In our lives,
We often operate from our quite conditioned,
Ego-minded state of attachment,
Viewing life through a judgmental lens,
Constantly labeling our ever-shifting experiences as some variation of either good or bad.
This inevitably leads to a great deal of suffering as we try so hard to push away the things we have decided we don't like,
Don't want,
And deeply disapprove of,
While tightly clutching onto the things we have decided that we do like and do approve of.
This also causes us to,
More often than not,
Project our minds into the past and the future,
Dwelling on what we think we should have done,
Or perhaps hoping for something else to be better than what is here now,
And thus disengage from the beauty that is available in each present moment.
This attachment-aversion dynamic shows up in numerous ways,
Including our relationships with our physical bodies,
Our appearance,
Our health,
Our emotions,
Our finances,
As well as our relationships with other people and situations around us.
The remedy offered by countless spiritual teachers from an array of lineages,
From Buddhism to tantra to yoga and beyond,
Is to cultivate the precious state of presence,
Pure presence.
This is your true nature,
Your divine consciousness,
Your fully integrated,
Whole being who honors,
Loves,
And accepts the entirety of existence,
Including the darkness and all the places that you might normally shame or reject within yourself and the collective.
In the state of presence,
You essentially turn on and say yes to your enlightened self.
We often think that enlightenment is a state reserved for those who have somehow surpassed the physical reality,
Perhaps through years of silent meditation in a cave.
The truth is you already are enlightened.
The word is,
As it sounds,
Enlightenment in the state of light or awareness,
Consciousness,
Presence.
It is a space that you can choose to enter into at any moment.
When you are fully present,
You are fully here now,
Not fighting,
Not resisting,
Not pushing,
Not clinging.
You are not splitting yourself apart.
Rather,
You are embracing the full spectrum of experience.
You are the joyous light permeating all life.
You are one with all.
You are all.
You are love.
In presence,
You have arrived to the exquisite beauty of being.
This is the place of your greatest power,
Pleasure,
Aliveness,
Radiance,
Joy,
And bliss.
Because in this state,
In presence,
You are your whole self.
You have moved beyond the illusion of the limiting box of good and bad.
All simply is as it is.
However,
Recognize that this state of presence,
Non-attachment,
And flow does not equate to detachment.
It does not mean that you lose your passion for life or relinquish your ability to play with polarity.
You still experience the full spectrum and have preferences,
Visions,
Dreams,
Desires,
And experience pain.
But through presence,
You have the magical light of truth to meet all that arises in your life with grace,
Joy,
Compassion,
Humor,
And love.
Pain no longer equals suffering,
But a flavor to taste in the grand buffet of life.
Your visions are no longer unattainable goals that you continuously block yourself from through self-imposed limiting beliefs and fear-based resistances.
But rather,
They become a roadmap in which you can gracefully,
Gratefully,
Playfully,
And fluidly create through your aligned will and open heart.
The good things in your life become sweet blessings.
You know they will pass as nothing lasts forever,
Yet you are at peace with this because you are one with the eternal and untouchable joy of being.
In theory,
This state of presence is incredibly simple to access as it requires no effort.
It is the state of effortlessness.
However,
Understand that it may at times feel incredibly difficult as we have been so deeply conditioned to operate through attachment and aversion.
So in the process of deprogramming and reprogramming your being,
The principles of repetition,
Dedication,
Patience,
And self-compassion are key to becoming the master of the presence that you already are.
