Nathalie:
Today Jose and I are going to talk about presence. And when we talk about presence, actually, we also talk about awareness because they belong together.At least that's how it is for me. Presence has everything to do with realizing where we are. Most of the times we have the feeling that we are aware, that we are present in our lives. But actually we're I think sometimes just milliseconds during a day, really aware and really present. And when it happens, when you feel present, everything comes to life.
So it's such a gift to be present and aware in this world. You see the things you could not have thought of. It is life is such, amazing story actually, which we write every day. Most of the times we're just caught up in all the things we need to do, that we forget to be present, that we forget to be aware, that we are taking about everything that is not important.
This is how we walk through our lives day by day, week by week, year by year. So how do you practice being present, huh? Because that would be a question, no?
Jose: Correct, how do you practice that?
Nathalie:
I don't know if you can practice it. I think it is that you allow yourself to unfold, that you allow yourself to be more relaxed, that you allow yourself not to run after everything that is being pushed towards you. I believe that when we start choosing what we really want from our heart, that presence is a gift that comes with it.
So this funniest thing, because in the past I worked very hard on a lot of things. I did very hard because I thought working hard, then it will come to me, then I will find this awareness, then I will find this presence, but it doesn't work like that. And then I just took a step back.
And when you do that, then instantly you become aware, you become present because You're not running after everything that we should do, that we think we should do.
Jose:
So it's actually taking more time, and being maybe sometimes more patient.
Nathalie:
Actually, yes, being more patient, actually. This is really what it is.
And it takes more time. We always have ideas where we need to go, but when we are aware and when we are present, we don't have the feeling that we need to go anywhere. We just get there by being aware, by being present, by seeing what is happening around us, what is happening inside you.
We don't have to run afterwards. It's more giving the time. If you walk on the street and you go to your appointment that you take the time of also looking around instead of. Well, it's interesting because when you look around, then we have the tendency to become what we see.
When we would walk around the streets and we see something, our whole energy goes to the thing we see. If we see a person or something else, then it's not like that we come, become aware of it. It's almost like we become it. We see a beautiful tree and we say, Oh, this beautiful tree. And all our energy, all our attention goes almost inside the tree
and this is also when we are sitting somewhere and someone is looking at us. We feel this because this energy of this person is like invading our own energy. Even if they mean it in a good way, but you still can feel it. So most of the times when that happens, we turn around and then we see that someone was watching you.
We all know this. But that's not being present. Being present is that You truly see it, but you do not become it. So you look at it and when you look at it, then you can see its true shape and its true form. We have the tendency to give everything names. We don't know that, but we do it in our heads.
It's rarely quiet, but when we see a tree somewhere in us, it says tree. When we see a dog, it says dog, and this is how it goes all the time,
Jose:
it's quite busy.
Nathalie:
Exactly. It's, really inside of mind. So we, we are rarely present. Being present is actually that for a second you forget that you're here, and then you feel it and you lose it. Being present is like you, , dissolve in the moment. Something that is really breathtaking, for example, then we dissolve in the moment when we say, ah, and we just, it's not that we become it, but we truly feel it and we see it.
We expand, our whole body expands , and then we are aware and present. We see it and we feel it. It has this two layers , you see it and you feel it. You're present and then you are aware. You notice what happens inside you, and the , the second you feel, , this presence, everything relaxes inside you.
Still, I think I would really just like to understand how to get there. Yeah, it was interesting because I was just thinking about that when I said it. I said, okay, yeah, but how, how do I get there? Because this would be really nice to feel. Yes, it is nice to feel. How do we get there? In a way, we stand still.
We sit still, we stand still, and we observe everything we see. Then we get there.
Jose:
It's then observing, without Becoming,
Nathalie:
Ee don't know what observing really is. When we look at something, it's a Christmas tree lighting up inside our heads, we see something and we have all those associations and all those, past memories and, everything we learned, it's like this whole Christmas tree.
In one second, there's this Bright, thousands of bright lights. And we lose the moment. So it has to do with quieting down. see it, looking at it, truly looking at it. What do I see? You may ask your question, what do I see ? And then you get all those answers. I see a tree, I see this, I see that.
They say, but what do you truly see? I say, I don't know. And then becomes interesting, because this is what it is about. Someone did tell us this is a leaf. Or they told us, this is a chair, someone told us this we believed everything when we were children, even when we were adults, we believe a lot of things and it's easy way to make conversation with each other that we can say this is a table, but in the end it is matter.
So when we truly look at it, then actually we connect with the matter that it truly is. And this expands ourself, this relaxes our our belly. So it's actually quite easy.
Jose:
And what, Nathalie, if you are reaching that stage, what then?
Nathalie:
Wow, well, when you're there, then everything is alright. It doesn't matter what happens. This is such a place where you truly feel alive. This is the place where we actually come alive. Before that we think we live, but we don't. When we come to this point in our lives that we become present and aware, it's like your whole body is tingling, it's his slow current that goes through you.
It is very calming and also very rewarding because you don't have one, a leaf that has one color green, but. Thousands of leaves with thousands of colors of green, your whole awareness expands.
Jose:
And, helping being more in the presence without becoming also help in certain matters, problematic issues, daily issues, traumatic issues.
Nathalie:
When we are present, when we are here at this moment, nothing of that exists. So that is actually, this is the true gold. We talk about the gold, like the rings and all those things, but that's not the true gold. Chocolate used to be the true gold, before we had gold. But this is the true gold, because when you become aware, when you become present, Then you realize it's not who you are.
It's not who you become. It's not who you were. This is who you are. You are this presence and with that it dissolves. The more you are capable to be in this presence, to be aware, to see, to feel, to actually become one of the field. You become one. It disappears.
Jose:
So it can also give relief in those matters.
Nathalie:
Yeah, this is one of the best things to let it go. We are thought and also, mainly the thing they teach us is that we always have to drag it along, they say, I know I'm not going to say it's easy because traumas can be very deep inside someone, and very heavy ones also.
I always believed that there is a way to solve them. You came in this world without them, there's somewhere in you this gold is still there, this presence, this awareness with what you came into this world is still here. By allowing yourself to be more here in the now, in the presence, in the awareness, the pain and the sadness and the memories will start to disappear.
And you go back to who you were before it all happened. When you have really heavy traumas, it will take some time. And you need to consider that. And you need to be kind to yourself. Because when you want to move forward, you traumatize yourself again. So this is not what it is. In the beginning, sometimes people feel when they are more present, it scares them a little bit.
Jose: But how come?
Nathalie:
When you have this really heavy traumas, this painful experiences, most are used to looking for things that take their minds off it. Running around, working a lot, you have all those things to find yourself distracted of not feeling,
Jose:
Maybe some people go first to kind of confronting. Stage before being able to be the presence without to be coming.
Nathalie:
It's the stage for the presence is when you stand still, then everything that you were trying to put underneath the carpet will come up in, in an instant. But when you allow yourself to be there, it goes, but that's sometimes people find a little bit scary.
And then you take it slow. You don't have to get to the end result, it's not what it is about. You have to find out for yourself what you can do in this lifetime. Sometimes people ask me the question, what is the meaning of life? And I say the meaning of life is to live it. This is it, to live it.
You don't have to become anything or someone. When you allow yourself to live life. You are in the present. You are aware. Perhaps one day it's an hour, and over ten years maybe it's two hours, but it doesn't matter. It always is about the moment you truly feel alive, because then you are present.
Next time, Jose and I will talk about united. Being united means that you recognize that you are part of the whole. That you bring your own uniqueness to this world, and when you embrace all parts of who you are, you will feel united, and see it in everyone you meet.