This week, I had the pleasure of attending a sell-out talk at the Royal Festival Hall in London with Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth. In 2011, he was listed by Watkins Mind, Body, Spirit as the most spiritually influential person in the world alive today. Here are our top ten favourite quotes from the man himself.

1. “The past has no power over the present moment.”

2. “The primary cause of unhappiness is not always the situation, but your thoughts about it.”

3. “Realise deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”

4. “A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.”

5. “All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”

6. “Living up to an image that you have of yourself or that other people have of you is inauthentic living.”

7. “In today's rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.”

8. “See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always non-acceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”

9. “You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.”

10. “I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats.”

For details of events in Ireland and Europe, click here: eckharttolle.com/event

Photograph: iStock