a question-answer dialogue, Tolle leads readers through a variety of the major life topics that seem to hold us all back. Each time he explains a common struggle that we face his goal is for us to focus on acceptance of the moment to be what it is instead of worrying about what it may become.

As inmates, our release dates always weigh heavy on our minds. We make mental plans, that are really excuses for why we must wait until we get home to be healthy and happy. This often leads to us neglecting our relationships with loved ones and our inner selves because we tell ourselves we are powerless to make the change now. This book teaches us that isn’t true. By focusing on each moment to grow and work towards peace, we don’t have to wait to find joy and provide it to others. Accepting that I am alive here and now and this moment matters as a chance to grow towards being more is the first step we can learn to build a life of change. The lessons in this book can offer that starting point.

Book Quotes:

“The more you are focused on time - past and future - the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

“As soon as you can honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease.”