The practice of presence is to as much as possible, voluntarily relinquish identification with your usual self, the thinking mind. What usually best helps with this is just walking around as a light, an energy field of perception. Act like a child when you look at everything like it's the first time. In awe of the beauty and aliveness, presence practice.
Be there. Be as present as you can, alert, and as you walk around from one building to another, from here to there, really perceieve. That already is a liberation from your usual self because you're not thinking. You cannot really perceieve your surroundings fully when your usual self is talking to you. It's not talking about this present moment, but probably about what you'll do when you get home or what happened last week.
When you practice, you'll see that you don't just perceieve from your senses because after all that is the surface reality. It's beautiful, but as you perceieve the beautiful surface reality of multiplicity life forms, you can also sense an aligned sense of presence as itself.
I can sense it at this moment. At this moment, my thoughts go onto the screen, but I can sense the place where those words originate. They do not originate in my mind. My mind becomes an instrument for it. It formulates the words, but the words originate from a deeper place. When you read these words, you can also read these words from a deeper place within yourself. Something within you responds. So as I speak to you from that deeper place of alert stillness, you can listen from that place of alert stillness.
That is a real mind retreat. Let go of the usual self which includes your life situation. You can leave it behind temporarily. Everybody has one. You don't want to be a walking life situation because then you have to juggle all of these things in your mind - what about this and that? I'm sure there's at least one area that is problematic in your life. Your home, living situation, your marriage, or whatever it is. I can guarantee there is one area that is problematic.
For many of us, there are more than one. However, do you want to walk around as a problematic sense of self? I am not saying I am going to ignore problems and never again will I take action in my life. No, it's not that. If you don't need that though at that time, why be burdened by it? Sometimes there's nothing you can do about any of it. Why not step out, transcend your life situation instead of carrying around the weight of it?
Be the life. We are life. You are not just a life situation, you are life. You are an expression of the ONE life that manifests as the universe. Underlying the universe is the oneness of life. You are that one life. Be in that joy, that joy that lies underneath being conscious. The joy of consciousness. You become conscious of your own consciousness. You'll sense that presence that underlies your sense perceptions.
You can feel the "I", the deeper I. Then you walk around in a deep sense of enjoyment. The enjoyment has two levels to it. One is whatever you perceieve through your senses. Then there is the deeper enjoyment. The presence you that you sense without which the universe would not perceive itself and you would not perceieve. That deeper underlying knowing yourself as that deeper underlying presence is real joy.
It's that sense of aliveness. You might call it happiness. I'm careful using the word happiness because too often it is associated with superficial things- "I am so happy because this and that happened." Of course the next day you're back to being unhappy. I'm talking of that deeper inner happiness. That's your mind retreat. Be the presence more than the person. As much as possible, let go. Even if you feel a sense of withdrawl, unplug everything and this will lead to unplugging your mind and keeping it uncluttered. It's not just an accumulation of knowledge that takes you to awakening. In fact, the beginners mind that is still empty is ideal. It hasn't been filled yet.
Now of course your mind has been filled by life. You cannot not have been filled and yet, you don't need to be identified with all of that stuff and confuse it with who you are. Become a beginner again in the state of emptiness to fullness.
I speak to you from an alert stillness. It's not the person who's writing and sharing this with you and sharing these thoughts. Living from that state is what gives these thoughts, not the person. Just as the person (you) doesn't read the content. If you read this just as a person, it makes no sense whatsoever. Even if your mind says it can't quite understand what this means, of course it can't. It's not the mind that understands it.
You can only understand the essence of it by touching that in you that resonates with it. That in you that responds to this is emerging. It does not increase an intellectual rise in spirituality, though it may comes as a perk occasionally. However, that is not what gets you there. Rather than thinking you need to know everything, have the courage to embrace the state of not knowing. Enjoy this particular part of the adventure of life!
💖Wishing every one of you an amazing day! Shine bright you beautiful beings of love and light💖
With love always,
Kristan 💞