On Showing Up...

Glennon Doyle Melton’s book Love Warrior has had a profound effect on me.

It’s been a while since I’ve felt so emotionally moved by someone’s words. And now that I’ve finished the book, I want to go back and sort and sift and pull out some of the major gems embedded in her story.

Showing up, being present—these are things I’ve been working on for a while. And I feel like I’ve made a fair amount of progress in this area.

My job as a therapist requires *extreme presence* and I try to bring the same degree of presence to my personal training sessions as well.

When I meditate or when I write, and when I work out, I am totally in the moment.

BUT MAYBE I’VE GIVEN MYSELF A PRESENCE QUOTA…

MAYBE I’VE PUT A LIMIT ON HOW MUCH PRESENCE I CAN STAND…IN A DAY, IN A WEEK…IT’S LIKE A REACH A CERTAIN POINT AND THEN I’M LIKE “ENOUGH ALREADY!”

Sometimes I am there when it is important to be here.

Truthfully, I am often not very good at being present in my *real life*, and I often don’t fully show up for those everyday moments with those I love.

That’s a painful realization.

When could showing up be more essential than with my peeps??

Glennon Doyle Melton writes, “The truth is that I’ve found my mind’s life to be both safer and more interesting than my real life…When I’m lost in my thoughts, I am in the deep, underneath, where the treasure is. Life up there…is, well, shallow.”

It’s still so easy to get caught up in my head, in my hugely engaging inner world.

I’m so caught up with what I’m studying, or reading, or writing, or planning that I can view others as an interruption or a distraction from my *very important purpose* rather than seeing the inherent purpose of simply being with another.

Sometimes I forget how important it is to create space and time for the people I love even as I am aware of a deep down longing for connection and a sense of missing or lacking that connection.

Presence is a requirement for all sorts of things that I want in my life, that are essential to have in my life…to love, to be loved, to be authentic, and to show up to the best of my ability.

How about you? Do you sometimes drop the presence ball at crucial times?