The Art of Being

"How often do you have to practice the presence of gravity? All the time! Any time you forget about gravity and fail to practice your relationship with it, you fall on your face. So it is with practicing the presence of God. We are told to 'pray without ceasing.' It could be said the reason we have problems is that we stop practicing the presence of God."

—Dr. Eric Butterworth

Practicing the presence

takes practice

Isn't it interesting how we take our relationship with gravity for granted?

Yet when we are consciously aware of this natural law and we respect it, we use it in ways that serve us immensely.

Flying an airplane is using gravity to our advantage. Knowing not to step out the door of a plane in flight without a parachute is simply practicing the awareness of the presence of gravity and respecting it.

The fact is, when we use gravity mindfully, we don't take it for granted.

But just as they often do with gravity, many people take the presence of God for granted. Many people never even contemplate God's presence.

Once we become consciously aware of God's presence in the here and now, and honor it, we begin to see it manifest in ways that serve others and ourselves. How so?

For starters, the awareness of God's presence encourages actions resulting in love, kindness, reverence, respect and selflessness. That is powerful stuff. It can change our experience of life in a heartbeat. The Law of Attraction affirms that what we extend to others we receive multiplied abundantly.

The good news is we don't have to be masters to practice the presence of God—we need only be conscious and willing. It is no more difficult than practicing the awareness of the principle of gravity.

It starts with a realization that we are already in a relationship with God just by virtue of the fact we are alive. So the only question is, will it be a conscious or unconscious relationship?

I have done it both ways. Trust me, conscious is better. Why? To the degree that we enter into a conscious relationship with God on a daily basis, God becomes our partner. Consciously partnering with the Divine can yield many profound experiences, the least of which will be a perfect inner peace that "passes all understanding." That in itself is enough, isn't it?

As a way to mindfully begin practicing the presence of God, become aware of your very next breath. On your inbreath, silently affirm to yourself, "Wherever I am" and on your outbreath affirm, "God is." Do this five times in a row. Continue to do this as a mindfulness practice as many times during the day as you can remember.

If you really want to get into the spirit of the exercise, place a rubber band loosely on your wrist and keep it on all day long. Each time you see the rubber band throughout the day, give it a gentle snap, breathe consciously and affirm, "Wherever I am, God is."

The purpose of the rubber band is not to inflict pain; it's to assist you in remembering to remember you are never alone. It's to awaken you to living consciously in God's presence.

The happy result: Before long, you will be practicing God's presence 24/7. Now, that is praying without ceasing.

Dennis Merritt Jones is a local spiritual mentor, keynote speaker and author of the book "The Art of Being: 101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life." Contact him at www.DennisMerrittJones.com.