The Power Of Presence.

Re-establishing presence has been powerful for me.

So often the mind seems to race with thought, and it feels as though we’re being carried away, with no choice in the matter.

But the realisation that to be aware of thought means there is a choice in the matter, regardless of how it feels in the moment.

As a mother of two small children, I often look at my children, particularly my youngest, who is 19 months old, and notice how foundational presence naturally is.

Before the mind is conditioned into labelling and commenting on everything, there was this direct experiencing of whatever was happening.

Of course, there can be sadness, discomfort, anger.

But these emotions are felt fully, then let go of. There isn’t a story around them or any lingering around.

Children can be in despair one minute and jumping for joy the next.

The emotion passes through, and neutral presence re-emerges.

As adults, this way of being can appear difficult to ‘get back’ to.

It seems like there’s a lot of effort involved in returning to effortlessness.

But knowing that this presence is foundational — it is, in fact, what we are. It’s just a case of re-familiarising ourselves with it.

I like to imagine myself as a baby, staring neutrally at whatever’s in front of me without any language to conceptualise what’s appearing.

And that doesn’t mean I go about life as a blank slate.

It just means there is the option of returning to this place when we seem to be running away with the mind and getting lost in repetitive thought cycles.

Initially, this neutrality can seem very uneventful.

There’s nothing to grasp onto, no story, nothing to plan for.

Just the simplicity of what’s immediately in the ‘scene’.

Maybe there’s a tree, a bird flying across the sky or the clouds moving.

But eventually, this simple uneventfulness can be the grounds for a deeper sense of peace.

A sturdy foundation that becomes a little harder to leave, the more it’s re-established.

Because, really, this peaceful field of awareness is what we truly are.

What was there when we were babies, what’s been there all along and what is available at any time, when we choose to look.