Presence: A Chat With Olivia Rosewood & Mereki Beach

Olivia Rosewood and Mereki Beach discuss Presence: in relation to Mereki's new song 'Presence', also in the context of Olivia's travels with Eckhart Tolle. How does daily practice influence inspiration? What is Presence, and what does it mean in our shared world? How can Presence be part of daily life? How do we forget Presence so easily? How can we keep it alive in every moment?

Transcript

So,

Miki,

I'm so excited to be chatting with you.

I'm here in Austin,

Beautiful Austin,

Texas.

And thank you for kind of figuring out the math.

I think it was you.

I think you figured out the time difference.

I tried.

I'm in the English countryside.

And I'm very honored to be speaking with you,

Olivia.

So thank you for making the time.

It's my pleasure.

And I'm super excited about presence your song.

And I feel like what I wanted to ask you from the moment that I heard it is kind of what inspired you to create this beautiful piece of music.

Oh,

That's so kind.

The single presence was really inspired out of quite a challenging time us as a collective in this world have been through a couple of years of it.

And it was a difficult moment for me.

And I was pretty deep into rereading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth,

Who obviously speaks a lot about the importance of presence.

And I was picking up different spiritual texts here and there.

And really,

Like a lot of us,

Just doing what I could to make the most of every day and try and keep it together.

And this concept of presence just kept on coming back to me in each moment.

And I really realized that that was the only answer.

Everything was so difficult.

But if I could really put into practice this concept of coming back to this moment right here,

Then there was nothing wrong.

Things were wrong in the past.

Things could be wrong in the future.

But right here in this moment,

It was perfect.

It is perfect.

It is perfect.

So I wanted to take this,

And I wanted to put it into my music.

And it was one of the last songs that I recorded for the album,

Actually.

And I'm super happy with how it turned out.

I also didn't want it.

It sort of bumps the track.

And I wanted it to be fun.

I grew up listening.

My parents were alternative.

And there was spiritual music that we would listen to.

But it was quite rare to find.

Positive messaging,

It's very tricky,

I think,

To put positive messaging into music without it sounding trite.

It can be a bit naff.

And so the challenge was to put this positive messaging that was very real for me,

The messaging of presence,

And insert it into a modern pop song in a cool way,

In a way that it would be something that I would want to listen to.

Because the truth is,

When I write these songs,

They flow through me.

And there's some thought behind them sometimes.

But at the end of the day,

I always,

When I end up listening back to them,

Whether it's when I'm making them,

Or a year from then,

Or five years from then,

I'm always so grateful for the songs to speak back to me.

Yes.

That's so beautifully said.

And I love that you were raised in an alternative family.

I love that.

And I'm so uncool myself.

I don't even know.

I don't know what naff means.

Naff.

What does naff mean?

Naff?

I wonder if naff is Australian.

Naff,

Like a Naff.

Oh,

Gosh.

How do I say naff?

I think it's just cool.

I think I just.

Naff is like a little,

It might be Australian.

But naff is just like a little uncool,

I guess.

Naff.

You know?

I guess I'm naff.

The irony.

You're definitely not naff.

You are like,

You are the true cool,

Olivia.

I would never say you are uncool.

Everything you do is a total inspiration to me.

So I was very honored and feel very blessed that you were able to make a meditation to go alongside the release of presence.

Because when people listen to this song,

If they listen to this song and this song speaks to them,

I would really,

I really wanted there to be something practical that they could use,

A tool to help find their way into presence.

Because for me,

I'm definitely not singing this song and saying,

Oh,

I figured it out.

You know,

Like I'm not singing this song about presence and being like,

Oh,

Yeah,

I'm present at every moment.

No way.

I'm very human.

And I want,

But I still want these concepts to be accessible,

You know?

And so your guided meditations are a really perfect introduction to that.

Thank you.

Well,

Your words made me think that the people in my life who've said like,

I've got it all figured out.

They so don't.

And so and the people who have,

Like you just said,

To have expressed,

You know,

I'm still human.

It's a constant kind of realignment.

Those for me have been guiding lights.

So just in saying that,

I feel like it gives you a lot of credibility.

