{"id":8422,"date":"2016-05-27T13:28:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T17:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=8422"},"modified":"2016-05-27T13:28:15","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T17:28:15","slug":"the-witnessing-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/05\/the-witnessing-presence.html","title":{"rendered":"The Witnessing Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

“What a liberation to realize that the voice in my head is not who I am. Who am I then? \u00a0The one who sees that.”<\/em> -Eckhart Tolle<\/p>\n

If you are at all like me, your mind is a busy highway filled with vehicles of all makes and models, cutting each other off, attempting to get somewhere sooner, not wanting to be late. Horns honking, dodging and weaving. Sometimes the passengers are wearing seat belts. Sometimes they are playing it fast and loose with the rules of the road. Safety is not foremost in their minds. My heart races, and not in a good way, as I consider that scenario.<\/p>\n

Another image that comes to mind is that of the idea of a sink piled high with dishes that threaten to tumble down onto the floor as soap bubbles rise up and cascade over onto the counter.<\/p>\n

Neither of them are pleasant to contemplate and yet, here I sit, tapping away at the keyboard, as the words describing them are twisting my stomach, because they are my current ‘reality’. According to some sources, we experience something averaging 50,000-70,000 thoughts per day. One right after the other and some overlapping, I imagine. Some delicious and delightful and some dreadful and outright terrifying. Capturing them and then setting them free, are my intentions. First, I need to be aware that they are there. Consider the image of an iceberg with the majority of its mass beneath the surface of the water. The remainder that we can see, tips above the waves. Remember that it wasn’t the tip that sank the Titanic; but rather that which the captain couldn’t see.<\/p>\n

Breathing deeply as I contemplate the iceberg thoughts that sometimes haunt me. Blessedly, I don’t verbalize many of them. Filters are a wonderful thing to have if one wants to maintain relationships and stay out of jail. I do my best to allow them to pass through the Three Gates:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Is it kind?<\/li>\n
  2. Is it true?<\/li>\n
  3. Is it necessary?<\/li>\n
  4. And a bonus: \u00a0Will it improve on the silence?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The witnessing presence is one I am learning to cultivate. It hangs out with me on occasion and is a comfort when it arrives. It reminds me that all is well and that I need not obsess over thoughts that don’t serve. I have begun engaging in mindfulness meditation and find that it eases the way and allows for more smooth flow of inner traffic.<\/p>\n