How To Summon Creative Presence

creative practiceCreative presence is the simple act of yielding to, rather than opposing, blocking or running away from, the flow of life.

It is inherently linked with the present, the moment we call “Now”. To be present, to summon creative presence, is to drop deeply into now.

We do that through the power of seven senses: seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, touching, feeling, spacing.

Seeing: Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, open your eyes to see what you see around you. Turn your head left and right, slowly observing with your eyes, not with your thoughts.

Hearing: Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, open your ears to hear what you hear around you. Perceive through your ears, not your thoughts.

Touching: Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, notice what your skin is touching. On some points of your body, probably your face, it is air? How does it feel. Observe with your skin, not your thoughts.

Smelling: Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, observe what you can smell, Take a deep inhalation and notice the quality of the air as it enters your body. Notice with your nose, not your thoughts.

Tasting: Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, taste the taste inside your mouth. Lick your lips. Let your tongue taste the air. Perceive with your mouth, not your thoughts.

Feeling: Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, become aware of the dominant feeling inside you at this moment. Observe it as a physical entity in your body, the effect it has physically. Sense it as feeling, not a thought about a feeling. Feel it, allow it to be.

Spacing In: Go deeper. Become aware of the space that exists throughout your whole body, in your feet, in your fingers, around your heart and lungs, in your pelvic bowl, between your eyes, behind your brain. Matter, solid bone and liquid blood, is a small part of who we are. Far more extensive within us is the space. Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, sense that space within. Rest in it.

Spacing Out: Go higher. Become aware of the space that exists throughout the body of the universe. Look up, at the sky or the ceiling and without labelling or analysing or opinionating, sense the space above it and beyond. Matter, the solid earth and liquid water is a small part of our planet and galaxies. Far more extensive is the space between the formations. Without labelling or analysing or opinionating, sense that space beyond the sky, through which the stars and planets surge.

Finally, perceive thought all seven senses at once. See, hear, touch, smell, taste, feel, space in, space out, altogether.

(Note: this exercise is not just for those whose senses are intact and in average working order; if any of your senses are weak or disabled, you can still make the effort to use it and note what you perceive. It will just be more of an inner than an outer experience but no less useful in summoning creative presence.)

This is a very powerful exercise. You have just had an experience that most people have just a few times in their whole life, spontaneously. It is the sense of being fully alive, fully present, alert and aware in the unfolding flow of now.

Now you can summon this experience at will. You can practice it. Whenever you want, you can return to this vast dimension of you — your own creative presence.

You can rest here, as often as you choose, in a place where there is no labelling or analysing or opinionating.

No thinking.

Beyond thought.