Practising Presence: A 40 day adventure in being here now.

Earlier this year, I noticed I was feeling drawn to share an offering during the season of Lent - those 40 wilderness days that lead us into the joy of Easter.

To begin with I wasn’t sure what that offering would look like - it was simply a vague longing to offer…. something.

I knew I wanted to offer something prayerful, embodied and simple. I also wanted it to have depth without being heavy or burdensome.

I let myself dream and slowly a seed of an idea began to sprout and then grow. This adventure into presence is the fruit.

I am so excited to share this journey with you, offering my reflections on presence as prayer and inviting you to practise being here, now.

Whatever your beliefs and wherever you are in your journey, I hope you will feel welcome and included. I understand and name the practice of presence as prayer but you don’t have to. Perhaps you’re here because you have a hunch that there’s something soulful and good about becoming really present. Or perhaps you’re a pray-er who would like to think of presence as prayer but can’t quite see how it counts. Or maybe you used to be a pray-er but you have fallen out of love with prayer. To all of you, I offer you the same invitation. Give it a go and see what happens; this is an adventure, it’s meant to be unpredictable.

One of the wonderful thing about praying through presence is that you don’t have to straighten your thoughts or find words to express feelings. You can simply show up, offering yourself to whatever or whoever is right in front of you trusting that, yes, you are in the presence of the Divine, however you name it. Even better, prehaps, you don’t need to know who or what you’re praying to - you can let “God” be as vague as you like. In fact, as we’ll see, praying with presence asks us to hold lightly all our assumptions and be open to encountering a mysterious abiding More that reveals itself everywhere partly and nowhere fully. The full Presence is always escaping our grasp, all we can do is bring our presence to what is present to us here and now.