The Presence Process Questions - Has Anyone Here Done It?

Brian, music does that to me too, sometimes, some music.

I love most classical music, not poplar classical.
Years ago I was in the balcony at Symphony Hall in Chicago and listening to
Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony
and I felt like I was levitating.

 

I just ordered the book from Amazon. While I was reading all the pages of this thread I had a horrid muscle spasm in my right thigh. I never have them during the day. I had a mental picture of a blonde child. When I told her I'd order the book and do the program, the pain abated.

I'm glad you all are here. My children would think Mom's gone off the deep end if I were to share this with them. I am able to share anything with my massage therapist. Thank you for starting this thread.
Judy

 

Great! Can't wait to hear about your experiences once you start going through the PP!

 

Tarala,

How often do you remember to breathe during the day and say the conscious response?

I didn't do very good at this during my 10 weeks. I don't think I ever forgot to do it during a day, but most days I didn't do it much. I think I'm going to focus on that a lot more my second 10 weeks, so I can process more emotions throughout the day and get good at staying in the moment. Now that I've finished, I'm noticing that I think to to breathe more sometimes, for longer, and emotions process more readily and intensely.

 

This is really helpful, because I've been a bit stuck here. I feel the emotions okay, but as an adult loving presence I'm a bit hopeless. Not at expressing love, but at restraining myself from trying to "make it better." It's confusing to me-- as a child I was often scared that I would not be alright, or that I wasn't loved. As the adult presence, I want to come in and reassure that things have indeed turned out alright, and that I am loved. But I think maybe there is an element of wanting to fix the emotion, which isn't the purpose here.

 

Brian,

I don't "remember" to do the breathing during the day, but it just seems to occur to me, maybe two or three times, but especially if I'm aware of some anxiety or emotion. As for the conscious responses, I rarely actually repeat them, but I have found that I do practice them, particularly the ones about reflections and projections. TPP has helped me more than any one other thing with going quickly and directly to feeling into what the stored emotion is instead of focusing on either pain or someone else's behaviour.

During the break after the first 10 weeks, you keep on with the mediation, is that right? I can't imagine not practicing the rest of it. It would be like forgetting something I now know. So when you start again, you then refocus on each individual week's conscious thought again?

 

That's very possible.

For me, I never understood how to love myself. My father would stay busy to cope, so I didn't spend a ton of time with him, and my mom had her issues she passed on to me as well. Neither of them knew how to love themselves, so I had nothing to go off of. I just learned to cope in similar ways to what they did. When I learned that I just simply have to "be" with the emotionally immature part of myself, that made it a lot easier and understandable. I had already started to do this before the Presence Process, but I was still trying to fix things. Now, I know that it's the simple act of being with, without condition, that does the healing. I didn't know it was okay to be me and to feel my emotions or express them when I was a kid, so I stuffed them all and controlled myself and my environment as covertly as possible. I have to now let my heart, that I stuffed all those years, come out and be with me. It has to feel safe, more or less. So, I let it, as a 7 yr old, curse at me when I'm voicing its feelings. I let it hit me in my imagination. I let it do whatever "feels" right for the emotions, no matter how brutal it might be, because I know it's not something I would do in real life--only an imaginary way of expressing the emotional and anchoring it. Just lovingly being with and accepting that part of myself, no matter what, is the most important thing.

When you take a break for 3 years, you're correct--you continue the breathing practice. It is recommended that a person continue the breathing practice up to six months after they've finished a 10 week session. When we resume, we do the reading again and the weekly conscious responses.

 

Yeah, I love all types of music, so all kinds can give me emotional reactions. It used to happen only when certain songs were really striking emotional chords, but now, it happens more intensely and way more frequently with all kinds of songs.

As for symphony music, my favorite is modern music from movies. I used to play the clarinet, so I love to play music, but I don't get to play anymore. Haven't for 17 years. I guess singing in the car is my only consolation. I got to sing karaoke for a while, I guess, when I was much younger.

 

Singing in the car is great. Movie music in the classic 1930s-1960s movies was often very moving,
and the love songs especially, like "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" and "Moon River." Lots
of standards came from the films, songs by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, etc.

