Thank you for inviting me to write this letter to you all as you enter The Presence Process procedure experientially. Firstly, let me say how honored I am that you and the group you are stewarding place such faith in this procedure. Emotional cleansing and the subsequent realignment from reactive to responsive behavior is not an "easy" journey for any of us to take. I applaud your bravery and intent to do whatever it takes to facilitate individual and collective transformation on this planet.

So, what little pointers can I impart as you begin this quest?

The first thing that comes to mind is to try your best to remember, especially "when the going gets tough", that it is our unintegrated "needs and wants" that bring us to an emotional cleansing procedure like The Presence Process. Because of this we may individually have specific points of reference that we seek to address, that we believe if successfully attended to, will enable us to judge whether or not this procedure is useful or successful. Yet, The Presence Process is not about taking care of "our needs and wants"; it is about moving us gradually beyond them.

The Presence Process is about maneuvering our awareness into a place of authentic responsibility and choice; a state of being in which we take each step, not pre-determined by conditioning, programming, and misleading interpretations, but by listening to the sweet, silent voice of the Inner Presence we all share.

Part of this experiential journey is therefore about transferring our allegiance from pandering to our needs and wants, to awakening into the guidance and clarity of heart-based intuition. This is no simple task, so patience, compassion, and consistency, sprinkled with generous doses of faith, are called for.

There is also no hurry in any of this. Once we enter responsive behavior we are headed in the right direction, and at this juncture of the journey, this realignment counts for everything! Also, just because we know our emotional body is the causal point of the discomfort within the quality of our experience does not mean we must dive in there blindly. We are to enter this type of work with respect, consistency, responsibility, and ongoing compassion for ourselves.

Because most of us are driven into transformational practices by our needs and wants, we automatically and often quite unconsciously focus on seeking a specific state of release from these circumstances. As a consequence, we are inclined to judge our unfolding progress by how "good" we feel, or by how "comfortable" our circumstances become, or even by how much "easier" our life experience unfolds. We declare "we are seeking joy", and because we are driven mostly by the manifestation of our unconscious needs and wants, we often assume "joy is a pleasant emotional state". In this light, we mistakenly confuse the meaning of the words joy and happiness.

Joy is not a specific emotional state; it is a conscious relationship we gradually develop with our emotional body in which we are able to embrace all emotional states that pass through our field of awareness.

Only when we are able to embrace all emotional states as equally valuable to us, are we able to authentically exit separation-consciousness and enter unity-consciousness – or Christ Consciousness as we also call it. Until we accomplish this transition in our relationship with our emotional body, we are consciously and unconsciously fleeing one emotional state with intent to embrace another. This causes an energetic conflict within us that manifests as mental confusion and outer physical discomfort. So part of this journey through The Presence Process is that it teaches us the tools required to consciously move our experience from this unconsciously divided state into a unified one. To accomplish this requires allowing what we have previously defined as "undesirable emotional states", all of which fall into the trinity of fear, anger, and grief, to now surface for integration. In simple terms, what this means is that when it comes to The Presence Process we are often likely to feel poorly before feeling enriched.

By constantly reminding ourselves that "feeling uncomfortable, confused, and emotionally out of balance whilst moving through The Presence Process is an indicator of progress", we avoid adding any unnecessary anxiety to our journey.

Unfortunately, this reminder does not ease the experience of discomfort we deliberately initiate by willingly bringing our awareness to the unintegrated condition of our emotional body. This is because "feeling" our different levels of suppressed emotional imbalance, whether these manifest in our field as mental confusion or physical discomfort, is essential when intending to awaken the wide vocabulary of feeling required to perceive communications coming to us from within our vibrational body.

(There is a more detailed discussion on this aspect of The Presence Process in an article entitled The Gifts Within Emotional Responsibility that can be read in the "Articles" section of the www.thepresenceportal.com.)

Remember, because we are conditioned to sedate and control our awareness of certain emotional experiences right from childhood, when these begin to surface within our current experience, every fiber of our being tells us "something is wrong". This is when we are likely to go into resistance. In this light, while moving through The Presence Process, feelings of resistance are an indicator that we are making progress.

