To me, presence is about:
- connection–to our bodies, to other beings, the natural world, and our histories
- feeling our responses (rather than suppressing or avoiding) to hardship and injustice, with self compassion, in order to move ahead with intention
- accessing joy, ease, pleasure, and expansion
- deep embodied listening, showing up fully with others with relational courage and vulnerability
- feeling our boundaries–the spaces between ourselves and others, and being able to deepen our potential for closeness and intimacy
- living with the power of creative flow, to imagine and work towards our ideal futures.
Trauma can inhibit our ability to be present.
Along with unforeseen events, I believe trauma is often due to internalizing ways-of-surviving within the inequities of a capitalist and colonial society. Trauma disconnects us—from our bodies, other beings, and the present moment.
As a survival strategy, our bodies…