The Power of Presence
Jun 18, 2024 6:11 am
Everything Sufi Master Adnan Sarhan taught us was designed to bring us into the present moment.
The slow movement and breathing, the chanting, the dancing, drumming, and whirling were tools to help us shift away from the continuous babble of the mind and into the exquisite peace and expansion of the moment. When you are finally in the moment, you do not want to leave. It is like being in a lucid dream. You realize you are doing it, yet your hold on the moment is tenuous.
To bring us into the present, Adnan also used his energy frequency, his state of presence to help us make that shift. He entrained us. The English word, entrain means to draw another person, body, or entity into attunement with the first. Like, for example, when you pluck a guitar string the other strings will also start to vibrate. Adnan vibrated at a different frequency and his attraction was so great he could pull us into his vortex. You could be sitting next to him not talking about anything in particular and voom, your consciousness shifted. Instant spiritual intoxication. It was quite noticeable and for some -- a little unnerving.
Why do we want to shift our consciousness into the present moment? Because it is the essence of being. It is how connect to spirit, to the divine, to who you really are. It is where creativity and brilliance are born. It is where worry and fear disappear. It is where everything becomes possible.
The more you practice being in the moment, the easier it becomes to make the shift and the longer you are able to sustain it.
Nature is another way to access presence. Walking in the forest, watching the birds or insects, and gardening are natural ways to enter the moment.
However, if you are listening to an audio recording, or music, or thinking about the fight you had with your partner -- you are not in the moment. Whether is it slow movement or a walk in the park, you still have to focus on the moment.
My husband George and I spent the last 2 weeks in La Pine, Oregon, at the family cabin surrounded by forest. It is in a small community of cabins originally started by the ELKS but sold to the residents about 18 years ago. There are about 100 cabins spread out on either side of the Deschutes River.
It is fairly remote, 7 miles out of town, 4 miles down a bumpy dirt road, and then another mile or two on a slightly better dirt road to our cabin.
The cabin is surrounded by pine trees. I have not experienced silence like this place anywhere else, not even at Sufi Camp. The stars fill the night sky with their glimmering light undiluted by street lights. During the day you might hear occasional trucks or ATVs. At night, only the sound of the wind in the pine and the cry of the nighthawks. It is a comforting quiet, not lonely or scary. Nature is at peace here.
We took a canoe ride down the river on the warmest day of the week. The river was full of all the rain and snow from the previous winter. No paddling was required, just some occasional steering. I drifted with the flow of the river and the caresses of the warm breeze, dozing and waking to the rocking of the canoe. We were moving so slowly, I realized we would not get back in time for the phone call I had scheduled for that afternoon. I texted the person explaining that we would need to do the call next week. That is the beauty of the moment. It gives you permission to stay in the moment.
During our stay in La Pine, we worked on two projects. The first was to extend the shelf at the large picture window overlooking a rocky berm with two cement water troughs to attract thirsty birds. A wider shelf would enable us to eat our breakfast while watching the wildlife through the window.
We spent a whole afternoon playing with tile samples creating a design for the shelf.
The second project was planting 3 young aspen trees and setting up three water barrels to drip-feed them for the next three months. The climate here is very dry in the summer and very cold in the winter. The soil is sandy with little nutrients. It's a rough environment for any tree to get started. We worked to address both challenges
George, my husband, approaches all his projects as an artist. He has a vision and plays with the vision. He researches the material and the techniques in books and on YouTube. Then slowly and methodically the vision is materialized.
I can be impatient with the time he takes, eager for the next moment.
He is unmoved, he takes his time.
On occasion can get that way when I paint watercolors. I become completely focused on what is unfolding. Time evaporates.
Other times, however, I am too impatient and rush the painting by adding details too soon. This is always a mistake.
I learn a lot from watching George.
Being in the moment involves learning patience and becoming comfortable with not doing anything until it is the right moment for the next action. This can feel very uncomfortable for new students of the Sufi Work.
Eckhart Tolle, a renowned thought leader of the “now”, has written about the pull of the next moment which draws us away from the present moment with promises of a more interesting, more engaging, and more satisfying moment in the future.
The goal is to stay with the current moment, regardless of how boring, irritating, or uncomfortable it is. The reward is huge. If you can stay in the present and stick with it no matter how maddening, you break free of time, the ego, and all the misery life serves. You step into a new way of being.
Like George, you become able to stay with the project for as long as it needs.
But wait! you might say to me. How can you live in this fast-paced world and be in the moment like that? Won’t people become impatient with you? They might! Or they might become so intrigued by who you have become they might decide to change too.
I am back in the Bay Area. Here is the link for Tuesday's class, June 18th at 10:30 AM PDT and Sunday, June 25 at 8 AM PDT:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89999494833?pwd=V2pOS28yYUdXM3hkaW1rVWIvSjBUdz09
Meeting ID: 899 9949 4833
Passcode: SUFI
Here's a time converter link to check the time in your location.
Michelle
PS: I intended to include photos but it is late and we have guests from Germany tonight. I will send it again with photos before the Sunday class. Be patient.
Dr. Michelle Peticolas
Life Transformation Coach
Empowering Women to Reinvent Their Life After Loss
Secrets of Life and Death