Another useful pointer worth paying attention to is that because we lack emotional body awareness, we also do not consistently operate from "insight"; we are almost solely focused on a life experience that we perceive as happening outside, or "outsight". This means that many of the consequences of the causal aspects of The Presence Process procedure are initially reflected back to us as events unfolding in the outside world that at first glance appear to be happening separately from us. They are not.

Nothing we perceive outside of us is unfolding separately from us; our perception of anything is our connection to it.

It is therefore recommended that we pay careful attention to the physical, mental, and emotional activities unfolding within our field of experience as we move through The Presence Process, and beyond. The consciously connected breathing practice is consistently making causal adjustments that have profound consequences on our outer life experience. When those things happen to and around us that intuitively appear to be connected to our involvement in this work, but also that our mind tells us "cannot possibly have anything to do with us", take note and be grateful.

Even though the consciously connected breathing may be one of the simplest practices we have yet come across, it will also prove at times to be one of the most challenging and powerful. It is challenging because it is inviting us to begin neutralizing one of our most hypnotic addictions: drifting unconsciously in a time-based paradigm. By calling upon us to consciously connect our breathing, this practice encourages an aspect of our awareness, small thought it may be to begin with, to show up and remain anchored in the present moment. Do not be concerned that our thoughts are flying all over the place while we attend to our breathing; be concerned only that we keep from any significant pausing between breaths. This is challenging enough, as you will discover along the way. However, by anchoring an aspect of our awareness in the "the now", this practice accomplishes something incomprehensible to the mind’s understanding of things; it enables us to anchor an aspect of our awareness in the domain in which God resides: The Present Moment.

When we are mentally adrift in a time-based paradigm we are so lost in thought-based illusions that even God does not know where we are!

Our part in our salvation is to make the effort to show up in the only domain the universal intelligence we call God resides; the eternal present moment. The breathing practice assists us to accomplish this. Once we enter this domain of Presence we also enter the domain of "no order of difficulty", or "miracle consciousness". So, as challenging as the breathing practice may be at times, it is important to consistently encourage ourselves by constantly reminding ourselves that whenever we attend to this practice we are simultaneously being "worked on" by the power that created everything. To enter the domain of "no order of difficulty" twice a day for 15 minutes is life-transforming beyond any "outer doing" we could entertain.

Another insight well worth sharing with you is this:

There is no set experience you are supposed to have as you move through The Presence Process other than the one you are already having in any given moment.

Therefore, all expectations are not only unfounded, they are seeds that plant inevitable disappointment. Let whatever experience that unfolds be the one you appreciate most. Instead of seeking something other that what is happening to you right now, rather focus your energy on being intimate with exactly what is unfolding in each moment for you. There is only your experience and when you appreciate yours, you truly perceive The Presence Process for what it is.

While we seek another’s experience through comparison and expectation we miss out completely on our own and consequently on perceiving the power of this procedure.

Remember also that The Presence Process, in its entirety, is "a causal procedure". It is not concerned with effects. Because it is a causal procedure, when we apply ourselves to it, it automatically initiates consequences. Therefore, there is no necessity to concern ourselves with the specifics of "results". Results are only important when we are being driven by the insatiable voices of our "needs and wants", and when we are therefore bound by the limitations inherent in destination-consciousness. This procedure customizes itself to our specific individual transformation requirements and delivers us efficiently to a place in which "we choose to be".

Also, do not expect "to resolve everything" in 10 weeks. What we can be assured of is that this procedure teaches us "all the ins and outs of living from a point of response", as opposed to living reactively. This one single lesson well-learned awakens us to eternal consequences that forever serve our path inward and upward towards authentic communion with our Self and the Divine Unifying Intelligence of which we are all wondrous expressions.

Once again, I express my gratitude to you all for participating in this wonderful work "for yourselves". And, be assured it is "work"; right now, to me, it is "the real work".

When we teach ourselves how to authentically "do unto ourselves as we would have others do", we transform our life experience into a radiance of authentic peacemaking that brings cooling shade to all with whom we share our human journey.

This is the essence of Divine Alchemy.

This is the gift within The Presence Process.

I have placed my heart into the book, THE PRESENCE PROCESS, and my personal experience into every aspect of this procedure, and so as you journey through it, I am traveling with you.

What a magnificent example you are setting for humanity by enhancing 2007 in this pro-active manner. I applaud you all!

Love, blessings, and gratitude,

cv8vd