20 Best Quotes From Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Learning How To Find Inner Peace
“Don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem.” - Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Eckhart Tolle often teaches people to never complain. The most challenging time to do that is when someone says something that is completely not true about you. From the above quote, we can learn that it’s actually other people’s problems when they define you. Don’t complain or it would become your problem.
“Life is the dancer and you are the dance.” - Eckhart Tolle
This is probably one of the most famous quotes of Eckhart Tolle. In a lot of ways, life is performing something called “you” instead of you performing something called “life”. Events that happen to you are like a river, random and non-stopping, and you are part of the river. It’s likely that we are not as passive as the quote may suggest but the quote is written in such beautiful fashion to illustrate the point that you should awaken the “observer you” inside you.
“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.” - Eckhart Tolle
The above quote is very important. There is a better version of you inside you. Being able to observe yourself is the first step for finding that better you.
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” - Eckhart Tolle
All situations can be viewed as neutral events. When you decide to view your situation negatively, it’s inevitable that you would have negative emotions.
“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.” - Eckhart Tolle
Letting things go is try. Not arguing can be harder than defending your point. Quitting can be harder than continuing. It’s not that you should never defend or keep going. It’s just that you have to be aware that there are times when you are in a fight or a journey that is not worth continuing.
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” - Eckhart Tolle
Everything has the good side and the bad side. So are we and our lives. Be aware of the truly good things and enjoy the deep joy that comes with them.
“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.” - Eckhart Tolle
When something triggers your anger, ask yourself if that thing somehow has some truth in it that is related to something bad inside you. Don’t get angry. Be curious. Learn from the trigger to know more about yourself.
“You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” - Eckhart Tolle
Anything you think you have, you don’t really have it. Is your apartment still your apartment one hundred years from now? Whatever you thought you were owning, you were just renting. Make “becoming the best version of yourself” your priority and the other aspects of your life would fall into places.
“What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.” - Eckhart Tolle
This above quote pretty much summarizes the most important teaching of Eckhart Tolle. There is the “thinker you” that does the reactive and random thinking and there is an “observer you” that can observe the “thinker you”. Most people are not aware of the “observer you” and you need to be aware of it if you don’t want your life to be always controlled by your emotions.
“Don't let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.” - Eckhart Tolle
On the surface, from the above quote, it seems like Eckhart Tolle doesn't agree with the idea of having a meaningful goal. But if you look at it at a deeper level, you would realize that reaching a meaningful long term goal is the result of consistently having successful present moments.
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” - Eckhart Tolle
The above quote pretty much applies to all areas of life. If you want to improve, you need to be a good observer. Observe areas of improvement and tackle accordingly.
“Whenever you become anxious or stressed, outer purpose has taken over, and you lost sight of your inner purpose. You have forgotten that your state of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.” - Eckhart Tolle
You have to prioritize having inner peace over external things. When you ask people why they are chasing money. Many would say to you that they are doing that so that they can feel calm and safe when they retire in their 60s. The irony is that you can just meditate or take a long walk anytime to find that inner peace.
“Every complaint is a little story the mind makes up that you completely believe in.” - Eckhart Tolle
Throughout Eckhart Tolle’s writing and teaching, “we should never complain” is one of his biggest themes. Every event is neutral. Remember that the world doesn’t care whether a sand falls to the left side or the right side. We are grains of sand in the eyes of the universe.
“You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.” - Eckhart Tolle
If you are building a product, create it for the sake of solving the problem that you said you are going to solve. It’s not that focusing on money is wrong when it comes to business, it’s just that there’s no business if your product isn’t truly solving a problem.
“You have so much to learn from your enemies.” - Eckhart Tolle
You don’t have to only learn from people who are ethical or intelligent. You can often look at some so-called bad behaviors and reflect on why those behaviors exist.
“Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.” - Eckhart Tolle
If you can be the observer that observes your thoughts and emotions, at least part of your day, you will learn a lot about yourself and, as a result, learn a better way to approach life.
“Life isn't as serious as my mind makes it out to be.” - Eckhart Tolle
Your mind has the tendency to exaggerate the importance of events surrounding you. It gets worse as the media further exaggerate that tendency of exaggeration. Spend time with yourself everyday to learn about yourself by meditating or taking long walks.
“Let me say it again: the present moment is all you ever have.” - Eckhart Tolle
If you think of something you “have” or “own” as something that is truly yours, the present moment is really all you have. Your children are individuals that require your caring and there is deep love between you and them but they don’t belong to you.
“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being right is identification with a mental position - a perspective, an opinion, a judgement, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need someone else to be wrong, as so the ego loves to make wrong in order to be right.” - Eckhart Tolle
Whenever you are in a meeting, in a discussion, or in a casual conversation, don’t make “I’m right” a focus. That takes away your chance to learn and that certainly going to move your heart away from the inner peace position.
“If you are content with being nobody in particular, content not to stand out, you align yourself with the power of the universe. What looks like weakness to the ego is in fact the only true strength.” - Eckhart Tolle
Be okay with being a “nobody”. At the same time, know what you are good at and do your best at working on a project for the sake of the project. It’s difficult to “be okay with being a nobody” and meanwhile trying to become the best version of yourself. It’s difficult but worth it.
