In a book called The Presence Process, by Michael Brown, he speaks about bringing your attention back to the present moment.
This book actually is a process, and a friend of mine is in her second week, and asked me to read along.
In a note before the first week, Michael offers this.
Dear Friend,
I commend you for coming this far, and I encourage you to go all the way. I have walked this pathway myself – many times. This pathway was uncovered by walking it, not by talking it, or reading it, or thinking it. By walking it myself I have ensured that if you follow the simple instructions your journey will be safe, gentle, and full of profound insights and confirmation. I have paved this journey with my integrity. Many others have contributed to the efficiency of this experience by successfully walking it themselves. Many more are walking it right now with you. All who have succeeded have done so by completing it. As you enter and commence The Presence Process, please therefore intend to do whatever it takes to complete it.
Please accept that you do not have to resolve everything that is causing imbalance in the quality of your life experience in the short time it takes for you to complete this journey. You can walk it several times to gain a sure footing upon the pathway that is your life. In The Presence Process “completion” does not mean “being finished”; it means arriving at a point in your journey where you are ready and equipped to take full responsibility for the quality of your unfolding life experience.
Everything you could possibly require to bring the quality of present moment awareness into every step that you take is between the covers of this book. Read, apply, and practice it well, and you will deliver yourself to where you really choose to be.
Remember that your life is your divine destiny unfolding deliberately according to a sacred blueprint that in each moment invites you to show up and fulfill your highest potential. Your life experience is a beautiful gift revealed by your conscious unwrapping of it. Your point of freedom in it all is accessed by your attitude towards it. Choose to be aware. Choose to be present in each moment of it. Choose to walk with grace and gratitude through every experience.
From the center of my heart to the center of yours I bid you well. The Presence within me is the same Presence within you. As such we depart together, we journey together, and we reach completion together. Thank you for having faith in what we share. Thank you for your company along this most beautiful way.
Kindest regards,
Michael
This is a very powerful process of awakening the Presence within you; of bringing you back to the present moment, of placing you in your life.
Lots of self help books claim to change your life, this one doesn’t change your life, it changes how you interact with life.
The focus is on present moments, feelings and learning about past beliefs and their impacts on your responses today.
In Week Two he writes about the difference between responding and reacting.
“A reaction is unconscious behavior in which our energy is directed outwards into the world in an attempt to defend ourselves or to attack another. A reaction is a drama that is played out in an effort to sedate or control the nature of our experiences. The theme of all reactive behavior is blame or revenge.
A response is a conscious choice to contain and constructively internalize our energy with the intention of using it to integrate and liberate our unconsciousness. The theme of all responsive behaviors is responsibility.”
He then goes on to say, From this point onward, as we go about our daily experiences, certain circumstances will unfold that will magnetically attract our attention. These are the circumstances that we want to pay attention to so that we can work with them internally. This magnetic pull on our attention occurs because these particular circumstances are energetically connected with our suppressed past. These specific circumstances will isolate themselves from others that we are experiencing in that we will have a powerful emotional reaction towards them. Often we will perceive this emotional reaction to be uncomfortable or unpleasant. Initially, we are going to react unconsciously to these setups until we gain the present moment awareness to behave consciously and responsibly. Therefore, it is important for us to keep the understanding of how deeply suppressed memories surface in the forefront of our awareness: not as images in our head but as unfolding circumstances and as the way people behave in our outer world experiences.
Our task for this Session is to identify the ‘messengers’ as they appear in our life experience. By being able to accomplish this task, we will be awakening a quality of ‘seeing’ that enables us to begin perceiving what is really happening beneath the surface of the physical circumstances of the world. Developing this skill of discernment teaches us how to use our mental capabilities to see beneath the surface of our physical experiences and into the emotional currents of our predicament. This skill is essential because it enables us to differentiate what is really happening from what is reflective memory. Only when we are able to accomplish the task of efficiently identifying the messengers in our life experience will we be ready and able to exorcise the ghost of our past. Being able to identify the messengers will enable us to become our own ghost-busters. We can then begin navigating our awareness out of the illusions created by the dream called “time”.
This is a book that I would highly recommend if you find you are more reactive then responding to life’s circumstances.
I wish you well my friend as you once again walk the pathway, this journey to see who you really are!
I M Perfect lady 