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
Thoughts are fine when you don't confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of distinguishing thoughts from one's identity to avoid suffering.
Eckhart Tolle highlights the significance of recognizing that our thoughts do not define us. While thinking is a powerful tool that can help us create and navigate the world, it becomes detrimental when we identify too strongly with our thoughts, leading to feelings of confusion and suffering. Understanding this distinction allows us to use our thoughts constructively without letting them dictate our sense of self.
Themes
ThoughtsIdentitySufferingSelfDistinction
In practice
Example use cases
In a mindfulness workshop, this quote can be shared to help participants understand the relationship between thoughts and self.
More from Eckhart Tolle
All quotes →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
Ladies and gentlemen, these are not assertions. These are facts, corroborated by many sources, some of them sources of the intelligence services of other countries.
Colin PowellRead
It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay to antiquity its due reverence.
Desiderius ErasmusRead
Always hear the 'Yes' in the 'No'.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
...I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work; and I still think there is an eminently important difference.
Charles DarwinRead
It's possible to fight intolerance, stupidity and fanaticism when they come separately. When you get all three together it's probably wiser to get out, if only to preserve your sanity.
P. D. JamesRead
People make mistakes all the time. We learn and grow. If there's patience and love, and you care for people, you can work them through it, and they can find their greatest heights.
Pete CarrollRead