What is presence and how does it benefit you to make you more aware of what is happening around you and inside you?
How can we define presence? On one level, we can think about presence as the awareness of the moment as it unfolds (Silsbee, 2008). What we are feeling, noticing, and thinking, and what is happening around us—it is awareness of these things that constitutes presence.
Presence to our own experience is sometimes simple and straightforward, but it is often effortful, requiring intentionality and deliberate focus (Bugental, 1992). Perhaps this is why mindfulness and yoga classes have proliferated in recent years: most of us need help and instruction in getting back into our bodies and our lived experiences. Especially now with so many of us drawn out to our phones we are less aware of others around us and what is really happening in our spaces. I’ve been practising yoga now for over 30 years and I always love the awareness of my body and the moment that it brings me. I’ve been teaching yoga and meditation for almost 20 years now and it helps me daily to be here now.
Something that’s common across the psychological models, as well as the other definitions we have looked at, is the idea of one’s attention. If we are not involved or engaged in a situation—actively noticing and taking things in, having reactions, and noticing those reactions—then we are not fully present.This could include noticing when we fall into familiar patterns and instead asking ourselves whether these behaviours are what the situation truly calls for (Varela, 1996).
Lastly, you can also think of presence as wholehearted acceptance of what the moment brings (Heidegger, 2001). Instead of resisting what is happening or checking out mentally, we receive the moment as it unfolds. This can sometimes be challenging when we have preconceived ideas of what we want to happen that aren’t being fulfilled, yet it’s very rewarding and helps us to work with what’s real.
Benefits of Presence
There are many benefits of being present. For example, one study found that when people are more mindful of the present moment, they experience fewer stressful events and less stress in moments that are challenging (Donald et al., 2016). This suggests that mindfulness is associated with greater abilities to recognize and manage our emotions. After all, our emotions are less powerful and less upsetting if we can see them coming, understand why they are here, and stay with them instead of turning away.
The study above is just one of many to find that what psychologists call “present-moment awareness” is associated with better psychological health, less stress, and better mood (Brown et al., 2007; Weinstein et al., 2009). Psychologically speaking, it is truly advantageous to be as alert to and accepting of what is happening in the moment as possible. To do anything else makes life more difficult. It’s easier to do than say though and if you’re finding it difficult to be present in certain repeating situations and instead find yourself triggered, try and get some help. I found hypnotherapy very helpful for me in this regard, so trained in it a few years ago. Having since helped many people, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to speak with me to see if I can help you too.
Theory of Presence
What determines how much presence a person can bring to a moment? One psychologist theorizes that there are three key components (Sheridan, 1992). First, it matters how much sensory information we are able to take in. Second, our presence depends on how able we are to use our senses to take the world in.
Finally, our presence is reliant on how much we can interact with and control our environments. Simply put, a world that you cannot engage with will not hold your attention that much. Think of the last time you had to sit through a long lecture: How much easier would it have been to stay present if there was the expectation that you would ask questions, discuss a key point with the person sitting next to you, or share the key ideas from the talk with somebody else later? When our world feels interactive and invites our engagement, we are more present.
Process of Becoming Present
There are many processes for becoming more present. To highlight just a couple, one study aimed to help undergraduate students worry less by cultivating their mindfulness (Nasser & Przeworski, 2017). The students highest in worry at one school took classes in mindfulness meditation and in finding joy in the present moment. The intervention was short, with each student receiving only forty minutes of instruction in either mindfulness meditation or what the researchers called “present moment joy.” But the effects were impressive, with both groups reporting fewer negative emotions, greater curiosity, and less of a sense of being controlled by their emotions after attending the classes.
These brief interventions are typical of the amount of support people need to be more present. Simply listening to a meditation app, or taking a walk around town without your phone or headphones, can be enough to awaken you to what else is happening that normally escapes your notice.
Conclusion
Presence, or the ability to be aware of and attuned to what is happening in the moment as it unfolds, is a challenging but powerful skill to develop and harness. Hopefully this article inspires you to think a bit about when you are present versus absent in your life; perhaps some of the problems you face can be effectively dealt with by increasing your presence in the moment. Reach out if you’d like some help with this.
References
● Brown, K. W., Ryan, R. M., & Creswell, J. D. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical foundations and evidence for its salutary effects. Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), 211–237.
● Bugental, J. F. (1992). The art of the psychotherapist. WW Norton & Company.
● Donald, J. N., Atkins, P. W., Parker, P. D., Christie, A. M., & Ryan, R. M. (2016). Daily stress and the benefits of mindfulness: Examining the daily and longitudinal relations between present-moment awareness and stress responses. Journal of Research in Personality, 65, 30–37.
● Heidegger, M. (2001). The Zollikon seminars (M. Boss, Ed.). (F. Mayr & R. Askay, Trans.). Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1987)
● Nasser, J. D., & Przeworski, A. (2017). A comparison of two brief present moment awareness training paradigms in high worriers. Mindfulness, 8, 775–787.
● Sheridan, T. B. (1992). Musings on telepresence and virtual presence. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 1(1), 120–125.
● Silsbee, D. (2008). Presence-based coaching: Cultivating self-generative leaders through mind, body, and heart. John Wiley & Sons.
● Varela, F. J. (1996). Neurophenomenology: A methodological remedy for the hard problem. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3(4), 330–349.
● Weinstein, N., Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). A multi-method examination of the effects of mindfulness on stress attribution, coping, and emotional well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(3), 374–385.