The words of Eckhart Tolle have the power to inspire and awaken us, as you will see from the below powerful quotes that may transform your life.
Eckhart Tolle is one of the most influential spiritual writers in the western world.
In his work, he explains how he was often depressed, until the age of 29. At this time, he had a spiritual epiphany. Feeling at his most depressed he thought, “I don’t want to live with myself anymore”. This made him think who is the “me” I don’t want to live with? At this point, Eckart Tolle underwent an inner transformation, which later gave life to many of his profound quotes.
After this, Eckhart spent several years wandering in a “deep state of bliss”. He then moved to Vancouver and became a spiritual teacher and writer.
Two most renowned books by Eckhart Tolle are The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose from which many of these quotes come.
In 2011, Tolle was listed by Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world. Tolle does not identify with a specific religion but has been influenced by a wide range of spiritual works.
The Power of Now and A New Earth sold, between them, 8 million copies. In 2008, 35 million people participated in a series of ten live webinars with Tolle Oprah Winfrey.
Tolle has had a powerful impact on so many people, so I guess his words are worth studying.
Here are 6 Eckhart Tolle quotes that could change the way you think about everything:
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.
Our suffering happens inside our head. Our thoughts have the power to create a life that is pure heaven or pure hell.
Many people don’t want to hear this. They see unhappiness as caused by something outside of themselves. They look for a person or situation to blame for their unhappiness.
It does seem like that is true when bad things happen in our lives. But we always have a choice about how to respond to negative events. The good news about this is that we can also use our thoughts to create a life of peace, happiness and contentment.
When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation or accept it, all else is madness.
I have to admit that I am a worrier. These words from Tolle have helped me to see the futility of going over and over things in my head. He offers us three options when faced with something we don’t like.
We can choose to leave the situation, change the situation or accept the situation. If we see ourselves as a helpless victim, we can do none of these things. Worrying constantly about the situation will do nothing but make us anxious and unhappy.
This is, of course not a new idea. The serenity prayer tells us the same thing.
Some changes look negative on the surface, but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.
When things happen in our lives that we view as negative, they can make us feel like the universe is attacking or neglecting us. Often, the reverse is true. Sometimes we have to trust that our negative experiences have something to teach us.
When we lose something we care about, it can cause feelings of loss and grief. Whether we lose someone to death or the breakdown of a relationship, it is understandable that we will feel great sadness. If we lose a beloved home or a business we have worked hard to create, we also feel a huge loss.
Tolle suggests that these losses happen to us for a reason. They are making space for something new to enter. We often experience suffering when things in our lives change. However, change is a natural part of life. Our suffering will be eased when we learn to accept that.
When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you become stressed.
This Eckhart Tolle quote was quite a revelation for me. It’s a very different way of looking at what we do.
Focusing on our future goals means we are not living in the present moment, which Tolle tells us is that there is. When we slow down and do whatever it is we are doing mindfully, we can relieve ourselves of the stress we feel.
Obviously, not everything we do is filled with fun and joy. We have to do the laundry and file the tax return. But even these boring jobs are more easily done when we stay in the moment.
Instead of asking “what do I want from life?” A more powerful question is, “what does life want from me?”
This is another one of Eckhart Tolle quotes that really changed the way I think about my life. Somehow, this shift in perspective gave me a whole new outlook on life.
Asking what life wants from us is a very deep question and not one that can always be answered easily. However, meditating on this question can reveal deeper truths about what we should be focusing on in our lives.
For what you do to others, you do to yourself.
Tolle had a deep understanding of Karmic Law. He realized that Karma is not that what you do will come back to you. He explains that we are all connected to the same universal energy. For this reason, if you harm someone else, you are actually harming yourself.
Many of us have trouble understanding this because we see ourselves as separate. This is why all the religions in history have some teaching about harming others. We shouldn’t be good and respectful of others just because it’s the ‘right’ thing to so. Whatever we do to others we do to ourselves also. This is explained well by the adage:
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
We hope you have enjoyed these quotes by Eckhart Tolle. Please share your favorite Eckhart Tolle wisdom in the comments.
References:
- https://www.eckharttolle.com
