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This is a word with many meanings. We can “be present”…simply existing. We can “maintain a presence”…establishing an influence in a situation. We can “feel a presence”…sensing someone is with you when they are not. And we can practice “presence of mind”…keeping calm while taking quick and sensible action. Sometimes we cope with challenging situations by distracting or diverting our attention. And sometimes that coping style can be appropriate. Another approach is to stay with the challenge, to be powerfully present. That is, to bring your mind into your body, ground your body to the earth, and just breathe. All of your resources coming back home to where you are. In mindful presence, Lori Each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. ―Matsuo Basho
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Awakenings can come at any time. Awakenings can be quick…surprising words spoken by a friend, a flash of insight that opens your mind. And awakenings can be subtle…a series of smaller events and shifts, accumulating over time. This year, having spent many weeks and months with more time at home may have awakened you from your slumber. Perceptions change, priorities change, and you may have even decided to make this a turning point. What are you leaving behind? What are you creating space for? In mindful presence, Lori Awakening is not changing who you are, but discarding who you are not.
―Deepak Chopra When lost in the maelstrom of thinking mind and swirling emotion, it can be helpful to drop down into your body and sense. Sense what is present now…warm, cool, pain, pressure, clothing, air, comfort, discomfort. Be the observer, embodying your body. Cultivating a felt-sense awareness, even of discomfort, can be centering. In mindful presence, Lori Awareness Knowing Itself
Settle in the here and now. Reach down into the center where the world is not spinning and drink this holy peace. Feel relief flood into every cell. Nothing to do. Nothing to be but what you are already. Nothing to receive but what flows effortlessly from the mystery into form. Nothing to run from or run toward. Just this breath, Awareness knowing itself as embodiment. Just this breath, awareness waking up to truth. ―Danna Faulds Surely since the dawn of humankind, there have been inequities and injustices in the world. This is nothing new, and becomes more apparent every day as headlines scroll across your screens. It is easy to feel overly saturated by news and media, and at the same time, perhaps it is exactly this excess of global communication that is helping us shed even more light on the world’s crises and keeping these issues on the front burner. If we’re paying attention, we are also urged to look within, to reveal our own hidden shadows, and reexamine what we are putting out in the world. In mindful presence, Lori Things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered.
We must hold each other tight and continue to pull back the veil. —Adrienne Maree Brown A harsh word quickly incites us to anger. An added challenge sparks anxiety. There is often just a nanosecond between a trigger and your reaction. If we can only slow ourselves down with just one inhale and one exhale, we may find the clarity we need to soften the reaction and respond with integrity. In mindful presence, Lori Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life:
slow down and let go. ―Oriah Mountain Dreamer It is so easy to be pulled into comparison mode, measuring ourselves against someone else’s merits and feeling inadequate. How quickly we give away our power. Sometimes dropping beneath the surface of thinking and resting into your body can bring you back to center, helping you rediscover the temple within. In mindful presence, Lori Your sacred space is where you can find yourself over and over again. ―Joseph Campbell
Our sense of worth is often woven into what we do, what we create, what we contribute. We love to find meaning and purpose. It feels good to have goals and direction. And what if your purpose is also to fully own who you are…to be this glorious and flawed human being, and to let that be enough. In mindful presence, Lori Furbush You and your purpose in life are the same thing. Your purpose is to be you.
―George Alexiou A metaphor for life, holding a yoga posture is like suspending your body and entire being in the space between pleasure and discomfort. Sensations and emotions give rise to waves of craving and aversion. Somewhere in between strength of presence and softness of spirit, you may find home. In mindful presence, Lori Furbush Being Home
Where can I soften in this posture? Where is the edge between opening and force, the line between stretch and too much effort? The mind and body serve up a feast of feelings, each breath another chance to deepen and release. The smallest motion, or even just a quiet sigh could be all that I require to shift my focus from the outer to the inner realm, a change from feeling lost to being home. —Danna Faulds For most of us, the mind chatters on about self-worth. Whether that inner voice is boasting about your accomplishments or chastising your shortcomings, the chatter is still all about you. So what is humility? Perhaps it’s that ability to set the smaller self aside and open to the humbling vastness of the cosmos, the amazing wisdom within the rhythms of nature, or the wonder of life manifested in the human or creature next to you. In mindful presence, Lori Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.