And the meditation that I created actually,

You know,

You really inspired because presence is,

It's very difficult to harness,

I feel.

And so in my life,

It's been a big part of my life.

I traveled with Eckhart Tolle.

And I learned a lot from him,

Not through what he said,

Because he would often say the same things over and over again.

And he would joke about how he says this thing over and over again.

But he said,

You know,

I really just teach one thing.

But what was great about him is that he also embodies it.

So he does walk the walk of presence,

If you could say that.

And there are so many different ways to be there,

To be present,

And to find presence,

And to talk about presence.

And so I feel like it was really helpful to you to talk about with you kind of what inspired you and what got you into the experience of presence,

Because it's a beautiful subject to talk about.

But you can't figure it out.

It's something to practice.

And the practice isn't always easy,

You know?

Eckhart said,

And I don't know if he was quoting somebody else,

But he said,

Presence is like a candle.

And when you're in the day,

It's barely,

Oh,

I have a candle right here.

You can't even tell that it's lit.

It's good wise.

Yeah,

Here we go.

Here we go.

It's like,

It doesn't matter if it's lit or not lit.

It's just almost invisible.

But in the darkness,

If you're in a dark cave,

If you're in a dark room,

And you just have this candle,

It becomes so important.

And so I feel like all of our spiritual work really,

Or I'll speak for myself,

All of my spiritual work really served me when we did hit the pandemic,

Because that was like the lights went out for so many of us.

There's so much uncertainty and fear.

And those are the times when these spiritual understandings,

Whether you're coming through Buddhism,

Or through Advaita Vedanta,

Or through Christianity,

Or through whatever your religious or spiritual framework is,

That's where your real understanding beyond the intellect can come into play and serve you like a candle.

Yeah,

That's such a beautiful metaphor.

And even just listening to you,

It resonated so much with me,

Brought tears to my eyes,

Because that's exactly how it was.

I've been meditating daily for a while,

And I've been digging into these spiritual texts casually.

I'm not a professional like you.

But they really,

When it comes to those darkest moments,

And I guess that's a lot of my seeking was born out of,

One of my darkest moments as Amoriki was when my father passed away.

And that was what set me off on this journey of seeking,

Seeking within,

Seeking for greater peace within,

I guess.

And yeah,

When the pandemonium hit,

It really,

That idea of the candle,

It's just so true.

And I was able to keep it lit longer than I think I could have otherwise.

Yeah.

And presence.

That's just,

It's so funny because it's such a simple answer,

And it's the most complex answer on the planet.

Because daily,

I struggle with presence.

I think I'm just grateful that I have this awareness around it.

So when I notice myself like,

Oh,

Why am I feeling very good this morning?

And it's all,

Nine times out of 10,

It's,

Oh,

Well,

I'm living in a future that hasn't happened yet,

Or I'm dwelling in a past that is over.

I actively,

Actively seek to bring myself back here where everything is perfect.

Some days it works better than others,

But I will never stop trying because in those moments is pure joy and bliss and life.

Yes.

Yes.

And you said I'm professional.

You're not professional.

It's the same.

It's the same.

I mean,

This is why I'm a professional,

Because I need these practices so much.

Not because I'm at all perfected,

But because I need to constantly bring myself back.

It's funny.

Funny is not the right word.

It's amazing how easy it is to forget.

We can have these spiritual awakenings,

These deep spiritual soul-seeking experiences.

I can only imagine how hard it was when your father made his transition to navigate that.

And I'm sure you went really,

Really into deep,

Deep exploration there.

And yet it's not a lasting,

Or for me at least,

It's something I have to constantly realign.

Every day.

It's a daily practice.

No,

It really is.

And it's a practice,

Like you said earlier.

It's like,

It's a practice.

Yeah,

I'm not enlightened.

I'm definitely not enlightened yet.

Got to keep going.

We do,

We sort of look at these holy figures.

We can look up to them and reaching that enlightenment or that Zen.

But the truth is,

99% of us are,

We're human beings and we're having a human experience.

And I think it's about picking up as many tools on the way.

So that we can not only find joy and bliss,

But find truth in ourselves.

