dailydatewithgod

There is a lot of talk these days about being awakened or as some say, being woke.  Essential to the practice of mindfulness is presence.  The present moment is the only one we can tell in any kind of concrete fashion that is actually happening.  Of course, I could write about the discussion of the various arguments about how time is actually past, present, and future all at once or at least not linear the way we perceive it to be, but that is for another time, lol! I have found value in being present in my life as it is happening and I find that the moments I am not I do miss out.  Physical presence is the most obvious but we all know how easy it is to be physically present but somewhere else in our minds.  It is this mind and heart presence from which we derive our sense value from presence.  We are often not aware of our physical presence and spend most of our time in our heads. Our awareness of physical presence comes more from others than ourselves.  In fact when we experience absence the most notable way is physical absence.  In most circles, it is heralded as the most valuable.  Yet how many of us have spent time physically around someone who was not there mentally or emotionally?  We are slow to recognize how we actually bring much more presence to an experience than just our physical body.  Energetically we show up as well.  It is the subtle energy shift that happens and we are slow to label which alters the physical experience. When the energy shifts because of absence we say the mood changes.  Someone goes from being enthusiastic and supportive to disappointed and withdrawn and we have a different experience around them.  We do the same thing with ourselves and others. Absence is just as powerful of a force as presence because it changes the dynamic of presence.  As I work through letting go of old ideas and stories about who I or other people are, there is an absence of those elements which allow me to be more present with them and myself.  If I have an interaction with someone who is preoccupied and absent in mind or heart, I experience their physical presence as less than fully present as compared to another time when they were not preoccupied.  In other words, sometimes what is needed is not more presence but more absence.  Sometimes, we need to resolve what is in our hearts and leave it out when we encounter a situation or person so we can be present to who they are and what is actually happening. If we want to learn more about ourselves, we can notice what is absent within us when we interact with one person versus another. It can provide a clue as to what presence we are bringing to our experience with some and not others.