—C. S. Lewis To be genuine is to be sincere, authentic, and truthful. If we are lucky, there are people in our lives with whom we can be our genuine self, without pretense or buffers. And if we are skillful, we can recognize the truth of ourselves, claiming the good, the bad, and the ugly, without secrecy or denial. How freeing to live in truth. In mindful presence, Lori There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. —Howard Thurman
Activity can be fun and is surely an important aspect of life. And, like the moon reflecting on calm water, taking time for reflection reminds us how intricately woven we are within the bigger picture. In mindful presence, Lori Let the waters settle
and you will see the moon and the stars mirrored in your own being. —Rumi To withdraw is not necessarily to feel smaller or more confined. Sitting with awareness of your own body, your own self, can put you in touch with your energetic nature, connected and free-flowing with the vast energies of life all around you. In mindful presence, Lori Be empty of worrying
Think of who created thought Why do you stay in prison When the door is so wide open Move outside the tangle of fear thinking Live in silence Flow down and down Into always widening Rings of being. —Rumi Life seems to be full of suffering and challenge. At the same time, there is much beauty and magnificence. If life were all pleasant, we wouldn’t have much need to grow, learn, and evolve. It is challenge that helps us find strength we didn’t know we had and new ways we didn’t know existed. In mindful presence, Lori A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.
—Lewis Mumford It is rather surreal to suddenly press the pause button on your active life and withdraw, sheltering in place. How strange it is to be immersed in this different reality, as though you have slipped through a portal into an alternate universe. We are adaptable creatures. Can you stand in this “new” reality with curiosity and presence? In mindful presence, Lori Oceans
I have a feeling that my boat has struck, down there in the depths, against a great thing. And nothing happens! Nothing…Silence…Waves… —Nothing happens? Or has everything happened, and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life? —Juan Ramon Jimenez We spend a lot of time cogitating on how things should be different, how someone or something could be better. The panel of commentators in your brain likes to have opinions and solve problems. AND the brain is also capable of opening, like a vast sky of awareness, to welcome what is already here. Is this a safe moment where action is not immediately necessary? If so, can this moment be enough for now? In mindful presence, Lori Mind Wanting More
Only a beige slat of sun above the horizon, like a shade pulled not quite down. Otherwise, clouds. Sea rippled here and there. Birds reluctant to fly. The mind wants a shaft of sun to stir the grey porridge of clouds, an osprey to stitch sea to sky with its barred wings, some dramatic music: a symphony, perhaps a Chinese gong. But the mind always wants more than it has-- one more bright day of sun, one more clear night in bed with the moon; one more hour to get the words right; one more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses—as if this quiet day with its tentative light weren't enough, as if joy weren't strewn all around. —Holly Hughes This is an invitation to be gentle with yourself. Be kind to your body. Be patient with your heart. And be softer in your inner dialogue. Softness makes us stronger. In mindful presence, Lori Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.
—Saint François de Sales Is there a problem that just doesn’t seem to get solved? Do you keep running into the same wall? Sometimes spending time in inner reflection, quieting the thinking mind, can lead to spontaneous insights and creative alternatives. Breathe, rest in your body, and allow the freedom of time and space for creativity to arise. In mindful presence, Lori We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
—Albert Einstein Making changes requires that we set goals, make a plan, and take action. If we are so intent on reaching the goal, however, we may be blocking our own ability to receive. Remember, the reward may not appear in the way we expect. Along with controlling everything that is within our control, we must leave space to be open. In our seeking, we must leave space for finding. In mindful presence, Lori Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.
—Hermann Hesse Daily mindful living requires us to not only foster our inner light, but also to stay conscious and present when meeting our shadow side. We all have darkness within us, and we all are brilliant, radiant beings. In mindful presence, Lori One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,
but by making the darkness conscious. —Carl Jung To retreat is to withdraw and seek refuge from the battles of the world. And yet when we do finally pause and turn inward, we realize just how much of our conflict lies within. Perhaps this is why we distract ourselves and choose to live unconsciously. But hidden gems of wisdom and strength are waiting if we find the courage and patience to sit within ourselves. Many of us are in "shelter-in-place" mode, withdrawing from the world in order to heal ourselves and our planet. It is an interesting and perhaps unprecedented opportunity to notice how you meet yourself in quieter, simpler moments. In mindful presence, Lori The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
—Joseph Campbell |
AuthorLori Furbush teaches Qigong, Yoga, Reiki, & Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). She weaves MINDFULNESS & RELAXATION into every moment. Archives
August 2020
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