You know,

The journey for me has so,

So deeply been about,

Yeah,

Figuring out how to manage my emotions and my grief and the millions of different things that we come across as human beings.

But really trying to get to the centre of me as a person,

Self-realisation and being able to,

Being able to encompass that person that only I can be on this planet.

And I think the same for all of us.

Yes,

And it behooves our whole planetary community,

I think,

For all of us to work toward that.

And also something that you said reminded me of kind of,

When I try to,

Well,

I often try to work everything out myself.

You know,

For my family of origin,

My young adult life,

I'm a very self-sufficient person.

However,

I find that when I practice meditation and I get quiet enough to connect to the presence that I experience is almost like an energetic web that it connects all of us.

It's intelligent.

It's compassionate.

This is just what I sense.

When I connect with that energy and I allow that to be part of my doing,

It's almost like things lean toward me instead of when I'm trying to do it with my go-to,

My reflex from my childhood or whatever is to go,

Go,

Go,

Go and like get it myself.

It's almost like I chase my good fortune away.

So when I relax just a little bit and allow myself to feel,

Like right now,

To feel how safe I am,

To feel gravity,

To notice that this glass is very solid and protective and just to feel how safe the air is around me right now,

To come into that feeling of being safe and held by,

I guess you could call it presence or the universe or universal energy.

When I invite that into my being,

It's as though the world also opens a little bit,

You know?

And life itself flows more easily.

And I guess for some people,

This is just really obvious.

But for me,

In my daily life,

In my daily practice,

Working,

Parenting,

In relationships,

It's something I have to constantly remember and invite back into my life.

I guess another metaphor would be that we're like fish swimming in an ocean and we're searching for water.

And it's just all around us.

But we all have these traumas and we close ourselves off from it.

And it's just a question of kind of reopening and allowing that to be part of our flow,

You know?

I don't know if you feel that.

Oh,

Definitely.

I was just bathing.

I was just bathing in your words.

I was like,

Yes,

Yes.

Keep going.

Yeah,

I feel like you sort of beautifully encapsulated the goal,

Right?

It's the goal.

Everything's all,

Yeah.

And then look,

We come into this world with different circumstances and as different people and with different tools and parents and financial situations,

You know?

And I feel very blessed that I've been able to,

In my life,

Sort of spend time with trying to figure all of this out and with getting to a place where I know the things that can help.

And yeah,

I want to share that where I can.

So I hope that this song and these meditations and the whole record can sort of share my years and years of digging very easily to try and figure some shit out.

I feel like it's incredibly brave of you.

And inspiring.

And I feel like your humility and your softness is actually incredible strength.

And that's also a Taoist teaching,

But the strongest comes across as the softest.

And I think it doesn't take a lot of strength to kind of pretend like Gredrall figured out.

It takes a lot of strength to say this is a daily practice and I'm human.

And I just really admire that,

Because we do have the choice.

You don't have to be vulnerable.

And I think it's so beautiful.

I think,

Again,

With my dad passing away,

I did sort of have to learn to be a little bit more vulnerable,

Because I would have been bloated.

It's funny.

It's very sweet.

You're calling me very soft.

But I'm a triple Aries,

And I feel like my family would say I'm the right.

But I completely agree with you.

Vulnerability is the strongest,

Bravest thing you can do,

And I love that there's more talk and there's more literature and things about exactly that now.

Because it's cool.

It's cool to be honest.

It is.

I have to check in with you about what's cool,

Because.

Oh my god.

It's the coolest thing.

It's like,

What's cool about pretending to be someone you're not or pretending to be someone you're not?

Right.

Pretending to be OK when you're not.

There's nothing cool about that.

What's cool is being able to be yourself holy and being able to be honest about being human.

And this is a wild ride.

Yeah.

I love the use of your word holy,

Because it's just like a life of one off for me.

Like,

Maybe that's what it really is to be holy.

Wow.

We'll do some like animation afterwards,

And we'll do the speech bubble out of their heads.

I just want to see a halo on you.

Holy.

Oh,

You're being too kind to me.

But Mariki,

I wondered if you want to talk about practices that serve you.

