Power in Being Present

Man has always challenged himself with Faith versus Knowledge.

The Power of Being Present

There’s nothing like being in danger to find yourself in the being present.  Do we need to have danger to be present?  Why is being present so hard?  And if it isn’t hard, then why aren’t you doing it?

I’m not picking on you.  It’s true for almost everybody. There’s a lot in life that can distract us.  What are the primary benefits of being present?

I’ll give you one… If you’re not being present, you’re robbing yourself of life.

(HIT PLAY  to LISTEN)

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Thank you for joining us for this podcast episode 013 of True Connections with Weston Jolly

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Transcription:

There’s nothing like being in danger to find yourself in the moment. I’ve never been a go-put-myself-in-the-middle of danger kind of guy. This isn’t to say I haven’t experienced danger, it’s just I’ve never found the need to go looking for it. Well, maybe I shouldn’t have said that…

Because, I am thinking of a time I went snow skiing in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. My wife and I were riding the ski lift up the mountain as we watched below us, a parade of six skiers line up jump off this tiny mogul. Each skier, one right after the other, hit the jump and spun effortlessly for a full 360 degrees, landed and skied on. It was beautiful. It was like watching ballet.

I turned to my partner and I said, “I can do that!” She simply smiled and said, “I am sure you can…” I responded enthusiastically, “I can do it.” Not wanting to encourage me… my partner continued smiling and said nothing.

Moments later we were on the mountain and I was properly positioned above the mogul that would provide me the lift to jump and do my first “helicopter.” That’s what this simple trick is called when you can jump, spin around in a full circle, and continue skiing downhill. I instructed my partner to ski down next to the mogul so she could get a real close look at me doing the trick.

Thankfully, this was before cell phones with their built-in cameras, but don’t forget that everyone on the chair lift had a perfect bird’s-eye view. I wasn’t thinking of the people on the chair lift, I wanted to do my first helicopter. I skied down easily, hit the jump and spun a delightful… ….270 degrees before slamming down into the snow. When I hit, I accidentally landed on top of one of my ski poles and knocked the wind out of me.

People on the ski lift were clapping. Some yelling sarcastically, “nice jump.” Others just laughed. It was like being in a theater and I was sprawled out over the stage.

All of this didn’t matter. Only one thing did, and that was, I couldn’t breathe. My partner skied down a few feet, looked at my face covered in snow and laughed, perhaps even louder, than the people on the lift. Finally she said, “Are you alright?”

I looked up in complete panic but I couldn’t restart my breathing. If you’ve ever experienced this sensation, it’s the most unnatural feeling because we’re always breathing in or out. To be stuck is a very frightening place. I hoped that my eyes conveyed my disparate need for help but without air I couldn’t talk.

The entirety of the event from start to finish couldn’t have been but a half a minute but when it’s happening to you it feels like hours. I couldn’t think of anything else but trying to breathe. Then it happened. Like the pendulum of grandfather clock that had momentarily gotten stuck, and then unstuck, I started breathing again.

During my super brief encounter without air, there was nothing I could think about except breathing. I didn’t care what I looked like to the people on the lift. I just wanted to breathe. When you’re in danger, you’re not thinking about anything else.

Don’t worry; I’m not recommending that you put yourself in danger to get in the moment. Why is being present so hard? What’s the primary benefit of your being present? When you die, you’re going to find out.

That sounds pretty dire, doesn’t it? Well, you don’t have to die to discover the value of being in the moment. If you don’t want to wait until you die, you can do it now. What’s the primary benefit of being present?

When you distract yourself in thought or other activities of the moment, you rob yourself of life. I mean it. You can go to a football game and miss everything. You can plan for your wedding, go through the perfect reception and miss it all.

You can have kids and not be present. You can work day in, and day out, and never be in the moment. You can be successful and never know it. And you’ll never know real happiness without being in the now.

If your life were to slowly come to the end, you could be so consumed with what’s going to happen next, that you miss the beauty that even death has to offer. Then, when you’re no longer in your body, you’ll be forced into a state of being present. Let me tell you, this can be more shocking than having just died.

It sounds trite, but things have never moved faster than today. Don’t believe me? Go watch a film from 5 yrs ago? Watch another from 10yrs ago? Then watch the silent black and white film such as; Nanook of the North produced in 1922. And you’re going to consciously notice how slow these films seem to be.

Don’t be fooled for a minute that a slower pace of life guarantees you’ll be present. It doesn’t. Imagine yourself having just eaten a wonderful meal only to find yourself consumed with thoughts of how long it will be until you get food again. Nope, a slower paced lifestyle doesn’t necessarily assure you of being in the moment.
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What can you do to be more present?

Let me share with you three things.

And you’re here for a reason so let’s really go for it!

One, dump all technology for a weekend. No phones. No cell phones or even using the landline. This includes your use of a computer for Skype, Twitter, FB, Instagram, TV, Radio or email. Yep, this also means no Spotify, iTunes, or Youtube. If you have kids, and you have baby monitors, turn them off. (This also means turning off your GPS on your car and any mapping features.) If you need to get somewhere –get a map or dare I say it, ask someone for directions.

If you think it’s too tough to do on your own, do it with a partner, a friend, a spouse or even with your children. Yep, it won’t kill your kids to be without technology for two whole days. Promise. You will immediately notice the unusual amount of time to be present because you’ve removed a great deal of the technological distractions.

To be honest, I find it easier to get out-of-town to remove all technology. I understand why for me, but how does it work for you? Why don’t you take a moment, pun intended, and find out? Plan a trip to get out in nature. Maybe go hiking, or even camping.

