There’s this creativity program that I’m doing at the moment. One of the topics we have is showing up to the moment, being fully present and simply seeing what comes up from this place. The question for us to ask is “Are you there?”
Are you there to experience the moment?
This question got me to reflect how often we show up in life with a mind free to experience the moment  and how many times our mind is actually somewhere else. Sometimes we go a whole day (or days) living in our heads and thinking about either past or the future without realizing that this way we miss the beauty of life.
Happiness and love resides in the present moment. When our mind is free from stressful thinking and we show up to life, we are able to experience more of these good feelings. We automatically experience more fulfillment. When we’re present with others we’re able to feel more connected to them, and be more loving and compassionate.
From this place not only do we feel better, but also do better in life. We are more connected to the wisdom inside that guides us in life. We are able to see things from a wider perspective and know that things are not always how they look like to us.
This helps us to recognize those moments when we have lost ourselves to our own thinking, so that we can let go of that thinking and come back to the beauty of a present moment.
Awakening to see how we are only experiencing our thinking has got me to appreciate more of being fully present with others. However from this place it’s also easier to notice when our partner or the other person is not being fully present with us.
We might complain and ask them to listen to us. I certainly have done this in my relationship. But the thing that I’ve realized when taking a closer look to the question “Are you there?” is that whenever I’m doing this, I’m not being present either.
If I’m in my mind thinking that my partner should listen to me more and be more present I’m experiencing my stressful thinking instead of being present and experiencing the moment.
My partner can’t give me anything that I don’t already have. He having a busy mind or being fully present can’t make any difference in my level of happiness.
Realizing this brings me back to the present where I can appreciate my partner more again, regardless of his level of presence, and feel the connection that comes from me being present.
What I love about this understanding is that there’s always more for us to see and the more fully we show up in life the more easily these new insights start to find their way to us.
So next time when you’re feeling frustrated with the other person, you can ask yourself “Are you there?” and see what comes up.
With Love,
Heidi
