Waiting or Presencing

The arrival of warm weather ushers in a plethora of fun summer activities: music festivals, art exhibitions, rodeos, food tasting, farmer’s markets, street performances, thespian festivals, fairs, amusement park events, community BBQs, (add your own ….). Often at these events, we find ourselves in line…waiting…waiting…waiting…. . What is your response to being in line? Do you become impatient? Or do you distract yourself with your iPhone? Pull out a stick of gum? Have a smoke? Or….?

Long before you were conceived, your mother’s body stored many precious eggs. Each ovum held vital genetic material, carrying lineage from your grandmother to your mother. One by one they were released as part of her ovulatory cycle. We could state that these eggs are waiting. They are waiting to be released, waiting for fertilization. I suggest that there is something much grander going on than waiting. Waiting has the connotation of staying in one place without doing very much. Consider that each of these ova are full of potentiality and their existence speaks to a profound sense of BEING. Whether an ovum is in the ovary or has been released into the fallopian tube, it is present in its journey: a journey of family lineage, of being present to itself, to the warm moist environment, of the arrival of sperm (of which it is very selective, by the way!) This is hardly what I would think of ‘staying in one place, not doing very much’.

In our conception of egg + sperm, we by nature have a profound sense of BEING, of presence. We can, if we chose to, draw on our cellular experience of presence when we find ourselves in line (and any other time). Rather than waiting, let’s focus on presencing. Let’s explore:

Presencing(as little or as long as you like)

The next time you find yourself in line, explore one or two or more options listed below. Please note that I call this presencing… as in the present participle of being present… it is a continual, ongoing activity rather than a goal you achieve.

• Breathing deeply, feel yourself settle with gravity on the earth, and enjoy the reality that half of your genetic makeup is about being
• If it is safe to close your eyes, do so, or just maintain a soft gaze and then listen to a sound that is far away for a few minutes. How does this affect your quality of mind?
• Tune into your inner world: notice subtle movements of your organs (feel your diaphragm move in breathing, does your stomach growl, can you feel peristalsis in your intestines, what is the rhythm of your heart, and so on)
• Allow your specialized senses to offer you valuable information about your environment: notice what you smell, does your sense of smell impart a taste in your mouth, notice how the air feels on your skin, can you feel subtle weight shifts in your body, notice sounds near and mid and far away from you, notice colour patterns around you, make up some of your own sensory explorations.
• Feel the richness and potentiality of presencing; it’s a whole lot better than ‘staying in one place without doing very much’.