Eckhart TolleNYT Bestselling author of the Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle on Stepping Out of Thought

15 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this short teaching, Eckhart Tolle explains a simple mindfulness practice for improving thinking. He advises that when you are engaged in a specific line of thought, after a few thoughts you should briefly step back into stillness or pure presence for just a few seconds—three to four seconds is enough. The length is not crucial. After this pause you return to thinking, then repeat the cycle, alternating between thought and brief moments of pure awareness. This back‑and‑forth practice helps the mind to cease its constant chatter while maintaining conscious awareness, leading to more effective and powerful thinking.

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When you think about something specific, after a few thoughts, learn to step back, so to speak, into stillness or presence. It must only maybe just for three four seconds. Doesn't length doesn't matter. And then you step forward again into thinking. Then you step back into into a pure awareness of presence. Cessation. The mind stops. Conscious awareness remains. And so if you want to do some very effective and powerful thinking, you learn to step back and forth, back into thought and then out of thought, into thought, out of thought.