Questions on Presence

This month, choose a question that catches your attention and spend some time considering it.  You may want to write down your answer, or just mull it over.  Come back to the question every few days and see if your answer develops further.

Has the experience of “presence” increased or decreased for you as you’ve gotten older?  Do you find it easier or harder to be present to, and more aware of, the world around you?  The aches and pains of aging bodies can make it painful to be in the moment.

Remember a moment when you felt fully present in your life, or in the world, interested, attentive and aware.  What was it like to be in the moment, just being?  Where were you and what was happening?  Was this a spiritual experience for you?

Have you lost sight of yourself? As writer Cecelia Ahern says “ Sometimes, we lose sight of ourselves when we’re not paying enough attention.”  Are you fully present to your own life, in your own body and emotions?  What makes it hard to be in the moment?

Do you have a sense of a greater presence in your life, be it God or Goddess, the Divine or the living earth?  Think about a time you experienced this greater presence.  What was going on? How has this presence shaped you?  How do you reach towards it?

Is there someone in your life with whom you would like to be more attentive?  To be more present to in the moment?  Masin Kipp says “At the end of the day: do others feel loved in your presence? This is the spiritual bottom line.” How might you move into presence with this person?