“There are times when our offering is not necessarily some tangible gift or helpful act, but rather simply a peaceful manner. If we are clear and present, if we are quiet and centered, then others may be nourished simply by our lack of agitation.”
“The world is so agitated that to be in the presence of a single person who is at peace can feel remarkably healing, a great blessing. If we are still, others will come when they need to remember who they are.”
~ Wayne Muller, How, Then, Shall We Live
I’ve been musing on this for a long while — the power of our presence as an often under-recognized (or flat out ignored or unknown) blessing and type of what’s sometimes called spiritual/mystic activism or subtle activism.
After talking a bit about this over coffee recently with my friend Yvonne Lucia, a grief and soul-care coach and artist, Yvonne shared Wayne Muller’s quote shared above.
Truly, the quality of our presence — our manner, the choice and tone of our words, our ability to stay centered, and the energy we bring ‘into the room’ or into the conversation — is the result of all that we do to come into greater awareness or to ‘raise our vibe’.
Our presence is cultivated too, no doubt, by all of those by heart-rending transformation experiences, upheavals, and losses that sandblast away our sharp, hard edges … and grow our compassion, liberate our kindness, and activate our heart-fields, too.
Challenge and grief can carve deep valleys through which that more refined presence flows, as many of us know well.
In our very extroverted, work-focused culture, it’s very likely that these more subtle, gentle contributions of a compassionate manner and an energetic and psychic presence that soothes, centers, calms, or encourages go unnoticed, or are under-appreciated or just outright ignored or ‘made invisible’.
But that they’re under-appreciated or unnoticed doesn’t change the actual fact that these subtle, gentle, and sometimes even more felt than seen energetic contributions and their ripple effects — their influence or effects — are very, very real. Other cultures have known this, and we just might be starting to remember it now.
We can feel it, though, and we know it when we see it.
So as Wayne Muller reminded us:
“The world is so agitated that to be in the presence of a single person who is at peace can feel remarkably healing, a great blessing. If we are still, others will come when they need to remember who they are.”
How beautiful is that?
Definitely one major way that we be the change we wish to see.
A Blessing on Us:
May our presence and ability to stay centered be a rippling blessing and a type of ‘good medicine’ alchemy during these stirred-up and often tense times.
Some Holiday-Time Inspiration on this topic:
Read “Joy, Blessing, and The Gift of Your Presence” in The Wake-Up Juice archives.
And for personalized, one-to-one consultation on navigating challenges — and challenging people — and being your more skillful, confident presence and self, check out the current Holiday Specials for readings and sessions.
Big Love (and happy ‘presencing‘!),
November 22, 2015 at 7:53 pm
Great message- made me think about my own presence
November 22, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Beautiful post and so very true. We all have an ability to create peace and presence for each other.
November 30, 2015 at 2:45 pm
Just what I needed to read today.
November 30, 2015 at 4:25 pm
That’s always lovely. 🙂 xo Jamie