Vinny the Marketer

PassiveVS Present

Passive VS Present.  I’ve noticed recently that there is a pretty significant distinction between passively waiting for something to happen/change/occur VS being present to what is happening.  The former puts me in a position to react to what comes up.  The latter gives me a birds-eye view of what is happening right now; and the better I get at being present now, the better able I am to see when it is my moment to act or do something to influence a given situation. 

A simple example is the way we respond to traffic signals and situations.  You’re stopped at a red light.  The passive response is to drum your fingers in aggravation at the wait, check your text messages, daydream about the meeting you just came from or the vacation you have planned.  Being present is noticing the other cars at the intersection, paying attention to the flow of traffic, even simply noticing your breath or how close you are to the car in front of you.  There is a quality of unconsciousness to the former and a consciousness to the latter. 

I guess you could call it a sort of Zen concept, this “being present.”  It’s noticing without having a head full of commentary, explanations or questions.  It is being fully in this moment rather than dragging the past around, laying it over the present and then trying to predict the future. 

You might be asking “Well, what difference does it make?”  The difference it makes is this:  When I’m passive I am at the effect of what is happening.  When I am present I am part of the action; I’m observing (not preparing, or waiting, or mentally explaining or planning).  Being present puts me in a position to more clearly know what to do and when to do it.  And sometimes that means not doing anything—not by default but by design. 

How do you become more present?  I recommend two things:  1) practice a daily period of meditation, contemplation or other form of quieting the mind; 2) develop the habit of seeing and listening in everyday situations and experiences (think of the traffic example above) without automatically starting your internal or external commentator button.  Both are pathways to the present. 

This week’s challenge:  Give up passive waiting and start being actively present.  And remember these words from Chinese sage Chuang Tzu:  “The non-action of the wise man is not inaction.” 

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