 

Me too Judy. They (a houseful of scientists) already think I'm off the deep end. They provide plenty of "reflections" according to the Presence Process, lol. I'm so glad to be able to connect with others doing this process, and the forum in general.
Terry

 

Tarala,

Since your family is comprised of scientists, get on YouTube and show them a movie called What the Bleep Do We Know?. It's more of a documentary, actually, on quantum physics and how crazy they are compared to normal physics. Lots of high-level scientists discuss research on the video, but there's a sort of movie that plays out periodically throughout the documentary, too.

They go way down the rabbit hole, though, so a person has to be pretty open-minded. But since these are mostly scientists explaining the quantum physics and experiments behind this stuff, a scientist is likely to accept this stuff more easily. It speaks that language. I'm a pretty good mix of scientist and philosopher, so I speak geek fairly well.

I just finished watching it this afternoon. It won't seem that "out there" to you, but it will to your family if they're science-minded. The most far-out concept I saw on the video was something that wasn't even discussed, which was reincarnation, because they can't scientifically prove it. Personally, I've come up with several possible theories on reincarnation, including one that says it's not real. In other words, I don't take a stand on it one way or the other, because we can't know for sure, so I don't care if they mention it or not on the video.

Another "out there" was "creating" our experience here, and that's only because they didn't explain in detail what they meant by "creating." So it almost sounded, to a layperson, like they were saying we can literally create things out of thin air with our minds. But if you know what they're talking about, you'll understand they mean that we attract things to us by the way we think and feel, so our experience is "created" by our subconscious and conscious focus.

What we're doing with quantum physics is proving some of God's characteristics, such as being in multiple places at once. We've photographed single subatomic particle in multiple locations at once in a single photograph (up to 3,000 positions at once, so far). We've proven than one particle can be linked to another particle so that even if they're all the way across the universe, when you do something to one of them, the other particle reacts the exact same way. They're still connected, but the way we see reality just makes us think things are separate. That's called entanglement. It's all very bizarre, but this is what scientists are now testing and showing the results of. And they prove how thoughts affect the body and show parts of the experiments that proved this. Very, very cool stuff.

If you can't watch YouTube on your TV, see if you can get a copy of What the Bleep Do We Know? on DVD. It's well worth it. I can't speak for the spiritual conclusions that they come to on the video, especially since I haven't seen all of it, but it's still a great video to watch if people want to break out of their "science-only" mindset, because quantum physics is destroying what we think we know of science. We've proven that subatomic particles have consciousness, too. Crazy stuff. Enjoy!

- Brian

 

They have seen it, and they don't! Never mind, each to his own makes the world more interesting. I have seen it and really enjoyed it.

I've just started The Divine Matrix, which seems to be along the same lines. I've been a close follower of Law of Attraction/Abraham and Byron Katie for a long time, and have no doubt thoughts create. I've been wondering how those fit with TPP, but Week 7 (I've just started) seems to do a good job of answering that question when he talks about our allegiance to our stories of what happened in the past. Even so I'm still having a bit of trouble not moving in to "fix" my emotion by mentally pointing out that the emotion is the result of an untrue belief about what happened in the past.

I'm much more aware now of how much fear I carry, even though outwardly I don't appear that way at all (according to other people). My big thing is putting pressure on myself, and it seems more apparent now that this is fear based. Somehow if I don't control it all (which of course I can't) terrible things will happen. Perfect timing for Week 7, which is "I am safe now."

 

Brian, yesterday I finished reading The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
and if I read it right, he wants everyone to make our life's goal sainthood.

I think I'm a pretty good person and practice the teachings of Jesus and the saints,
but to think about it every minute of every day I would have to live in a monastery.
I need to live in the real world, which is isn't easy.

Even Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time being a living saint
and I read that she had years of a "dark night of the soul" in which she didn't feel
the faith she worked so hard to achieve.

So how do we live more like Brother Lawrence and not be a monk?

 

My book has arrived. I almost cried when I read the dedication. "This book is for you." This may be a very emotional journey, but I'm ready.

