Learning how to BE present is something we can DO.
Being present is a description of mindfulness. There's a simple method to mindfulness--show up, breathe, observe, embrace.
All these simple actions--the showing up, the breathing, the watching, the welcoming describe 'us' becoming 'present.' But it doesn't stop there.
In our ordinary practice we enter some place--some altered space--rather regularly. Often something else happens. Some ONE or some THING becomes...palpable. We work. We Watch. We Welcome. We wait (without expectation!) And then?
As Rumi wrote,
Keep knocking,
and the joy inside
will eventually
open a window
and look out
to see
WHO's there!
That THING, that ONE who's there, is the very Presence we prepare for and often experience...but never summon or control.
Mindful practices slow us down, center us, make us receptive. Practice cleans the windows. Maybe even opens them.
That's our part. It's something we can do. It's enough.
