PRESENCE DOESN'T PREDETERMINE WHAT PRESENCE WILL INCLUDE
When Being Present Leaves Room for Rest, Movement, Creation, Receivership & Whatever the Moment Authentically Holds
Presence is often described by what it supposedly looks like.
Be still.
Slow down.
Stop doing.
Clear the schedule.
Release the agenda.
Sit quietly.
Wait.
Listen.
And any one of those things can absolutely be an expression of presence.
But none of them gets to become the predetermined definition of it.
PRESENCE DOESN'T PREDETERMINE WHAT PRESENCE WILL INCLUDE.
Sometimes presence is stillness.
Sometimes presence is movement.
Sometimes presence is rest.
Sometimes presence is creation.
Sometimes presence is conversation.
Sometimes presence is prayer.
Sometimes presence is laughter.
Sometimes presence is receiving.
Sometimes presence is making a decision.
Sometimes presence is recognizing an opportunity and acting upon it immediately.
Sometimes presence is doing absolutely nothing.
And sometimes presence changes expression several times within the same day.
The common denominator is not the activity.
It is the presence.
PRESENCE DOESN'T NEED TO BE PROTECTED FROM PARTICIPATION
There can be a subtle assumption that once we enter a state of presence, we must protect it from doing anything.
As though movement breaks presence.
As though creation interrupts presence.
As though productivity contaminates presence.
As though making a decision means we have left the moment.
As though taking inspired action automatically means we have stopped being still within ourselves.
But presence and participation are not opposites.
You can create from presence.
You can move from presence.
You can work from presence.
You can rest from presence.
You can receive from presence.
You can make money from presence.
You can change direction from presence.
You can laugh from presence.
You can respond to what suddenly becomes relevant from presence.
And you can remain completely still from presence.
The expression can change without the center being abandoned.
PRESENCE IS NOT A BEHAVIORAL SCRIPT
The moment presence becomes a predetermined set of behaviors, we can accidentally stop responding to the actual moment because we are busy performing our idea of what being present is supposed to look like.
That creates an interesting contradiction.
We can become so committed to being still that we ignore the moment when it says move.
So committed to resting that we ignore authentic energy to create.
So committed to action that we miss the invitation to stop.
So committed to listening that we overlook something we already know.
So committed to waiting for guidance that we forget we also possess choice.
Presence does not need that kind of rigidity.
It can remain responsive.
It can remain alive.
It can remain customized.
It can remain coherent with the WHOLE-LIFE.
PRESENCE DOESN'T REQUIRE A PREAPPROVED ITINERARY.
The moment gets to be the moment.
REST CAN BE PRESENT. CREATION CAN BE PRESENT.
A day containing significant rest is not necessarily more present than a day containing significant creation.
And a highly creative day is not necessarily more aligned than a quiet one.
The amount of visible activity does not establish the quality of presence.
There are times when the most aligned participation may be allowing the body to rest.
There are times when an idea arrives with such clarity that creating it immediately is the natural expression of being present.
There are times when presence becomes a conversation.
A prayer.
A meal.
A walk.
A business decision.
A piece of writing.
An unexpected pivot.
A Revenue-producing activity.
A fifteen-minute period of intentionally doing nothing.
Or an entire stretch of life that refuses to fit neatly into one category.
Presence can hold all of it.
PRESENCE CAN AUTHOR
Being present does not require surrendering authorship.
You don't have to become passive in order to become present.
You can remain open to what the moment reveals while also possessing preferences, desires, boundaries, choices, authority, and creative capacity.
You can receive and author.
You can listen and choose.
You can allow and initiate.
You can rest and later move.
You can co-create without disappearing from the co-creation.
This is where presence becomes larger than waiting for something to happen.
Presence itself can participate.
The blank canvas is not necessarily a waiting room.
It is available space.
And the person standing before that canvas has not vanished simply because nothing has been painted yet.
THE CANVAS CAN BE BLANK WITHOUT THE AUTHOR BEING ABSENT.
PRESENCE LEAVES ROOM FOR THE COHESIVE EXPERIENCE
WHOLE-LIFE presence doesn't have to divide life into competing categories.
Spiritual or practical.
Restful or productive.
Being or doing.
Receiving or choosing.
Stillness or movement.
Guidance or authorship.
Those distinctions can be useful when they genuinely clarify something, but they don't have to become artificial walls around lived experience.
There is room for the cohesive experience.
A person can be deeply grounded while taking significant action.
A person can be highly creative while remaining internally still.
A person can receive guidance while exercising authority.
A person can intentionally do nothing and then immediately act when something becomes clear.
None of those experiences automatically cancels the others.
THE MOMENT DOESN'T HAVE TO MATCH THE LAST MOMENT
Presence also allows today to have its own voice.
What was aligned yesterday does not have to become today's mandatory posture.
What was required this morning does not automatically become the assignment for tonight.
Rest can be complete without becoming a rule.
Movement can be complete without becoming momentum that must be maintained.
Creation can be complete without requiring another creation.
And stillness can end naturally without having somehow failed at being still.
Presence remains available through the change.
That may be one of its greatest freedoms.
The expression can change because presence is not imprisoned by the expression.
LET PRESENCE BE PRESENT
Maybe presence doesn't need so many instructions.
Maybe it doesn't need someone standing at the door announcing:
“Nobody create anything!”
LMBO!
Nor does it need another person yelling:
“Everybody needs to be productive!”
Both can miss the point.
Presence doesn't have to prohibit the next thing.
And it doesn't have to manufacture the next thing.
It simply leaves room for authentic participation in the life that is actually being lived.
So rest when rest is present.
Move when movement is present.
Create when creation is present.
Receive when receivership is present.
Choose when choice is present.
Laugh when something is hilarious.
Be still when stillness is true.
And allow the moment to contain whatever authentically belongs within it.
Because presence was never supposed to become another confinement.
PRESENCE DOESN'T PREDETERMINE WHAT PRESENCE WILL INCLUDE.
Presence can rest.
Presence can move.
Presence can receive.
Presence can choose.
Presence can create.
Presence can author.
And presence can remain present through it all.
Let presence be large enough for LIFE.
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