QuoteProject
Stressful energy arises when you think some future moment is more important than the present moment, and the doing becomes only a means to an end.
Eckhart Tolle
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Focusing too much on the future creates stress, making the present moment feel less significant.

Eckhart Tolle’s quote emphasizes the idea that when we prioritize future outcomes over our current experiences, we create unnecessary stress and anxiety. This perspective encourages us to live in the present, recognizing that the process we engage in should be valued in itself rather than viewed merely as a step towards a future goal.

Themes

StressPresentFutureMindfulnessAnxiety

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared in a mindfulness workshop to encourage participants to focus on the present.

More from Eckhart Tolle

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
Body 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 body’s 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

But what is so headstrong as youth? What so blind as inexperience?
Charlotte BronteRead
My witness is, that those who are honoured of their Lord in public, have usually to endure a secret chastening, or to carry a peculiar cross, lest by any means they exalt themselves, and fall into the snare of the devil.
Charles SpurgeonRead
The mind is key. If anything should be considered a god, so to speak, it is the mind, not money. A healthy positive mind is the utmost priority. But if we were to reverse the order of these priorities, what would happen? I find it hard to imagine how a person with great wealth, bad health, no friends, and no peace of mind could feel even slightly happy.
Dalai LamaRead
My Brain is the key that sets me free.
Harry HoudiniRead
Always keep your mind as bright and clear as the vast sky, the great ocean, and the highest peak, empty of all thoughts. Always keep your body filled with light and heat. Fill yourself with the power of wisdom and enlightenment.
Morihei UeshibaRead
We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret.
Earl NightingaleRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.