On presence as performance & week 24 of 52
steadiness is a bellwether for change
“Many of us have made our world so familiar that we do not see it anymore. An interesting question to ask yourself at night is, What did I really see this day?”
—John O’Donohue
We could add to this quote and ask, “Who did I really see this day?”
If you hang out with me in the next few weeks, I might stare deeply into your eyes. Not because I’m trying to freak you out (or seduce you), but because I know that when we look for the light in another’s eyes, we see them. When we don’t, we don’t.
There is no gift greater than attention. But we cannot pay attention to everything at the same time. We choose to be attentive to others. For that, I owe you - reading these words - gratitude for choosing to spend time with me. Even though I might not know who you are, you are here. And your time is precious.
For a long while, I’ve been struck by how much cross-over there is between social psychology (which feeds most leadership curricula) and artistic instruction. It’s not surprising. Our human condition can be distilled into a few similar and shared sensations that we interpret in a million ways.
One of the themes and challenges across industry, modality, and lifestyle is that so much of modern life is about avoiding vulnerability or arming ourselves against it. Presence means exposing ourselves to hurt. Heartbreak. Maybe because when we slow down, we face the truth we’ve been avoiding.
Whether you’ve seen this before or not, please take the time to watch it with me now.
Why is something as simple as attention—with no intention or trade-off, just simple attention paid to another human in the form of a shared gaze—so powerful?
AYTL weekly prompt: Instead of spending time, give it this week. Practice steadiness and see what changes.
Writing prompt: Write your interpretation of what that means.
And then, if you’d like, watch this one.
I am thinking about offering a Substack meet-up in December. If you’d be interested, let me know and I’ll email you with details. In the meantime, if you missed it, here is a meditation.
Oh, how we need steadiness right now. Thank you, Jen.