"The Gift"  © 2011  ~   acrylic painting and collage by Carol E. Fairbanks

                                                    

                                                        The Place of Presence


"So much of modern life is a feverish anticipation of future activity and excitement.  We have to learn to step back from this into the freedom and possibility of the present." 
                                                                                               Fr. Bede Griffiths
                                                   

"Feverish activity" is not hard for me.  I come by it naturally.  With just about everything that I do, I pour myself 100 % into it.  In fact, I tend to feel lost if I don't have something that I can work hard at.....something that requires almost every part of my being and my time. It's not all bad, because whatever I do or create benefits some person or group. The problem is, when I work that hard, I tend to neglect my self care, both physically and spiritually.

Working hard occupies my thoughts and channels them to some task, rather than to my issues of healing and growth that are calling to me.  The greatest loss, however, is that the frenzied activity of meeting idealized deadlines, which are usually unrealistic for human beings, keeps me from being in the present moment.  Since it is only in the present moment that one can receive guidance and gifts from the Universe, I am certain to miss out on some really good stuff!  If one can slow down enough, one can learn through meditation that there is a "source of all there is" within us.  From this mystery emanates all that our senses perceive in this world.  We are all united as one, because we are all formed out of that one source.  Finite words cannot define or explain it. It is only through an inner experience of communing with that source that you can really "know" that truth.

So as I inhale deeply and breathe out slowly, I feel myself beginning to quiet down.  I release the need to be active, and I sit quietly without moving.  I close my eyes and go inward to the depths of my soul.  I extend the "hands" of my heart to receive those gifts that I have been offered to me once again.  This time I intend to open these gifts with my presence.