Bring awareness to the many subtle sounds of nature - The rustling of leaves in the wind, Raindrops falling, The humming of an insect, The first birdsong at dawn.
Eckhart TolleRead
Once you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let it go, and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would threaten your identity as a depressed, angry or hard-done by person. You will then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common phenomenon. It is also insane.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often cling to negative identities, resisting positive change that could threaten their established self-perception.
In this quote, Eckhart Tolle discusses the psychological struggle people face when they identify with negative emotions such as anger or depression. This identification can create a resistance to positive change, as it threatens the individual's current sense of self. Tolle highlights the irrational nature of this phenomenon, suggesting that it is common yet ultimately destructive, leading individuals to sabotage their own potential happiness and growth.
Themes
NegativityIdentityChangeSabotagePsychology
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a mental health workshop to illustrate the importance of letting go of negative identities.
More from Eckhart Tolle
All quotes βBody awareness not only anchors you in the present moment, it is a doorway out of the prison that is the ego. It also strengthens the immune system and the bodyβs ability to heal itself.
Eckhart TolleRead
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 TolleRead
Nothing that was real ever died, only names, forms, and illusions.
Eckhart TolleRead
Suffering has a noble purpose: the evolution of consciousness and the burning up of the ego.
Eckhart TolleRead
Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing.
Eckhart TolleRead
Similar quotes
Every generation feels it has the problems that will destroy it. That's because we can perceive them a long time before we have the ability to fix them.
Peter DiamandisRead
The former colonies, in Latin America in particular, have a better chance than ever before to overcome centuries of subjugation, violence and foreign intervention, which they have so far survived as dependencies with islands of luxury in a sea of misery.
Noam ChomskyRead
I've been uprooted. I don't think a tree that's been uprooted as a happy tree and I'm not very happy. I can't be. I do not accept to be.
Mikis TheodorakisRead
I ask citizens and governments everywhere to do their part by conserving energy and reducing the use of fossil fuels for the good of the world community. This is our duty to those who share this world with us and to those who follow us: Wherever we see a threat to our environment we must take action
Arnold SchwarzeneggerRead
We cannot change the way the world is, but by opening ourselves to the world as it is, we may find that gentleness, decency and bravery are available - not only to us, but to all human beings.
Chogyam TrungpaRead
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society.
Michelle AlexanderRead