Sometimes when you “get away from it all” you can run into a slight fear. It can feel a little uncomfortable to realize that you’re not in the middle of all the activity. Psychologically, you might have some withdraws without all the distraction. But thankfully, if you’re willing, you can slip into a state of being present.

Being present means not thinking. If you’ve been listening to my True Connections with Weston Jolly podcasts, then you’ll remember episode 004 -Creating Conscious Mindset’s when I asked you to meditate for … just one minute. Several of you wrote me sharing your difficulty in being present. This is why we’re discussing it now.

Unplugging from technology for a weekend will absolutely set you free. Free to be present. Let me share with you the importance of being present.

Have you ever been talking with a friend to be interrupted by a phone call, text or a FB ping? How did you feel when suddenly you were no longer important? It takes away from being in the moment doesn’t it? It can have you feeling that your friend isn’t listening.

The same is true when you do it.

Do you realize the power you have when you really listen? Everyone, and I mean everyone, really wants to be heard. The power that you’re sharing in embracing the ebb and flow of listening to someone as they talk could be described another way… It’s true love.

I want you to think about that for a minute. Life, is in its fundamental essence, is love and you share it when you’re being present. It’s quite a gift. Without technology you’re going to be more focused and present in the moment.

Try it. Take two days and step away from technology, and the endless interruptions, to be present. Give yourself a chance to step into life. Unplug…

The second thing you can do to be more present is step away from time. For me, when I step into being creative; suddenly, I’m in another world. When you loose time you’ll find yourself wonderfully present. You’ll notice things that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Artistically, this is very desired. The more details that you see, the easier it is to bring life to your creation. I can’t imagine responding to text messages in between my paintbrush strokes. Disruptions like this would be disastrous.

Being creative isn’t necessarily painting, sculpting or sketching. What ways are you drawn into creativity? What about your ideas? Aren’t they ALL creative?

Indeed they are. And as you remember our talking about riding vibrational shifts in a previous podcast ,come forward in your intent to step inside your wonderful world of creativity. All it takes is being present. Playing in creativity is fulfilling.

Don’t forget that being present is the key to life. Truly living. When you’re creating you’re actually adding more life. And there’s nothing greater than being present while you create.

There’s another way to step away from time. Forget about it. I know this sounds funny, but often time, or the illusion of time, is a huge disrupter to being present. Set aside the constraints often created with time.

When we’re constantly running around it creates an anxiousness of where we have to go, which takes us completely out of the moment. For example, I remember thinking I was going to be late to an early morning dental appointment, and I flew to get there on time. As I was getting my teeth cleaned, I kept thinking of the many things I would do as soon as the dental hygienist was done. Since it was Monday, I drove off thinking about all the things I wanted to get done for the week.

Not once was I present. It was like I was reading a book and then I started thinking about other things. Suddenly, I turned the page realizing that I hadn’t read or comprehended anything. If you’d offered me a quiz as to what just happened in life, I couldn’t possibly have told you.

When you’re not present, your lack of attention, takes you out of the moment. And when you’re not in the moment, you’re missing everything.

This takes to our third point.

Three, step into the stillness of being.

This is when you consciously access your higher self by being. Sometimes referred to as mindfulness. Mindfulness is being mindful of everything around you. This may challenge you because there may be things you’ll notice that you don’t like.

It’s okay, just note that in your observation. Interestingly, avoidance takes us in a different direction than the flow. For example, recently my family and I went to Hawaii. We’d planned for the greater part of the year to go and we all had highest expectations to hike, get some sun, swim in the ocean and so much more.

When we got there it was raining. This wasn’t uncommon and coming from the desert, I love the rain. However, this was an exceptional rain. It just kept coming. I could see the rivers rising. The ocean curls coming into the bay were colored dirt brown, instead of the normal turquoise blue, from all the eroding earth from the waterfalls.

It poured for seven days straight. A bridge accessing our part of the island was now buried under water and the road was closed. There was no way to go anywhere, even if we had wanted too. But there was something happening in the removal of our normal vacation activities. Mindfulness.

Instead of fighting the flow of what we had hoped to be doing, we all had to make a shift into the moment of what was happening now. It was beautiful. I can still picture sitting on the open deck listening to the rain, and the occasional screams of the tropical birds moving about. It was pure bliss.

In fact, I brought back something for you. It’s right here let me find it. Okay, here it is. It’s called the stillness of being. This is literally an audio recording of my sitting outside listening and meditating in the rain in Hawaii. See if it doesn’t prompt your being present.

I purposely didn’t tell you how long that audio clip was going to be. I didn’t want you thinking of time… Hopefully, you just joined me in the moment. There’s a beauty in stepping into the stillness of being. It’s life.

If you haven’t read it, I wrote an article called Awareness Is A Priceless Gift – But Many Haven’t Discovered It. You might be interested. Check it out it’s on my website under the blog. The article again is called Awareness is a Priceless Gift.

There’s immense joy, peace and serenity in being present. Being in the moment offers you the key to life. There’s spiritual enlightenment in being present. Consider this moment an offering. An offering of life. An offering of love.

Utilize the power of being present by; stepping away from technology, removing the illusion of time and finally, step into the stillness of being. These are but three simple steps to you being present. There’s truth in being present. And then there’s bliss, peace and creativity. All of it is yours in being in the now.

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Something More

Awareness Is A Priceless Gift – But Many Haven’t Discovered It.

Truth Is

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