Untangling Musings: “Does Self-in-Presence have longings?”

Gosh, do you believe it’s been six months since our last Untangling newsletter?

Where have we been? We’ve been working intensively on the final stages of our new Untangling book… finding a perfect subtitle (hard!) and the perfect cover design (thanks to Maggie Hurley!).

Here it is, subtitle and all:

Tell us what you think!

Some of the chapters:

It’s a Tangle!
Tangled Up in Parts
Hijack
Despair
Longing
The Environment of Transformation
Becoming Your Biggest Self
The Magic of Empathy
A Tale of Two Parts
The Healing Power of Love
and more!

Does Self-in-Presence have longings?

In our last newsletter we wrote about the C.U.T. acronym for recognizing when you need to cultivate more Self-in-Presence. It’s from Lauren Cohen, who says that when the quality of the energy she is embodying is compulsive, urgent, and/or triggered, she needs to pause.

After that newsletter, we heard from Sunil, who wrote:

“I am curious if Self in Presence is purely an observer/witness. Does it have a voice or longings? The reason I ask is that after listening and empathizing with the louder and bigger parts, I started hearing the quieter longings. Some longings don’t feel like they come from a part. I am wondering if these come from Self in Presence.”

Great question!

Self-in-Presence is you … the whole YOU … beyond parts

Sunil went on to say:

“Maybe what matters is simply listening and connecting empathically with each longing regardless of where it comes from. When all the voices are heard, my mind-being becomes an open, quiet space. I suspect this is Self in Presence.”

Absolutely right! You don’t have to know where a longing comes from in order to treat it with respect, curiosity, and listening. You are the listener. You are the one turning toward any part of you, any longing, any feeling, and offering it time and space. And when you do that, you are indeed Self-in-Presence.