A few weeks ago, I met a friend of my husband’s and he presented with some inner challenges pertaining to a break up and work related frustration. I felt his sadness and sensed a loss of purpose. The next day as I reflected on this interaction this statement bellowed through my mind, “Your presence is your purpose.” Ah, yes! How can I/we live from this truth? The following supportive practice provides an avenue for exploration.
Take a moment and sit with this statement: Your Presence is Your Purpose. What if, for this moment, you dropped all expectations, all identities, all limiting beliefs about yourself, and let this statement move through the mind and body? I can hear a collective sigh…
Integrating purposeful pauses throughout one’s day is a meaningful and effective practice for presence. Conscious pausing is based on the intention to attune to self and other in order to engage or show up from our values. Furthermore, pausing in such a way brings awareness to the unconscious intentions motivating our behavior (i.e., thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions). This gentle inquiry through self-attunement gives rise to insight and agency.
Here is a process to experiment with:
* Identify 1-3 natural places you can place a speed bump (pause). Some examples –
— before getting out of the car
— after the last sip of coffee
— before opening your phone or computer
— before entering a particular room, like your child’s room.
*During this pause practice attunement
— what sensations or energy am I experiencing in my body? (i.e., restless, urgency, lethargy, overwhelm, enthusiasm, etc.)
— what does this reveal about an unconscious intention or motivation informing my behavior?
— how best might I move into this next moment to align with my values? (this is an opportunity for gentle self-correction/redirection should that be the wisest choice)
*Post Pause note the impact of the purpose, conscious pause and use it to inform future acts of pausing.
*Pausing for Relational Presence – as you practice with these speed bumps, which is a form of self-care and self-compassion, you can try bringing this into your interactions with others. See how it feels and its impact when you engage from the place of presence is your purpose – responding to the moment with presence rather than reacting from a place of unconscious intention.
Unconscious intention or motivation – a benefit of meditation and mindfulness practice is greater awareness of our inner worlds, of the causes and conditions influencing our behavior. When we attune to our bodies by acknowledging the somatic experience of the moment, we can uncover the (unmet) needs, the limiting beliefs, the conditioning influencing our reactivity. It is in this space of awareness that we can gently reorient our intention/motivation and thus be responsive rather than reactive.