Posts Tagged ‘Presence’
Be Just This Moment
Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
What if you could be just this moment?
Let the past go. Not worry about the future. Be just this moment. Then what?
Be just this moment and notice what happens inside.
Be just this moment and this moment and this moment and this moment.
Life Is Speaking, Are You Listening?
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” –M. Scott Peck
As I stood in the subway car, a lady started talking to me and I realized after a few moments I had stopped listening. She was complaining about the delays and it seemed like she would never stop talking. By the time I reached my office, I realized I heard what she was saying, but not really listening to what she was saying.
There are days when listening seems more difficult – due to the noises outside and all the chatter going on inside. Some of my best listening happens when I am using my whole body – when I can let go of any response of what I need to say and just listen.
As Peter Senge says, “To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only to the ‘music,’ but to the essence of the person speaking. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our mind’s hearing to your ears’ natural speed, and hear beneath the words to their meaning.”
When we are truly listening, we become present to all that is around us. Noise can transform into sounds. Listening requires us to pay attention and gives us the ability to have greater focus. Are you willing to listen below the noises?
Practice: Close your eyes and listen to the sounds surrounding you. Can you hear the leaves, the birds, or a sunrise? What is your heart saying?
And remember the advice of Native American seers: speak only half as much as you listen.
Life is speaking, are you listening?
Mary Anne
Are You Taking Up a Seat?
Monday, May 17th, 2010
I have noticed more and more people sitting and taking up two seats on the subway. Most seem oblivious to the fact that they are stretched out while others are crammed into a subway car. I, like many others, have approached these folks to politely ask to sit down. There are folks who take up only one seat and are just as oblivious. While sitting at baseball games I have seen a lot of folks in very expensive seats who are busy texting, emailing, and some even leaving for two innings or more.
These experiences led me to start thinking about all the times we take up a seat in life. What we do while in our seat, how we offer others our seat, and what we contribute while in that seat is what really matters. What will you do with your chance to sit in that seat? What value do you want to offer others – even when it is difficult – even when your voice is the opposite one of what is being said? How many meetings, conventions, or events do you want to attend and not offer anything to the conversation?
How many times have I taken up a seat and have not been present to the conversation or what is happening around me? Next time I take up a seat, what will my contribution be?
Is that seat taken?
Mary Anne
Lessons Learned in 2009
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
I spent this week rereading all the blogs I posted this year. Each one felt like a personal recipe for living, learning, & loving. Each blog held a nugget of hope, a spark of light, & moments of absolute love. I have put together some of the best quotes from my blogs of 2009. May they give you the hope, light, & love that is already awakening in every way.
“Starting over means we can release the past without judgment and move forward without baggage.”
“Forgiveness is not an act; it’s a process. In order to forgive, there must be a journey of going to the place of healing. It’s coming to a place and resting – just resting.”
“The question then becomes, are we willing to practice and share peace with one another? It starts with each person being peace. We can then see peace in each other. Each of us can be the peace story.”
“Do it afraid. Whatever the ‘it’ is, do it, live it, breathe it…Do it anyway. Do it despite yourself.”
“The phrase “Truth Be Told, I Choose You” represented the grandest invitation to life. This is the experience of totality – the gift of fully inviting another person on your life’s journey.”
“When I am open, the world is open, when I am grateful, the world is grateful.”
“I am the one I have been waiting for. The teacher I have been waiting for is me.”
“How are we prisoners to our own minds and project it out to the world? Freedom starts with each one of us. Step forward for yourself and for another.”
“Here was an opportunity to live in harmony with the way things were. Now was my chance to ask myself how I am unconscious in the world.”
“How much is mind chatter costing you? Stillness is free.”
“Imagine taking a planned break to clear yourself of all distractions. Perhaps we are not ready or able to take a year off, but what if we could actually plan in our calendar a sabbatical to generate new ideas, listen to our inner creative voice, and appreciate our work as a calling.”
“As we prepare for a season of “Peace on Earth”, may each exchange this season be one of love and presence. It’s the economy of the heart that I am looking to build this coming year. It’s increasing our capacity to love that I am hoping to stimulate.”
Happy New Year! Here’s to learning more lessons ~ Mary Anne
Presence as Presents
Monday, December 21st, 2009
As the holiday season is now in full gear, I am aware of the frenetic energy, the sense of consumerism, the crowds, and the commercials trying to convince me of everything I “must have.” There is also the barrage of ads telling me I will save so much money with 50 – 90% off items and who would want to pass up the last of the “One Day Sales?” The greatest gifts I want to give and receive are not from stores – they are gifts of the heart. There are so many creative gift ideas that are about presence rather than presents. There is the gift of conversation, like the one I had with a Facebook friend in Arizona who I spoke with for the first time last week. For two hours we spoke about our lives, our loves, and our dreams. We laughed as we realized that we had done social work, youth work, elder work, life coaching, and healing work. It was the type of conversation that gets replayed because it was so meaningful and an unexpected gift.
This led me to think about sharing “presence” this season. My friend Louis and his family will be celebrating the holidays with “make it or bake it gifts.” My friends Didi and Ellenrita will be serving over 500 meals on Christmas Day to those in need in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx. I will be sharing the gifts of time and conversation over the holidays with my friend Paulette. And most importantly, I will share the gift of love with Lorene & my family.
The greatest gifts don’t come with a price tag – they come with love. To this day, my favorite Christmas gift is the ornament my mom bought in a rehab center back in 1992. She couldn’t go to a store or mall, but she wanted to have a gift for her daughters and went into the gift shop in the center and bought something small to give each one of us for Christmas. It is by far my most treasured ornament and I hang it every year, with or without a tree.
As we prepare for a season of “Peace on Earth”, may each exchange this season be one of love and presence. It’s the economy of the heart that I am looking to build this coming year. It’s increasing our capacity to love that I am hoping to stimulate. I am asking Santa for the gifts of presence, connection, and conversation. I give everyone this holiday season the gift of love!
Peace on Earth ~ Mary Anne