 

That’s wonderful! As Michael Brown or Tony de Mello might say, "They need to sleep a little longer." lol

I used to think “facts” would change people. Sure, sometimes they help, but they don’t change the heart, usually. It takes a God/Presence-tailored set of events to emotionally prepare a person for humility and searching. Change and growth is never about "facts." It’s always emotional, because the heart doesn’t care about facts—it just wants to be set free to feel what it feels so it can grow and mature. Then the heart will trust its spirit to feed it the truth. And the mind is then used for what it’s meant—navigating situations and processing information instead of deciding what “truth” is via “facts.”

That was such a hard truth for me to discover and live in, because I love knowledge and the mechanics of things and figuring things out. I made my mind “God,” in a sense, because deep down, my heart was very scared in its immaturity. So my heart hid, like a small child, and my mind (and ego) took over as the protector. My spirit was utilized to a degree, but because my heart wasn’t fully present, I had a lot of trouble letting my spirit lead (living in trust/faith). Letting my spirit lead is what living in “trust” is, because my spirit is interwoven with God. But since my mind was driving, I wasn’t living out of that oneness with God. I was living out of fear.

Now, it’s very different for me. My mind’s not in control anymore. I’m absolutely loving being able to feel emotionally now. It adds these incredible layers to life that color it beautifully. Before TPP, it was like I was watching an old silent, black and white movie with no music. It felt flat. Now, life is like watching a modern movie with all the special effects and full-on music perfectly set for the scenes. Emotion fills everything beautifully! Life is so much more of an experience now!

And I’ve only experienced part of the emotions. There’s much more to dive into, especially in the second ten-week Presence Process, because I can peel back my addiction and experience all of the emotions it's suppressing! That’s gonna be awesome. And I’m excited to go into the pain now! I’ve wanted that for three years now. And finally, Presence/God has brought that desire to fruition.

Thanks so much for that last post! It’s so much fun to sort through this stuff and share it with others here. I can’t wait to see what everyone else’s experiences are like with TPP.

 

The Law of Attraction

Regarding the Law of Attraction, Michael Brown addresses the functional and dysfunctional sides of the law in the free online audio on his website. You probably already know this stuff, but I’ll explain it for others reading the thread so it’s not misunderstood.

The Law of Attraction can be used for functionally or dysfunctionally. When someone is authentic, they’ll attract what they need, and they won’t need much. They’ll be happy with very little. God/Presence takes care of us, but taking care of us isn’t a big house and lots of money. Taking care of us is covering our needs in each moment.

The Secret was all about the dysfunctional side of the Law of Attraction. If you want a big house, you can attract it by thinking on it and believing for it, much like the Prosperity Gospel. This actually works. The problem is, it’s adult-sized “kids” who are wanting their “toys” to make them feel better so they don’t have to feel their painful emotions.

The Presence Process is saying that if we seek God/Presence and our authentic self, we’re going to end up attracting the painful emotions that need to surface and be processed so we can mature. Once we mature emotionally, we naturally connect with our authentic self and God, because the two are interwoven. The PP brings our mind, emotions, and spirit in alignment. The Law of Attracting is just one component of this.

That’s more or less how Michael Brown believes, according to what I’ve heard him say in the audio and videos. I’d have to agree 100% with that. Oh, and I almost forgot--our subconscious with all of its emotional issues is usually what's creating our world around us the way it is, and it doesn't turn out too happy for us. lol

Oh, and I don’t judge people who use The Secret to get stuff now, either, because that’s what they require for their development. Instead of judging, I get to enjoy those people as friends, completely judgment free! That’s awesome.

 

LETTING EMOTIONS BE - NO NEED TO "FIX" THEM
I’m not sure I understand how the Law of Attraction has anything to do with your statement here. I’m probably misunderstanding what you’re saying. Regardless, though, I can share my experience with your struggle.

For a little while, I believed that I just needed to correct an untrue belief from the past to “fix” my emotions. What I discovered is that I was punishing myself by constantly seeking to “fix” myself. (You probably know this stuff already, but for people reading, I’ll explain it.) In the PP, we’re invited to accept that there’s nothing wrong with us or our emotions. That they are exactly the emotions required for us at any given time, but some of them are just stuck in a holding pattern. Emotions are “energy in motion.” When that energy gets stuck in a holding pattern, it becomes dysfunctional, causing us issues.

