The Power Of Presence In Revealing Your Potential

Hello and welcome to the CalmCast,

A time to feel calm and think clearly.

I'm Claire Downham,

The Queen of Calm,

A Transformational Life Coach.

I was a burnt out head teacher who finally made the journey to calm after years of trying and I want to prevent you from having to do the same.

The CalmCast is a series of short explorations gently guiding you back to your natural state,

Which is calm and clarity.

Just listen like you would listen to music with an open mind and curiosity.

There's nothing else to do.

Now let's relax into today's episode.

So hello,

A lot of rushing about has gone on for me to be here this morning.

Welcome.

Today,

The power of presence in revealing your potential.

And I absolutely love to talk about anything to do with the present moment because it's a much overlooked and but also misunderstood aspect of human life,

Really.

The reality is that the only time when we actually are in reality or even close to it is when we're in the present moment.

But how much of the time do we spend not in the present moment,

In our heads,

In our thinking,

In the future,

In the past,

Just about anywhere except the present moment.

And I think that there's something around how much we have grown to value the human intellect as human adults.

I don't think human children do value the intellect quite as much as we do,

But we as adults really do value the intellect,

Don't we?

Value our thinking,

Value our processing,

Value our opinions,

Value our stories.

And we can go looking for our potential there.

We can go looking for how to feel better there,

How to do better,

How to be better in the world,

How to achieve more,

How to have more success,

How to perform better.

I spent a lot of time looking for that in the outside world,

The better me,

Thinking that my potential was there,

Thinking that my potential was in the teachings of some guru or some practice,

Some tool or technique that I was doing on a regular basis.

Always looking,

Always seeking,

Always hoping to find my potential,

My true potential out there in the things I did.

And I often used to,

And I've heard people say this in a positive way,

But actually the sense of many of the things I was doing was that my future self would thank me for this,

That at some point in the future I would look back and be grateful that I'd done hours of affirmations and meditation and gratitude journals and whatever else I was doing,

That I'd be grateful that I'd,

You know,

Poked around in the past endlessly and listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of self-development books on Audible.

And what I was missing all the time in that was that my my potential was with me all the time.

It wasn't out there in the big wide world,

It wasn't in the gurus and the books and the therapy.

I was missing it because I was in the present moment and I feel a bit of sadness about that now,

But I also feel excited to help you not to have to do that,

Not to have to wait,

Not to have to spend hours and hours and hours of time looking for it out there when it's it's never been out there and it never will be.

You're amazing,

You are amazing now,

Your potential is available now and it's available the moment you drop into the present moment.

I love I love how we I'm just getting distracted slightly by a bit of technological issue here,

But I love how Michael Neal talks about the real-time responsive intelligence,

And I love how he talks about the real-time responsive intelligence,

But I love how Michael Neal talks about the real-time responsive intelligence that we all have access to all the time in the present moment.

In real time we have access to responsive intelligence,

But only now,

Only in the now,

Only when we're doing the doing of the now.

It's not something that exists anywhere else,

Our potential is only really available in the present moment.

And that's mind-blowing when you think about all the things that we do that are not in the present moment,

All the things we do to try and get some different feelings,

Some different way of being etc etc.

It's mind-blowing really how much time we're wasting.

Well there's nothing wrong with anything that we're doing,

There's nothing wrong with anything that we are trying,

Because we're always doing the best we can with the thinking that looks real to us.

But when you realise that you are pure potential covered over by your psychology,

It's mind-blowing really to think how close we are all the time,

That literally,

It's literally like we are sat in our pure potential,

And then it's like we get up and and then it's like we get up and walk away from it,

And leave it behind.

We don't ever leave it behind,

But metaphorically it's a bit like that.

Like we're being told that it's all all here,

But we're going somewhere else to try and find it.

But it's not out there,

Never has been,

Never will be.

Now you might be wondering,

Well what do I do about all this then?

How do I navigate?

How do I move towards this potential that I have inside me all the time?

And the answer of course is just awareness,

Because when you're not in this present moment you'll feel that.

There'll be some discomfort.

Now what I've noticed as I've got calmer,

It's moved,

It's moved from being quite a sort of wound up,

Anxious,

Very very feelable feeling,

A very,

You know,

A lot of tension,

A lot of revved upness in my body,

To it being quite subtle.

So sometimes I just notice that I'm sort of holding my breath a bit,

Or there's just a bit of tightness,

A bit of tension.

So there's something about getting to know your body and how your body responds to when it's,

What your body does when it's not in the present moment,

And what your mind does.

Like I've started saying,

I've got a lot of anxiety,

I've got a lot of anxiety,

Like I've started saying a lot to my clients,

I'm inviting them to get curious about what their mind does when it's upset.

Like what does your mind do?

Where does it go when it's not in the present moment?

Some of us have a tendency to the past,

Some of us have a tendency to the future.

You know you and your body knows you,

And what you'll notice is that when you go into those trains of thought,

When you go into those things that your mind does when it's upset,

That you'll feel that in your body,

You'll feel the discomfort.

Get to know yourself,

Get to know yourself,

Get to know what your thing is,

Get to know where your mind goes when you're upset.

Really get to know that,

Because that's powerful,

Just starting to know that,

To notice that about yourself,

About where your mind goes when it's upset,

What your body does when it's upset.

It's often easier to see in other people,

It really is.

Like Bruce and I were having a conversation the other day and Bruce tends to go to generalisation when he's upset,

Like everything,

Always,

All the time,

Generally about what I'm doing of course.

I have my things with him,

But that's one of the things that,

You know,

I've noticed.

But really the most powerful observations are of ourselves.

Where does your mind go when it's upset?

Where does your mind go when it's not in the present moment?

How does that feel in your body?

And the feeling is just this beautiful warning,

This gentle nudge,

Saying,

Hey,

You're not in the present moment,

You're not accessing your potential,

Because it ain't there,

It isn't,

It is there,

But it isn't accessible when you're not in the present moment.

And that's all we need is that awareness,

Like non-judgmentally,

Not,

Oh God,

I'm doing that again,

Not any of that,

Just,

Hey,

Just this gentle awareness,

Just this gentle seeing in the moment that we've gone to somewhere that isn't the present moment.

That's all we need really.

And it's amazing how powerful that is,

How when we see it,

That what happens then really is that we fall naturally into the present moment,

Because the moment you're in the place of awareness,

You're noticing your thinking,

You're noticing your feelings,

Then you're noticing,

You're in this place of noticing something.

So the real thing that's happening in the moment is that you're thinking about the past or the future or whatever.

And then you're the one observing that happening.

And then you're the one observing the present happening.

And then you're in the present moment observing,

And you're no longer in thinking,

And then you're naturally in the present moment.

Such a clever,

Such a clever system we've been given,

So powerful.

So your potential is there all the time,

Only ever a thought away,

A breath away.

Have an absolutely beautiful day living from that place,

And let me know how you get on with that.

And if you want to find out more,

Then follow me on Insight Timer,

And listen to more of my content,

Access my little courses that you can get hold of on there.

And I hope that we meet at some point,

But if not,

Just stay on,

Stay in this conversation,

Stay in this conversation,

Keep enjoying it.

Lots of love,

Take care,

Have a lovely day.

Thank you so much for listening.

There's nothing to do now,

But bring some awareness to how this is working out in your life.

Listen regularly to experience longer and longer periods of calm.

This has been the Calm Cast with Claire Downum,

Queen of Calm.

Take care and keep listening.