Overview:
On this Book Breakdown, Cory Bittner, COO at Falcon Wealth Advisors reviews A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. You may remember Cory from episode 011 of the GenWhy Leaders Podcast, “Don’t be forced to play small”

Why this book?
I’m reviewing this book because it changed my life and I have seen it change the lives of others. We often speak with hyperbole and describe something as “Life Changing” but we don’t really mean it. I mean it when I say this book changed my perspective and subsequently, my life. This book, along with Eckhart Tolle’s other work, respond to the urgent need of our times: the transformation of consciousness and the arising of a more enlightened humanity.

Book Outline:
This book outlines a destructive place that we all call home but also shows us how we can save it together by detaching ourselves from our egos and practicing acceptance of what is. This isn’t an apocalyptic book. It highlights what Tolle describes as the human condition and how we can transform.

The ego, or the belief we are what happens to us, is a major cause of pain and suffering. For me personally, several chapters describing the core of ego and the many faces of the ego simply “clicked.”

The past and the future cause us pain and anxiety while we are sacrificing the present moment. 

o Past events and pain haunt most people: you must let the past be the past

o Life is simply a series of present moments

o Make friends with the present moment

• Embrace what is
• Let go of what you believe “should be”
• Tolle also touches on a key tenet of Stoicism, which is that there are no good and bad events, but only what we make out of them
• The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it

You can decide the relationship you want to have with the present moment. Do you want the present moment to be your friend or your enemy? The present moment is inseparable from life, so you are deciding what relationship you want to have with life. Once you’ve decided you want the present moment to be your friend, you make the first move: Become friendly toward it, welcome it no matter in what disguise it comes, and soon you’ll see the results. Life becomes friendly toward you; people become helpful; circumstances cooperate. One decision changes your entire reality. But that one decision you have to make again, and again, and again – until it becomes natural to live in such a way. 

The decision to make the present moment into your friend is the end of the ego. The ego can never be in alignment with the present moment.

We identify with our ego, our material possessions, the roles we play in society – and all that causes suffering and unhappiness.

• Tolle says that people identify themselves with their ego and with material possessions. 
• Transcending both is what all great religions and philosophy have been about, from Buddhism to Christianity. 
• Awareness is the knowledge that your thinking self is not you, that your thoughts, your opinions, and your background are not “you”. 
• You are a part of the universe, and the current manifestations of your thoughts, positions, opinions, victories, and possessions do not define you.
• When you can transcend the ego, you become so much more powerful.
• Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.

Key takeaways 

1. You are not your job, the possessions you own, or the things you do.
2. You can lose what you have. But not who you are.
3. Stop “Expecting All Must Go Well.”
4. Let go of the belief that things must work out the way we want them to. Control the controllable. 

How to contact Cory:

Twitter: @CoryBittnerKC

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.falconwealthadvisors.com