Definitely.

And I do think that daily practices are very unique to each person.

But the thing for me,

I have to wake up in the morning,

And I have to get some time by myself.

So if that's waking up ahead of whoever's in the house,

Then that's something I need to do.

It's funny.

I spoke to a girlfriend about this the other day,

And she was like,

Yeah,

You need like an hour to yourself to remember who you are and your place in the universe.

I was like,

Yeah,

Exactly.

I really,

Because some people wake up,

And they're like,

Ding,

And they're there.

I am not.

I am far off in a distant planet,

And I need to come back.

And exactly that,

Ground.

And I journal each morning.

So I wake up,

I make a cup of tea,

I journal.

And it's not journaling like,

I don't know,

Journaling sounds cool.

My journaling is not cool.

My journaling is literally like just like almost like grocery list journaling.

It's emptying my brain of whatever is in there so that I can be free of that and move on.

I then do my daily meditation practice.

I use Inside Timer.

Mostly,

It's just sound balls.

But occasionally,

If my brain is a little too full,

I do love using,

Oh,

It's probably 50-50.

If I'm feeling like I'm more present already in the day,

Then I will just use a sound ball,

You know,

Heart chakra or there's different options.

If I'm feeling like my brain is quite full,

I love a guided meditation because it just helps get me back on track.

And sometimes,

I'm feeling a little,

You know,

I can be impatient.

So sometimes,

I'll choose the,

You know,

The 10-minute gratitude meditation guided just to get me back here,

You know.

So I love that.

And then,

I will come back to my writing books and I'll either write some poetry or I'll write a book.

I'll generally read an excerpt out of whichever.

At the moment,

I'm reading The How,

Which is an amazing book actually.

But sometimes,

I'll do page openings from,

You know,

Eckhart Tolle or Thich Nhat Hanh.

Just something to align my day with the frequency that I want to continue my day on.

And from there,

Yeah,

Hope for the best,

You know.

I love that.

That's,

I think that's so beautiful and really helpful,

You know.

What about you?

What are your,

What are your,

Do you have a morning practice or you probably maybe a morning and an evening practice?

Well,

I actually said to my partner recently,

I'm like,

Should I really be teaching spirituality or meditation?

And he said,

You know,

You teach what you need sometimes.

And what he observed is that I sometimes realign myself by kind of listening to that intuitive part of myself.

And I sense a real difference between my mind and my intuition.

My intuition is always right on.

But again,

It's that ability to open to it and not be overwhelmed or taken over by the logical planning mind part of things,

You know,

To anchor back in to presence.

And I can imagine that when,

You know,

Like the meditation that you made for presence,

For example,

I can imagine that to be able to speak those words for that length of time,

You have to be in alignment with presence to do that.

So for you,

Are you sort of saying that your practice is in your teaching,

In your work?

It does come through my work.

And also,

Actually Eckhart said this once that he will be speaking and it's almost like channeling.

Words would come out of his mouth and his mind would say in his thoughts like,

Oh,

That's good to remember that.

I have to try that.

So essentially I need to practice every day.

And often I make practices for myself that I need.

And really for me,

The daily part is crucial.

And for me also the Tai Chi part,

The physical part is really important.

Because my body.

.

.

I agree more.

Sorry.

I'm just like,

That's the part that I haven't quite nailed down yet.

I know that a daily Tai Chi practice or Chigong practice would be,

Would be,

Yeah,

Would really,

Really round things out for me.

I can help you with that.

No,

No.

But that it definitely does for me.

Like my,

I like to think of my body as like a pet,

As my pet.

And so just like with a dog,

You have to walk your dog,

Brush your dog,

Feed your dog regularly,

The appropriate foods,

You know,

I really feel differently when my body is involved in the spiritual practice.

And when I'm bringing light into my body and when I'm careful about what I've put into my body,

It makes a big difference for me.

And I know some people feel like it shouldn't like,

Oh,

You should just rise above it.

No,

Of course.

I really feel it.

And that's very individual as well.

I didn't touch on physical health,

But that's a huge part.

I mean,

The physical aspect of all of this is so important.

