Give The Gift Of Presence

What greater gift can you give someone than the gift of presence? When you are fully present, mindful, and in the moment, you are able to give all those around you access to the best version of you, and thus the moment they are in with you. This session was inspired by my course, ‘Daily Contemplations For Living An Examined Life’

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the session. I invite you to take a seat or lay down and get yourself comfortable. You can close down the eyes if you wish and just take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. In this session we are going to be evoking the wonder of the present moment, The joy, The peace, The place of strength and solitude within the very moment, This moment. And then we're going to be considering the idea of gifting the present moment to the world, To other people and to ourselves. This contemplation came about as a response to two quotes that I'm putting together for a course called Daily Contemplations for Living an Examined Life and I was reading them and doing the recordings and I realized that these two quotes work hand in hand and they give us a springboard of the most perfect gift you could give to another person. I'm recording this just after Christmas and have seen the joy and the love and the festivities, But also the hardships, The confusion, The pains, The awkwardness, As well as the attempts to find the perfect gift for someone, To express how you feel about that person over time in this moment. Some presents land and others certainly do not, But then I was thinking, Well, Why should we limit our gift why should we limit our gift giving to one time and place? Why to Christmas? Why to this societally pushed practice and not just in everyday life? Why aren't we extending this eternally? So I'm going to read you the two quotes and then we'll talk about the idea of giving someone the gift of the present moment. The first quote is by John Astin, An American meditation researcher and instructor. And this quote combined with the second quote from H. W. L. Poonja, Also known as Papaji, An Indian spiritual teacher. So here's the interconnection. We're talking about the idea of the past not existing. It's come, It's gone, It only exists in your mind. The future hasn't yet come, It will, But it's not here yet. All that exists is this moment and now and the next. That is it. Combine that with this feeling of inner peace. This idea that if you're peaceful, Other people will reflect that peace back. If you're agitated, They'll reflect that back. This is manifestation. This is your thoughts impacting the world. But it's true. If you're angry, People will respond angrily back to you. If you're happy, People respond happily back and vice versa. We are social creatures. The final part of this puzzle that I want to put together to talk on the idea of the best gift you could give someone is to look at all of this from a secular perspective. I have my own spiritual practices, My own beliefs, But I also like to look at things and understand things from a non-woo-woo, Purely secular perspective. What is happening here? What is verifiably real that you can express to everyone regardless of their belief systems or lack of? The truth of the matter is that this moment is all that exists. If you can strip away the ruminations on the past and the future, If you can just sit in the presence of the moment and the peace of the moment, You will feel peace. You will feel joy. You will feel this freedom, The freedom of a puppy running and frolicking in the bush, The freedom of a kid playing lost in that sort of joy that we sometimes will seem to lose over time as we age. But we can find that presence and freedom in the moment that is possible to attain. That's why we practice. That's the goal of a lot of the meditative and spiritual practices you will be hearing here through me and through other instructors. The reason I'm saying these things is because in that moment, That is that inner peace. If you can sit in the present moment and then you push that outwards to the world, Show the world that inner peace that you found by just being present. You're giving people full attention. You're not falling into their stories, But you're just being there with them. That's peace. That's joy. That's resonance. That's an amazing gift, Right? If you can learn to revel in the present moment, In the peace of the present moment, And give that to someone, What an amazing gift you can be giving that person. And it's not just that person, It's a gift to the world. You're giving the world this gift of the present moment. If you sit with someone and cause them to feel a bit better, Their now next interactions, They're feeling a bit better. It's like paying it forward. Your happiness impacts five people. Those five people impact another five, Now we're at 25 or 30 people impacted. Those 25 people impact another five people each, Now we're at 125 people. Another five each, Now we're at over 500. Do you see the iterative benefits of being positive for the world? So perhaps the best gift you can give someone is the gift of the present moment by being present yourself and connecting with that person, Meeting that person, Being with that person, Fully, Totally, Completely. There's something there, Hey? So, Depending on when you hear this, Whether or not it's the festive season or not, I encourage you, Find the place of inner peace, Or at least just move towards it, Just a little bit more happiness. And you'll probably find that in the present moment. Here and now, The activity doesn't matter, The moment is now, It's here, It exists, That's all. And just be, And then project that to the world. Give them the gift of the present moment. Share this teaching and practice with them. Encourage them to be in the present moment, To share it as well. So I encourage you now, With this idea of sitting in the present moment, Finding that inner peace, Let's just sit in that space for a few minutes together and just resonate. So, How did you go? I want to encourage you as we are ending this contemplation session to keep with it. There are no moments that are more spiritual than other moments, Whether or not you're at the end of a 10-day silent retreat, Or you're literally scrubbing the toilet. Every moment is an opportunity to embrace the present. Each moment is the only moment that exists. Some are more pleasurable and enjoyable than others, But this moment, Right now, Is all that exists. Let's find peace in that and project it outwards. I just want to remind you that these two quotes came from my course, Daily Contemplations for Living an Examined Life, On Insight Timer. I encourage you to check it out. Have a great day.