Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany where he spent the first 13 years of his life. After graduating from the University of London, he was a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University. When he was 29 he had what he describes as a profound spiritual transformation that dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life. The next years were devoted to understanding that transformation and deepening his inward journey. He now lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Tolle's 1999 book The Power of Now became a worldwide bestseller after it was discovered by Oprah Winfrey. The cards in this meditation deck are divided into sections: The Power of Presence, The Wisdom of Surrender, Liberation Through Change, The Way Out of Pain, The Flame of Awareness, and The Power of Presence. You can pick one card for each day or choose one for the week, according to your pleasure. The inspirational words are meant to serve as a cue for you to live in the present moment, to give up running into the past or flying away into the future, and to savor just being rather than always letting your thoughts reign.

For instance, you might draw the card with this message: "Do you resent doing what you are doing? Are you carrying resentment toward a person close to you? Realize that the energy you thus emanate is so harmful in its effects that you are contaminating yourself as well as those around you." The challenge is to look at what you are doing, acknowledge the feeling, and then drop it like a hot potato before its toxicity affects you and those around you.

Here's another card: "Notice how often your attention is in the past or future. Ask yourself: is there joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? If not, then psychological time is covering up the present moment, and life is misperceived as a burden or a struggle." The present moment is all there is and it deserves your full attention and involvement.