The Past Has No Power Over The Present Moment

We are not our past. This is the first principle that Eckhart Tolle introduced to his book 'Awakening'. Once you grasp this concept, the past no longer has any power over you, no matter how painful or tragic it might have been at the time. It is just a means to an end. Eventually, the past loses its hold over your psychological makeup and you can finally begin to live in the present moment.


It doesn't exist outside of your own mind
Solipsism teaches that you cannot know anything that is not within your own mind, even if you were born in that time and place. The term itself is derived from the Latin words solus 'alone' and ipse'self'. This way of thinking implies that there is no such thing as the past, and therefore, you don't have any knowledge of the past.

It is a means to an end
Buddhism holds that the past has no power over the present moment; that we live in this moment, for it is a means to an end, a stepping-stone to the future, which is full of promise and promises salvation. This is the only time that we have, and it is also the only thing that we have. This is a profoundly liberating idea, and it may just be what we need to change the way we think about the past.

It doesn't matter what happened in the future
It doesn't matter what happened in the past or the future to the present moment, said Alan Watts. The present moment is all that exists. In contrast, the past and future are useful concepts for the mind. A useful example of this is how a ship creates a wake on the surface of the ocean. This concept contradicts common sense regarding time. However, Watts's view of time is not entirely untrue.