Presence

Image by Yehezkiel Gulo on Unsplash

To start the new year, this month I’m writing about 5 elements of the spiritual journey: Trust, Self Love, Presence, Awareness and Frequency.  Please know this is hardly a complete list, the journey is multifaceted and always unfolding; these are just some of my thoughts to accompany you.



We all know what it is to be completely lost in the past or the future.  Effortlessly, our minds seem to wander to the past, replaying incidents in our heads as if we were there again. On the other end of the spectrum, we can just as easily slip into a future that hasn’t occurred yet, imagining scenarios that might play out in a specific manner.

The problem isn’t that we go to the past or the future per se, but that our minds will simultaneously fill up with thoughts and emotions about these time frames.  Do you repeatedly replay the incident in which your co-worker said something snarky about you in a staff meeting last month, flooding your body with anger and resentment as you re-live the memory?  Do you find yourself worrying about your neighbor’s house going on the market, causing you to feel anxious just seeing the sign out front?


Thich Nhat Hanh said, “ Anxiety, the illness of our time, comes primarily from our inability to dwell in the present moment.”

You may have heard the phrase that the present is all there is. This is because the past happened one present day after another, and the future will occur one present day after another.  

We can remember having done something in the past, or we can plan to do something in the future, but we can only actually act in the present.  Similarly we can only feel an emotion or think a thought in the present.  Everything happens in the present.

Because everything happens in the present, it serves us to also be in the present.


Coming to the present moment is a choice, one that takes practice.  It’s paying attention to what you see in front of you, the insights that are coming to mind, the nudges for action (or non-action).  It’s noticing when we’ve gone to the past or the future in our mind and returning to where we are now.  

Understand that our thoughts and emotions are tools; our presence is our very beingness.

With presence comes spaciousness.

When we're exploring our spirituality, being in the present is paramount. Our inner guidance always happens in the now.  Always.  Best to be there to receive it.