You can reach altered states of consciousness in deep meditation: Spaciousness. Expanded Awareness. Silent Calm. Simple Unconditional Beingness. Deep Presence. Love.
Continue reading “The Value Is In The Experience—Not The Dogma”
Nearly a decade ago, I had a dream that stuck with me over the years. It showed me that Presence is the difference. Life is not about where we think we need to go. Or where we think we should be. It’s about being in this moment.
Continue reading “Presence Is The Difference”
The over-emphasis on progress in society is troubling because often people and groups do dubious things to get to some idealised destination. Clear examples of this can be found in every area of life. Health: Take a pill to lose weight instead of taking the difficult path of persistent lifestyle changes. Education: We want more students to pass. Let’s lower the standards. Business: Let’s aim for money without adding value. Politics: Let’s aim for quotas without considering competence.
Continue reading “Progress without Presence”
Whenever I draw something, there might be a part of the drawing that is repetitive and “not fun”. The challenge with these parts is to stay present and avoid just-get-it-done mode.
With drawing, parts with low variability and high repetition—like say the wing of a bird—can evoke restlessness and carelessness. But rushing screws up the drawing. This is always the case. Rushing is the enemy of good work. So is carelessness. I know that if I want the entire drawing to be of a certain standard then I need to be present for the boring parts, the difficult parts, and the enjoyable parts.
Continue reading “State Of Consciousness Matters”
Years ago I wrote a post about how we should favour process over progress. In that article I make the argument that we should not aim for predefined goals to get to some predefined top of the mountain. We don’t always know how long something will take. And we don’t know how the journey will look, so our best strategy is to settle in and focus on what we are doing in the moment.
People—especially large institutions and organisations—fixate on progress to the point where they no longer realise that their checkbox approach has nothing to do with real work. Peter Thiel makes a similar point in Zero To One. Here’s a quote:
“In the most dysfunctional organizations, signaling that work is being done becomes a better strategy for career advancement than actually doing work.”
Continue reading “No Progress Without Presence”
I once heard Brandon Sanderson (author of The Way of Kings) tell aspiring writers that they should not think of their first novel as the product. Instead, he said, you should think of yourself as the product. His argument went something like this: The first book that you write won’t be good. No matter what you do. You don’t have enough skill to make it good yet. But each story that you write, makes you a better writer. And so, even if your first stories are not publishable, you can rest assured that you are becoming a better writer by writing them.
Continue reading “Create From A State Of Presence”Every success holds within it bitter disappointment.
Every failure holds triumph.
No state contains only good.
Continue reading “Presence”Living in the moment beats striving. It feels better. When you’re striving, you are in a state that says, I need to be more, I need to become more, or I need to acquire more. All of this is simply a state of lack. It is not particularly fun to pursue goals when you’re driven by lack.
Also, striving can be surprisingly inefficient. If you’re always rushing about, trying to get things done, you might find yourself, not only exhausted, but quite unproductive as well. I find that it’s better to focus on the present moment, rather than rush towards goals. It’s better, not only for the process but often the outcome too.
Continue reading “Living in the moment beats striving”Some of the most life-changing insights that I’ve had over the last few years have come from my dreams. Dream interpretation is by far the most valuable skill one can cultivate. Advice coming from our dreams are personalised and exactly what we need in that moment of our life. I’ve often been flabbergasted at the depth of intelligence, wisdom and humour, of an everyday dream.
But I’ve recently realised that if one does not implement dream advice along with a heavy dosage of presence, things can go awry very quickly. This is because often when we try to “power through” something we end up doing things sloppily. Or less efficiently. Or just wrong. The just-get-this-done approach takes us off the optimal path.
Continue reading “Why It’s So Important To Be Present”
A better thing to shoot for on a moment to moment basis is presence, not the perfection of the end product. Perfection is a massive burden. In the past, I spent an inordinate amount of time aiming for perfection. This doesn’t work. You have to just be in the moment and try your best.