Gratitude, generosity and humility are inherent characteristics of one who is present. When you awaken, you will realize that everyone and everything has the same right to be here as you do. This includes every human Being, every tree Being, every flower Being, and every other kind of Being.

When you are fully present, you transcend duality and open into Oneness. In Presence, there is power without opposition. There is love without hate, acceptance without judgment and allowing without control.

If you want to know who you are, look into the true mirror. The flower will reflect your beauty. The sky will reflect your vastness. The ocean will reflect your depth. The child will reflect your innocence. But if you look into the mirror that is unconscious humanity, you are looking into the wrong mirror. Your reflection will be distorted by their projections.

You don't realize that if you stop looking backwards craving the love and acceptance which you didn't receive from your parents, then you might open your eyes to what is available for you now. But you won't let go. If only you could see that looking back into an incomplete and imperfect past, with regret, blame, guilt or resentment is keeping you from the treasures that await you here now. The past has gone. You cannot rectify something that is no longer with you.

You cannot be present in an abstract way. Presence is not about disappearing into nothingness. You can only be present with something that is actually here.

The fact that we are aware of ourselves is both our greatest curse and also our greatest blessing.

In Presence, there is no outcome. It is our involvement in the outcome that keeps us imprisoned in an imagined future. In Presence, there is only now.