Emotions are “energy in motion.” E-motion. Science has proven that thoughts and emotions are all energy. So, there’s literally a wave that goes out from us when we think a thought or feel an emotion. Energy, by design, flows. When it gets stuck, it’s not functioning as it was meant to function. So, when we’re in the womb and after we’re born, we’re being affected by our parents’ emotional energy at the subatomic level. Their behavior reinforces this energy, which fully seats those stuck emotions in us. We may not do exactly the same things they do to cope with their stuck emotions, but we usually have the same stuck emotions. That's how we download our life lesson, basically. The rest of our life is for us to emotionally mature by "unsticking" those emotions. The PP invites us to get rid of the story we tell ourselves about how those stuck emotions came to be, and just feel them instead. We don’t even name the emotions—we just let the emotions be, unconditionally, without trying to “fix” them or stuff them.

We see the stuck emotions as a seven-year-old child, or younger, and we embrace him or her lovingly, fully accepting the emotions. If a story pops up or if we try to correct the supposed “lie” we believed when we were younger, we gently bring our attention back to the emotion itself and feel it without condition. We absolutely must do this consistently—daily. Consistency is the key. The more we do it, the quicker that part of us matures, then integrates into the whole.

Once integrated, that energy is no longer stuck. The emotion is flowing at that point. When an emotion flows, it’s no longer dysfunctional. In fact, that emotional energy is now put into a massive pool of energy that is used to generate our emotions for whatever task we must do in each moment. Emotions are fuel. So, we might have called an emotion “anger” and labeled it dysfunctional when we were a child, but actually, that energy (fuel) was just stuck. And we actually require that energy for our development and for the task at hand. So, when the energy comes up, we let it be, unconditionally, and don’t label it. We can just see it as energy for whatever task we need to do. At first, this is difficult. As integration occurs, it gets easier, and even fun. Energizing, in fact!

I was so relieved when the Presence Process gave me permission not to have to figure out my emotions or fix them. A huge weight was lifted when I knew that I could just let my emotions be, because there was nothing wrong with me. All that had happened was that my emotions were not given unconditional love when I was growing up, and I was not shown how to unconditionally love myself and my emotions, so they didn’t mature. Plain and simple. I was freed from “figuring things out” and “doing” something to “fix” myself. I got to embrace the emotion and love it unconditionally! Sometimes, that sucks, but there’s so much joy and peace underneath. Makes it exciting to get to deal with all of it. The difficult emotions start feeling fun to be with. That’s what gave me the excitement of being with emotions when it was tough. I knew I was finally learning to love myself. That’s what I set out to do in the Presence Process. I’m very happy about that.

 

Holy moly, we may need to start a new thread. I'm feeling very guilty about having such long posts. lol I figure people will get upset at having to read so much. That's a stuck emotion I get to deal with now! Yea!

 

I used to do the same thing! I put a lot of pressure on myself due to that fear of something going wrong. That fear of me feeling uncomfortable. lol As I’ve gone through the process, that’s lifted quite a bit. I have a lot more heart-knowing now, especially in regard to God/Presence controlling everything for the good of me and everyone. Living in the moment has gone hand-in-hand with that. It’s like they’re interwoven. If I’m in the moment, I can’t worry about the future and try to control it. If I do, I’m in the future, not the moment. I think if we have difficult childhoods, it can take longer to accumulate present moment awareness. That’s okay. Just means we develop lots of patience along the way, and our journey must be more gentle. I didn’t have an awful childhood, so I think it’s a little easier for me to trust Presence as opposed to someone with a rough past. I had my own sort of rough childhood, but it didn’t involve any physical abuse or a divorce or any of that.

You said, "I am safe now," for the Week 7 conscious response, but it's actually "I feel safe now." You're the third person (including myself) that I've seen make that mistake. It's weird how we start out Week 7 saying "I AM safe now" then double check it and say, "Oh, I mean, I FEEL safe now." lol When I was saying, "I AM safe now," it didn't make sense to me. I "feel" safe now made sense when I corrected myself. It's like our ego wants to physically be safe (a "doing," sort of), but our heart just wants to feel safe (a "being"). I think at this stage in the process, I started to get that "heart-knowing" about God being in control and keeping everything working as it should. It helped me release control of my world.

 

Awesome! Can't wait to hear your experiences with it!