Presence

Do you see that blue orb in front of the church? Some would say it's a sign that there is an ethereal entity that was present. Others would insist it is a refraction of light through the lens of the camera that took the photo.

Holding a space for the possibility that both might be right is one of the greatest challenges human's experience.

Almost 8 billion people on the planet. That many experiences...each one unique. Two humans with the exact same experience of exposure, conversation, perspective and perception Do Not Exist. I just find that amazing.

But I find a lot of things amazing. On a walk this morning, my sister pointed out that she's noticed that I use the words "fascinating" and "amazing" way more often than most people. Hmmmm. Interesting insight from someone who observes me that I hadn't had myself. She continued, saying that it doesn't feel contrived; it just feels like that's how I see the world.

It is.

And that drives a lot of people crazy.

Eckhart Tolle has been talking about the value of Presence since the publication of The Power of Now in 1997. Same message, over and over. YouTube videos. Conferences. Online webinars. Same thing. Thirty years.

Byron Katie, too. Loving What Is was published in 2003. 18 years ago. And the program she's developed around it involves the same 4 questions over and over and over. She's developed a school and a successful online presence (pun!), saying the same thing over and over: It isn't about what happens to you. It's about how you choose to interpret it.

Millions of people have been invested in their spiritual journeys for millenia. It used to be that you had to go off by yourself and sit in a cave for decades to achieve enlightenment. The timeline for understanding has diminished significantly over time and the advent of the internet and dissemination of information and access to like-minded people has made it where anyone who is interested can gain resonant insight in a much shorter period of time.

2020 increased the number of humans who are willing to look internally for answers significantly. People who'd been plodding along, sometimes for decades, kind of just falling forward, living a life that didn't excite them, but sustained them...were suddenly thrust into a space of having to face themselves. Sometimes for the first time. Millions of them. All over the world.

I don't think "they'd" anticipated the benefit of that...whoever "they" is.

Being a student of both Meister Tolle and Madame Katie for years, I've only recently been able to truly integrate their teachings into my daily life. Spiritual growth is a practice. They both talk of how the past is simply a story we tell ourselves and we can rewrite that story. And how the future doesn't yet exist, so it has no power.

Right now. This moment. THIS is where we are able to create.

I was listening to a Sara Landon podcast today and she talked about how everything that happens, happens NOW. Period. It's the only thing that exists. And when we learn to tap into that understanding and assess the world around us in this moment, we can find the love and joy and peace and grace we crave. And that when we do that, consciously and with awareness (same thing?), we elevate our vibration such that we then attract and create that which we desire.

It's such a paradox. You have to get there before you can get there. It's hard to explain to someone who's stuck in old paradigms of thinking.

Breathing. It is the key to bringing yourself back into your power. And to being able to learn the lessons that present themselves to us on a daily basis.

I was talking to my daughter this week. Her 92-year-old employer is pressuring his employees to take a medical intervention that might possibly have some dubious side effects. She is a single mother who feels a responsibility to her daughter to not take needless risks. She was telling me how frustrating it was that he was so dug into this position and wouldn't hear her. "Because I know I'm right!" she exclaimed.

That's it! That's it! That's it! Therein lies her lesson. I told her that if she could admit that his position has merit, at the same time that her opposing position does, as well, he would soften. Because what he was trying to teach her (unwittingly, of course) was that digging into a position and losing your curiosity about the possibility of there being other ways of perceiving is what causes the most conflict in the human experience.

If we don't learn the lesson from one, it will show up from another. But once we learn and integrate it, it won't need to show up anymore.

She sighed. It felt like it had some nugget of truth to it, but she was tired and couldn't quite process it yet. Single Mom. She kind of just wanted me to agree with her and may or may not be able to get the lesson this time, but the seed was at least planted so it will be more likely to be recognized next time.

If quantum physics and the existence of infinite potential in the ether has any merit, then learning to live in presence and access it would be extremely beneficial to anyone willing to bend their understanding of how the world works, outside of what our five senses can detect.

Right here. Right now. How long can you get there and stay there? It could be the key to living the life your heart knows is possible.