“Getting present” is NOT a slam-dunk. It’s not easy, nor easy to get present IN your body, nor something to be hurried thru, to get onto “being spiritual.
For every reason below why it is not a slam-dunk, chalk up one more diminishment of our capacity to feel connected, alive, and expansive.
Don’t turn away from the seemingly “bad news,”
for in it lies your freedom to recover your capacity to FEEL CONNECTED
Getting present is not a slam-dunk because you probably have experienced several or more of these:
- Pre-birth trauma: your mom smoked or drunk, or didn’t want you, or was depressed, or had fights with your dad, or was poor or stressed;
- Birth trauma: your mom was drugged out of consciousness, or your were pre-mature or late, or the doctor’s used head tongs, or you were not held immediately;
- Failures of infant bonding: your mom didn’t hold you lovingly for long periods of time and gaze into your eyes with unconditional love, your parents were unreliable or neglect with basic caring for you, your father was absent, gone or overworking, your parents were preoccupied with no money or family conflict;
- Developmental trauma in upbringing: you were abused or bullied or criticized, one or both parents were not capable of “being present” with you, there were regular and debilitating family cries;
- Teenage developmental arrests: as a teenage you were forced to “be the parent,” or acted out family drama, or had to withdraw to protect yourself;
- Adult trauma: as an adult you have had a car wreak, brain injury, or shock trauma, or you are on prescription drugs, with diminished functioning in one or more realms;
- Hidden addictions: you eat sugar, drink too much alcohol, have a food-disturbance, or are overweight;
- Cultural messages: watch TV, bury your feelings in sports, stay busy, spend money, work extra hard for the American dream;
- Egoic messages: you are not enough, you are not as good as X or Y, you should do more, you should have more, you should;
- Subliminal ads: buy this to be sexy, take this drug to make love, you need this to be liked, purchase this to belong;
- Societal fantasies: you can be rich and famous, your soul-mate is awaiting you, you can be the lucky one, you can find the silver bullet;
- Spiritual fantasies: you can be enlightened, you can surmount all of life’s challenges, you can be invulnerable, you can live in paradise now if you just realize your True Nature;
- Anti-body bias: the body is sinful, to be overcome, don’t identify with it, it is a trap, transcend it, it will weigh you down.
This should give you hope. Hope that you can “get present.” You can bust all of these lies. You can recover your capacity for connectedness. You can become increasingly ALIVE.