Greetings all you Wannabe Reality Superstar readers! Today’s post is being brought to you by the lovely, fabulous, and oh so chic Erin from the state that i am in! Wow, writing my own introduction sure is fun! I should do this more often…but seriously, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to give you your weekly dose of Therapy Tuesday!
When K offered up the chance to get a free book in exchange for a review on her blog, I jumped. I love books, I love free, and I love writing reviews. What could be bad about this?
When I received The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in the mail, I told myself to keep an open mind. I’m the kind of person who read anything and everything – there are a few self-help books under my belt – but I generally stay away from self-help of this variety because I find it to be a bit preachy. Nonetheless, I knew it was a bestseller and Oprah-endorsed, so I expected to at least learn something new even if I wasn’t blown away by the book.
There is no nice way to say this. I hated this book with a fiery passion. It did not make me feel at peace. Rather, it made me want to chew off my arm. I bet if we asked Eckhart Tolle why I felt that way, he’d say that I wasn’t really listening to his message.
My problems with the book were as follows. First off, the tone of the book was extremely condescending. Written in a question/answer format, many of the answers started out with “You’re not really listening” or “You don’t understand what I’m saying.” Way to kick someone when they’re down, dude. Secondly, I felt that he frequently took philosophy and other spiritual messages and twisted them to fit his needs.
Basically, he wants people to stop thinking so much. I get the idea that as a culture we over-analyze and whatnot, but his message was basically to stop thinking all together. Sorry Eckhart, but not all of us can wander around for years at a time, sleeping on park benches in a state of euphoria.
Also, have you seen his picture on the back of the book? He looks like just the sort of guy who is plotting to take over the world. He wants us to stop thinking for ourselves so that he can think for us!
Sorry, back to reality. Basically, I didn’t feel like this book offered any real direction or advice to those who seek it. His message was so self-righteous, preachy, and irritating that it was difficult to weed through all that hoo-ha to find any kernels of truth or wisdom. Weed through it I did, though. I managed to loosely interpret a lot of his thoughts into some semblance of sense. Here are his thoughts, along with my interpretations:
- Live in the Now. The past and future do not matter. – Ok, I get the live in the moment thing. We all need to embrace our lives as they are now and not look back with regret on the past. We also shouldn’t put our lives on hold waiting for something to happen in the future. That being said, my past makes me who I am, and my plans for the future are helping me to become who I will be. I can’t just ignore that.
- You are Not Your Mind – I actually don’t agree with this at all. What I know to be true about brain development also contradicts this statement. However, I know that I am not my anxiety. I know that that one part of me isn’t who I am. Eckhart Tolle has a lengthy discussion about how to stop thinking. Most of it was crap, but I do believe that as a society we fret, stew, and over-analyze most things. That’s unhealthy and we certainly should try to take control of our thoughts – I don’t think that stopping thinking all together is the answer, though.
Overall, I felt like this book did a very poor job of getting any type of message across. Don’t read this. Instead, if you are looking for something with a similar message about the power of you life, read Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho. I know the title is morbid, but it’s not only a better-written book, it’s a great and inspirational story – without too much of the cheese factor!
Thanks to Erin for reviewing!
I also read the book and my thoughts were not far from Erin’s thoughts. I am a self-help book guru and I wholeheartedly admit that some self-help books do widen my eyes. I felt Tohle’s book was okay. Thats it just an okay. I have read much more spiritual enlightening books such as the one I will be giving away in this post!
The only thing I learned well relearned or was reiterated to me from “The Power of Now” is that thinking too much about the past will bring you sorrow and sadness, thinking too much about the future will bring you fear. But in “the now,” such things cannot survive. When you’re living in the moment, the fully conscious PRESENT, it’s impossible to be sad and fearful.
Well, I am going to give the first taker a copy of one of the books that has left a tremendous impact on me and has helped me through my bouts of mental illness, The Four Agreements. All I ask is for a short review. Takers?
Filed under: 