And for me,

Grounding,

Putting my feet in the earth every day is super important for me,

Because I tend to be up here trying to float away with the fairies and I live on this planet.

So I need to connect,

But moving my body every day and yeah,

Eating well,

Because when you eat well,

You tell your body and your mind that you care about this body and this mind,

You know,

And I find such a difference if I know that I have no relationship with my body.

If I have nourished myself,

If I have cooked for myself or made sure that I got the right nutrients into my body in this day,

Then the feeling that the self-love that I can find for myself is greater.

I guess,

Which is a little a little presence off topic,

But it's again,

It goes back to the whole,

The holy.

Holy.

And so,

And that brings me back again to the kind of full circle halo of what is presence for someone who's just maybe watching and they've never been involved in anything spiritual.

And so many people who are,

You know,

When I traveled with Eckhart,

My,

My companions were all in their sixties.

I was 20 and it's a mature thing to be interested in spirituality.

And often people my age or your age don't come to it yet.

As for some reason,

You both,

You and I have been drawn to it for a long time,

But for people who are just,

Maybe they hear your song and it opens them up or sparks their curiosity.

What would you say?

What is it?

Presence for me is I guess,

A feeling of alignment with this moment when I can feel like my mind and my heart and my body are here.

In this moment,

And then this moment,

This moment,

They're not scattered in,

In different directions.

So that's what presence is to me.

I would love to know what presence is for you.

And I would also just quickly,

Before we finish up,

I would love to know,

Dig a little into,

Into what some of Eckhart's presence practices were,

If you knew,

Or like,

You know,

Like what you witnessed when you were with him in terms of how,

How present he was.

Yes.

Yes.

Well,

I think presence and actually I'm feeling inspired right now.

We could make a 10 day insight timer course,

Exploring presence and the different ways to access it and describe it.

I wonder if presence could also be described as presence of spirit,

Or instead of using those words,

You could also use,

Say,

The presence of divine love.

Certainly in every spiritual tradition that I've explored,

Ultimately,

We're talking about divine love.

And I would say that being present in the here and now opens the window to let in this reality like a breeze or like a ray of sunshine,

Which is divine love,

Like a veil is lifted.

So maybe presence can also be beyond being present in the here and now or because of being present in the here and now presence is what can happen.

And that's an experience of overwhelming,

All pervasive divine love,

Either a direct experience of that reality which is always there,

It's always happening.

And you just have to open to it,

Or through someone seeing or being in that true reality of divine love it flows to us.

It touches us,

It's contagious.

And so,

Being into this place of being in the moment,

It opens me up to this really high level of nourishment and inspiration and feeling that connection feeling in community with everything around me including,

You know,

My houseplants.

And I'm really at one with all it is and I feel like so much of our culture revolves around giving little tastes of presence through,

Through substances through purchases.

And it's like you get a little taste of presence but it's a tease because it's ultimately diminishing returns whereas when you practice consciously,

You're,

You're getting snowballing benefits it's just more and more benefit,

As opposed to.

And,

Yeah,

For me,

And in that show presence would be coming into a very natural way of being that is often obscured by neurosis desires.

And so,

Lots of the past,

Lots of the future,

All of these aspects of life are pulling us and that's kind of the definition of stress,

Like,

Where it's like pulling a rubber bands,

All these different directions.

And when I'm fully present I feel like the rubber band is just calm,

Calm,

Relax not stretch.

It's funny so we have,

We get glimpses into presence I feel like when we do something that we love.

Right.

When we,

When we do something that we love,

Or perhaps something that's really challenging as well.

And one day we were recording a song and Danny had to do these hand claps that were like so complicated.

And he actually said,

It's amazing,

I can't think about anything else.

Whilst I'm doing these because it's taking up,

It was a really you know it's like a funny pattern it's like it's taking up all of my everything in me to to focus.

So,

Yeah,

I think we all have glimpses into presence in different ways.

And I think for me,

The daily practice of presence the daily practice of bringing my thoughts back into alignment with this moment right here,

Can just bring more joy to my day and,

And less stress and I think you're saying that's the,

That's the goal right it's like,

Yes,

In us away from our daily stresses our daily anxieties and it feels like so many more people seem to suffer from anxiety.

