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This was without a doubt the best book I’ve read on mindfulness, maybe even book). A bold statement! Something just clicked with me and not to put too fine a point on it, but my life has changed in so many fantastic ways.

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual guru who had an awakening around the age of thirty when he was extremely depressed (to put it mildly) and realised that he was not his thoughts, but the observer of those thoughts.

The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity-the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.

The book is written in the style of question and answer, which I thought was a great way to break up the information. It did, however, mean there was a lot of repetition, but in the foreword we’re warned of this. We’re told it’s use is intended so the reader really gets what Eckhart is saying.

The largest portion of this book is taken up with the notion of surrender. Surrendering to the present moment instead of perpetually resisting. So often throughout life we’re trying to get somewhere else or wishing we were doing something else, but that means we miss the here and now, what is.

Surrender does not transform what is, at least not directly. Surrender transforms you. When you are transformed your whole world is transformed, because the world is only a reflection.

I have so many paragraphs highlighted it’s unbelievable! I plan to look at these sections often as I can’t explain how much they’ve helped me. Before I started this book I was so mind identified that every reaction I made was according to a script. That script was my conditioning from the past. I wasn’t reacting to situations according to present moment conditions. Well that shits over now and I know it.

More than anything mindfulness has helped me get in touch with my body. People (and I was one of them) don’t consider their bodies enough. It’s not something that’s given enough focus in our society. Our bodies are the vehicles that take us through life, so they deserve more of a consideration. In our consumerist culture it’s all about attaining, rather than simply being here with what is, whatever that may be.

Mindfulness has helped my anxiety and acceptance of my current situation and I highly recommend that you give it a try. If you access the power of the moment you can find the deep peace that’s inherent within all of us.