Pick your head up, look around, and ground into this present moment
Balancing presence and perseverance on your path through life
Note: this post contains 3 parts - 1. A short writing, 2. A short & simple embodiment meditation available for all readers, 3. A 12-minute guided audio recording for paid subscribers
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How is it that you have been taught to move forward through life?
For me, it was always about the ability to push forward: To cast my gaze on that which called to me from up ahead, and to here, in this moment, put my head down as I push forward through whatever I needed to so that I could, one day, stand high up on that bright and shiny point up above and be filled as I stood on grand ground of accomplishment!
It’s a way of walking through life that served in many ways. Until, it didn’t anymore. It is at this point that I realized that, in all that pushing forward, not only was I missing out on the great joys of life to be held here, right now, in this moment, but that I was also accumulating deep pains that I had no ability to witness.
When it all fell apart, the pain and suffering that I had to experience is one that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.
For this, I now bring forth my embodiment work, wherein we get to learn to be present with what is, here and now, in this moment:
To see it,
to feel it,
to otherwise get to know it;
Here and now.
What is here and now,
in this present moment?
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I remember when I was younger: Growing up in the modern, western world, I was taught to look ahead for the big, bright, and beautiful things that exist in the future. Then, I was told to put my head down, work hard, and push through everything that showed up to block my path to get there.
Perseverance, pushing through it all to get to where I needed to go!
But how are we to know where we are supposed to go if we can’t be present here and now?
I remember when it hit me. I was sitting in my college dorm, doing what I’d been taught to do and pushing forward through the mountain of homework I had to get to where I needed to go: that fancy degree that would get me the fancy job so that I could finally have money to live that oh-so-special life I’d been promised!
However, in this moment, I was actually reflecting back on the days that came before me.
I was recognizing all the tears I’d cried as I battled my way through childhood and high school to push forward to the better and brighter days that would be me, out on my own, out at college finally studying what I wanted to study and living freely.
In other words, I was reflecting on how this very moment had once been the big, bright and shiny moment that I’d raced towards for all those years!
Yet, here I sat, frustrated and angry about this moment as I put my head down, pushed through it, and cast my gaze up ahead at the big, bright, and beautiful moments that lay ahead in my future.
It hit me, and hit me hard.
This way of being that I’d been taught - it wasn’t about ever living that big, bright and beautiful life! No, it was about my inability to be present to a reality that is here and now; never present, never truly knowing what is here and now.
How long would this go on? Would there ever be a big, bright and beautiful moment for me to hold for eternity?
Now. Right now. This is the big, bright, and beautiful moment to embrace, for all that it is.
For it is only now - here and now - that I can fully experience this precious life.
Living the polarity of presence and perseverance
There is a polarity that we must hold as we live in this messy and often complicated human existence:
It is one that demands that we work hard and push through obstacles and challenges in this moment so that we can keep moving forward into what is to come;
AND,
It is one that asks that we become so very present with this moment, here and now.
The problem is, we’ve been taught the opposite. We were taught it is dangerous, and it is weak, to feel what is here. Don’t let that emotion through; don’t listen to what your body is telling you. This will only distract you from your path forward to where you’re supposed to get to.
But we had it wrong.
Those feelings, those emotions, those intuitive hits: they were never here to distract you, but to guide you forward on the path that will best support you in your life as your whole human being.
I spend much time these days reflecting on the moments when, if only I’d been able to listen, I would’ve chosen a different way forward. I would’ve made a pivot, or let go of clinging to a path I had been told was so important! In doing so, I would’ve accumulated far less pain, wasted far less energy, and been able to put the fullness of who I am towards that which truly matters.
May we all find that ability to place our time, our attention, and our energy on that which matters, here and now, as we each move forward along that brightest path: the one to be seen, heard, felt, known in this here and now present moment.
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Embodiment Practice:
Breathe with me as we deepen into a felt, connected presence with this moment
Note: The following written practice is available to all readers. Paid subscribers can access the below guided audio recording of a 12 minute guided practice for deepening into embodied presence: the only space from which we are truly able to be fully present to all that is here and now.
Practice:
Settle into your seat, connecting with the surface that holds you in this moment. Maybe that’s a chair, or a couch. Maybe it’s a floor. Whatever it is, take a moment to connect with the physical sensations that ground you into the support of the surface holding you here in this moment.
Now, let’s take a few breaths.
Inhaling, feel into the expansion of your your chest. Bring your full attention to those physical sensations in your ribs as they expand.
Exhaling, letting go of your breath, relaxing your shoulders, those muscles in your face, and anywhere else that you notice you are holding tension.
Continue to breathe like this for several breaths. Try 5-7 of them:
inhale, feel into that expansion of your ribs
exhale, letting dissolve away any tension that you are holding in your body
When you’re ready, letting go of this breath pattern as you bring your attention into the greater whole that is your physical body in this moment.
I invite you to keep your attention (your conscious awareness) down in your body.
As you’re here, asking:
What is present? What is alive? What is here to be felt, to be seen, or to otherwise be known?
What is here, alive in this present moment, as you are grounded and present with this moment?
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