Nowadays,

And I think grasping onto any tools we can find that can help us have less time with anxieties and stress.

Yes,

And I would say,

To add to that,

When you're fully present.

You can bring your most inspired complete connected self to work,

Which is like bringing the universe to your work,

Bringing the power of presence to whatever you're interacting with,

You know,

As opposed to bringing a fragment of yourself.

Yeah,

Even when there's a lot going on,

You know,

We all know what it's like to have a really busy week and have to have lots of moving parts,

But,

You know,

I think we also all know that if we can be calm and centered about all of the moving parts,

It's always the best way forward,

As tricky as that is.

Anyway.

Yes,

And you were asking about what I observed Eckhart.

I would love to know.

Do you want to know?

Well,

He's like,

He's the father of presence,

You know,

To me.

I mean,

He is kind of the father of presence in modern society,

Right?

I don't even know.

I could be wrong.

Maybe just to me,

In my family,

I grew up,

You know,

The power of love.

Well,

To me,

He's really big,

But then I often meet people who have no idea.

I love him.

I do too.

So,

Yeah,

To me,

He's a huge part of my life,

But I have no idea how.

I hope that if you're watching this,

You check out the work of Eckhart.

Yes,

Definitely.

Speaking of presence,

About him is that he would be backstage and the audience would be really loud.

Like thousands of people.

Super loud.

And as soon as he was ready,

He'd be backstage,

He wouldn't be coming out,

There'd be no change to the lighting,

No announcement.

As soon as he was ready and about to come out,

The whole audience would just,

It was like a lion,

You know,

Stepped into the pasture.

But the power of presence.

It's this real power of presence.

Right there in existence.

People could just sense,

Oh,

Something's about to happen,

Just the energy shifted.

And then what he would do before speaking,

He didn't have a formal practice.

And he doesn't align himself with any particular teaching.

But he would sit in a chair or lay down.

And essentially,

I mean,

I would observe him just kind of merging with the sacred or the divine,

I don't know what you would call it,

But he would just open himself for a few minutes of total silence.

And when he would go in front of the audience,

He would never prepare,

He would really,

What I perceived was a listening,

Like listening with all of his,

His being.

And then he would just start speaking and captivating,

You know,

Thousands of people.

And then he practiced being present with everything he did so whether he was sitting a glass of wine or water or eating.

He just,

It's almost like he refused to go anywhere else to rush,

He refused to be sucked into that.

And then the other practice of Eckhart's that again,

Wasn't a formal practice but something I observed and learned a lot from is that he would set aside time to do nothing,

And,

And he really would just do nothing.

And,

You know,

Reminds me of Albert Einstein who got his best ideas in the bathtub or going for a walk,

Just when there was this quiet spaciousness,

And also Eckhart was very playful.

So one day,

We were visiting with Eckhart and my daughter was just old enough to walk and kind of run around,

And she would chase the cat from room to room and Eckhart would chase her from room to room.

And for a long time,

There was just giggling and yelling and giggling and yelling as they ran around the house so this kind of behavior is rare in our culture,

But it's important to maintain our humanity our ability to just do nothing from time to time to just be open,

And also to play,

To keep playfulness in our lives,

In our life experiences that my mom always used to say,

We're human beings not human doings,

You know,

And I come back to that.

Yeah,

It's good.

It's really good.

I love hearing that I,

It must have been an incredible experience being around that kind of energy.

Yeah,

It's like taking a drug because when you're around somebody who has that much energy,

Feel it as as real as kind of being washed over with.

Yeah,

It's very powerful.

But ultimately we all have to learn how to generate that for ourselves.

We do.

Yeah.

So,

Yeah.

Well,

It's been an absolute honor and delight to talk to you as ever.

And thank you so much for yeah for all of your work around this release and it just feels really meaningful and important to me that you've been involved.

Thank you,

Ricky and your song and your work is really meaningful and important to me and thank you for being the creative being that you are,

You know,

Really grateful to know you.

I'm not very grateful to know you.

Blessed.