A mantra sweeping corporate offices in the last decade embraced three powerful words: Be here now. In a world with a daily exponential increase in duties and distractions, this call to be in the present moment has been wise advice. It has often been taught as a learned awareness along with some helpful suggested behavior modifications to insure application. Yet, a powerful piece has most often been missing. We don’t authentically learn “being present” by focusing on something or someone else.
I first need to learn to “be present” with the one I see in my own mirror.
I would suggest it is somewhere between difficult to impossible to be fully present with others if I’ve never learned to be fully present to myself. I would also suggest that once I have learned to be present to myself that being present with others is no longer the execution of a learned skill. Your “being present” simply becomes a genuine reflection of your own internal presence.
Your discovered internal presence … given away.
The most common confession I hear from others reflects their inability to calm and eventually stop their mind from thinking. In other words, to be simply present to themselves. It’s most often confessed with a lack hope … or any intent to learn to do so.
Unfortunately, it isn’t an option you can bypass if you want to authentically be here now with anyone else. As I have long said, you cannot give what you do not have … and you cannot have what you do not replenish! It perfectly describes our presence.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please share below!