Quotes About Presence

I'm not perfect and I'm not always right, but I'm here, open, paying attention, loving you, and fully engaged.

Just because we're plugged in, doesn't mean we feel seen and heard. In fact, hyper-communication can mean we spend more time on Facebook than we do face-to-face with the people we care about. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a restaurant and seen two parents on their cell phones while their kids are busy texting or playing video games. What's the point of even sitting together?

stop dehumanizing people and start looking them in the eye when we speak to them. If we don't have the energy or time to do that, we should stay at home.

Empathy heals shame; sympathy exacerbates shame. We don't want people to feel sorry for us; we want people to be with us.

Joy comes to us in moments—ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.

Are you engaged? Are you paying attention?

Belonging is a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are.

sleep, working out, healthy food, cooking, time off, weekends away, going to church, being present with the kids, a sense of control over our money, meaningful work that doesn't consume us, time to piddle, time with family and close friends, and time to just hang out.

As I interviewed more and more women about this phenomenon, I realized that to move away from judging, we must be very mindful of what we are thinking, feeling and saying. You can't fake nonjudgment. It's in our eyes, our voices and our body language.

Solo cuando conocemos bien nuestra propia oscuridad conseguimos estar presentes en la oscuridad de los demás. La compasión se vuelve real cuando reconocemos nuestra humanidad compartida.»

Real empathy takes more than words—it takes work. Empathy is not simply knowing the right thing to say to someone who is experiencing shame. Our words are only as effective as our ability to be genuinely present and engaged with someone as she tells her story.

Belonging is a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are. When we sacrifice who we are, we not only feel separate from others, but we even feel disconnected from ourselves.

The prerequisite for real empathy is compassion. We can only respond empathically if we are willing to be present to someone's pain.

She said, "Let your face speak what's in your heart. When they walk in the room my face says I'm glad to see them. It's just as small as that, you see?

One reason empathy and compassion are so powerful is the fact that they say to someone, "I can hear this. This is hard, but I can be in this space with you.

Advice Giving/Problem Solving I can fix this and I can fix you. Sometimes when we see pain our first instinct is to fix it. This is especially true for those of us whom people seek out to help with problem-solving. In these instances, rather than listen and be with people in their emotion, we start fixing.

The need is for someone to be fully present to the magnitude of their loss without trying to point out the silver lining.

Today, I'm going to believe that showing up is enough.

What we know matters, but who we are matters more. Being rather than knowing requires showing up and letting ourselves be seen. It requires us to dare greatly, to be vulnerable.

Man, can you two even tell the rest of the world exists when you look at each other like that?" With an effort, I made myself focus on her, and on her words. "What? I mean, um, no, we didn't fight. And . . . no. At least, I can't.

Sometimes, people have a tendency not to notice someone who's always there, even if that person's the best thing for them.

When you get pure joy out of 'being' rather than 'doing' or 'seeing ' that's when you realize how big and unexplainable some things are and being a dad is one of those very few things.

While the impostor draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in its belovedness. We encounter God in the ordinariness of life: not in the search for spiritual highs and extraordinary, mystical experiences but in our simple presence in life.

I've decided that if I had my life to live over again, I would not only climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets; I wouldn't only jettison my hot water bottle, raincoat, umbrella, parachute, and raft; I would not only go barefoot earlier in the spring and stay out later in the fall; but I would devote not one more minute to monitoring my spiritual growth. No, not one.