Long a reclusive figure with a quietly expanding following, Eckhart Tolle has recently become a household name and a global best-selling author since Oprah Winfrey chose his work A New Earth for her book club. Tolle believes that a planetary shift in consciousness is underway. And his vision of this fundamentally challenges the notion that Descartes captured in a sentence that has underpinned Western civilization's sense of human nature for centuries: "I think, therefore I am."

The philosophy that Eckhart Tolle brings to readers and live audiences draws on and synthesizes core teachings of many religious and spiritual traditions — including Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, and especially Buddhism. He echoes the Buddhist analysis of the mind as a primary source of human suffering. That is, the notion that we confuse reality with the racing thoughts in our head, the stories we've internalized from our families and culture, and the emotions that run rampant as a result. Becoming aware of this, he says, becoming mindful of our thoughts and reactions, is the only way we can truly ever direct our experience of the world and our presence within it.

We'd like to hear how you implement this shift in awareness, in what Tolle calls "the power of now," in your personal life, your workday, your relationships.