22/09/2024
Are you Here or There: Navigating a Relentless World
Many who go through either our Healing or Clean Up program talk about being fully ‘Here’ now consistently in life, relationships, work, and life in general. This is a very regularly remarked outcome from attending a program with Wisdom in Your Life, but what does being Here actually mean?
The reality is most people aren't fully present. In today's relentless world, being ""here"" feels almost impossible. Life is so intense and chaotic that many of us check out and dissociate, mentally escaping to cope with the stress. It's a defence mechanism against a world that often becomes too much and overwhelming for us.
We were fully present when we were born, but along the way, difficult experiences and awkward feelings have taught us to pull back to protect and defend ourself. So, if we're not here, where are we?
When we mentally drift away, sometimes we go ""there,"" other times to nowhere.
But what does this mean?
First we have the container of all time, space. We then have the energy of life and the substance or patterns that the energy flows through. At the intersection is where life happens; here in the present moment in everyday reality.
The problem is that everyday reality has become very difficult to be in let alone navigate, and so we check out resulting in parts of our self leaving the intersection. Some go to other places within the container in the Venn diagram (There), some even leave it (Nowhere).
Everyday reality has become very difficult because for a long time, while we've learned not to litter the ‘seen’ physical commons that surrounds us, we haven’t prioritised the same for the ‘unseen’ cultural commons that surrounds and influences us, making our internal and external environments very messy.
So when faced with stress in everyday life, our childhood defence mechanism kicks in, taking us away from the present. This dissociation helps us deal with overwhelming issues like climate change, war, poverty and watching the news. Even at work, many of us must perform a form of ‘internal gymnastics’ to reconcile being there – I find it interesting to ask people who tell me that they ‘love their job’ whether they would still work if they won the lottery? Inevitably the answer is no.
To stay in the Here, where life happens, we need new skills. First, we must learn to navigate our emotions and stay present despite the turmoil. This involves understanding the process we as human naturally follow when faced with change, which includes navigating emotions that naturally arise, rather than avoiding or ignoring our nature as we’ve normalised ourselves to believe.
The next step is reconnecting with our true selves—the indestructible essence present from the start. This core self holds our true wisdom and knowledge, much like a seed containing all the potential of a tree. A tree grows and adapts naturally, and we have the same innate ability.
Reconnecting with this inner knowing is crucial. Once we do, we can align our thinking, feeling, and actions with our true nature. This alignment allows us to be truly present and to recognize and address the unproductive patterns we've developed. These patterns, while initially protective, have become limiting and take us away from Here.
By surfacing and reshaping these patterns, we can live in alignment with our true selves, responding dynamically to the world around us – Being Here. This journey from dissociation to presence involves embracing our emotions, reconnecting with our inner wisdom, and transforming our patterns.
In essence, the path from being ""There"" to being ""Here"" is about learning to navigate the emotional landscape, reconnecting with our true selves, cleaning up old patterns and actively engaging with life. By doing so, we can grow and help the world around us grow, creating a more harmonious existence. This is the journey to presence, it’s not just a journey worth taking, it is essential if we are to face the complex issues we all share in the world.
At Wisdom in Your Life, we provide programs and workshops designed to support and facilitate the journey back from There to Here. Our offerings help individuals develop the processes and capacity in life needed to navigate the emotional landscape, reconnect with their true selves, and actively engage with life.
