A Recipe for Presence

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A Recipe for Presence
by Matt Kahn

Presence can be imagined as celebrating the deepest knowing of who you are through an experience of feeling. In spiritual circles, we hear just about every teacher reminding everyone to "be present," but what does that mean? Being present simply means to be aware of whatever you are feeling in your current experience.

This practice of presence does not urge us to understand why we are feeling the way we are, or even evaluate whether or not we are pleased with what we are feeling. The practice simply leads us to the awareness of whatever experience of sensations are arising in the body. When we are present with these sensations that are usually felt as emotions, we are simply remembering who we are is a guest in the body—observing emotional responses without judgment, like a child staring in awe at a fireworks display.

If there was a recipe for presence, you would simply want the best possible ingredients to make it a yummy part of your living experience. Those ingredients already fill the shelves of your inner reality as we now take a moment to learn how those ingredients go together.

The first ingredient is love. Love is a way of understanding how the heart remains open whenever you are ready to offer the gift of deep appreciation to everything you are as the various shapes and forms of presence.

Even if we were to focus on having more of what we want, the secret is to serve love. If you would love a new car, or a new house, or even love a new relationship, the difference between who you are now and the you in the future who has those things, is simply a you who is filled with love.

Serving love is saying to the Universe, "I am ready to discover the love that hides in everything around me because it's an ingredient of everything I am as presence."

The second ingredient is peace. The you in the future who already has the car you love, the house, and the relationship that loves you the way you wish to be loved, views this heaven on earth reality with peace, versus resistance. The presence you truly are that can be seen as a spark of the Divine or as the illumination of your soul, simply rests within your body peacefully awaiting the arrival of your awareness.

Another ingredient is freedom. Freedom is a feeling of ease we experience when we give ourselves enough space to choose versus need. If we are in need, we may find it increasingly difficult to create enough time or space to celebrate the choices that are always apparent. Freedom is not only your spiritual birthright, but the only means by which presence travels.

We take these ingredients of love, peace and freedom and combine them into a mantra or meditation to be repeated until we arrive at our desired emotional consistency. Whether throughout your day, before each meal, or whenever you're feeling stress or conflict, calmly and slowly repeat in your mind the recipe for presence:

"I am loving, I am peaceful, I am free!"

By giving this statement your entire focus, you are reminding yourself of who you really are and blessing it with interest and priority. Share this recipe with your loved ones and most importantly, offer it for those you find you are unable to love, and discover the presence that all spiritual texts and teachings will ever guide you towards–the reality of your true divine nature

Subject: Re: A Recipe for Presence Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:55 am

Since when was presence edible?

Subject: The ever-present Tree people Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:10 pm

I Talk to the Trees
by Someone Else.

I wonder what has become of you,
I said as I took my chance with
The Rain and Thunder.
I am but A Birdman
Dancing on The Wind.
Who are you talking to? said The Tree.
I am talking to you, White Noble Pine.
Oh, I see, that's fine, Pine said to me.
I thought you were talking to Eagle on my branch.
Your wife is waiting for you, though. Welcome home, Birdman.
Are you willing to sit here with me for a very long time?
Sitting quietly still on the highest branch is she.
Where? I can't see her.
Look higher, Birdman. Stop whining.
But my wife is a Dove, I replied.
How do you know this? I think she is a Dove in disguise.
John Denver said you weren't listening to me in his song
"I talk to the Trees.
That's because he didn't really believe trees could talk, either.
Two-leggeds without wings balk
At everything they don't understand, can't see
I swear she's a Dove, I said to The Tree.
Think again. A lot of birds trade places.
Trading places with Doves, Eagles
Avoid Blackbirds and Crows.
Who come in droves, but lose sight of her.
Her disguise in my eyes keeps her safe, nestled in my arms.
She belongs to me as well as to you anyway.
You can't have her just yet.
Don't give up, Birdman. One day you'll understand.
Love is no longer a possession. In fact, it never was.
Its a confession pine trees confide in you over the years
When you trade your puny little eyes for our piney pinecone ears.(*S*)
Aho!