The human mind has a strong tendency to want to hang out in time, past, present, or future.

However, if we want to remain sane and if we want to live in the realm of ever-expanding peace, joy, harmony, wholeness, and abundance, we need to cultivate the habit of Practicing the Presence.

I invite you to join me as we explore a powerful question to bring us deep into the nowness of this moment.

And if you want to go even deeper into cultivating a life of ever-expanding peace, harmony, and balance, feel free to check out one of my transformative courses.

This blog is meant to be honest, raw, and transparent, while serving as a source of inspiration and empowerment to help you transform your life, forever and for the better.

If you want to go even deeper, I invite you to visit my website for a 7-day free trial of The Path to Freedom App, or to browse my courses and publications.

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Until we meet again, as always, I bless, bless, bless your day, and I bless, bless, bless your way.

With much love and many blessings,

Namaste ✨💜🙏🏾

Happy Wednesday to us all 💜✨

As we are diving even deeper into the theme of this month, which is Practicing the Presence, and as I myself am being moved through a very expansive space where the mind is racing, and there is a whole lot of doing happening, I want to take this opportunity to remind myself and all of us that Practicing the Presence is so much more than just meditating.

If we want to remain and sustain our sanity. We need to cultivate a daily and habitual practice of coming back to the nowness of this moment on a very regular and consistent basis.

Meditation is beautiful, and it is a very powerful practice.

But, and it is a very big but, if we rely on meditation alone, and forget about anchoring and centering ourselves in the eternal now, the rest of the day, we will be in trouble.

If we go too long without resetting, the egoic mind will begin to take over. Whether or not it leans toward doom and gloom or something else, we will begin to turn into those mindless reactionary drones that we are working so hard to transcend.

True, we will probably be better off than someone who is not meditating, but, as the name so powerfully states, Practicing the Presence is about practicing to be present throughout our days.

Presence is a Muscle that Needs Regular Exersice

Presence is like a muscle; I actually often call it the Presence Muscle, and just like any muscle that we want to build and strengthen, it needs regular and consistent exercise.

Unless we use it, it will begin to atrophy.

Our sanity depends on us coming back to the now and beginning again, over and over and over again.

Once a day is good, but not good enough. Twice a day is good but not good enough.

We don’t just breathe once and then hold our breath until we pass out from oxygen deprivation, right?

We don’t just blink once and then hold our eyelids open until our eyes dry out.

No, we breathe and blink on a very regular and consistent basis, and in exactly the same way do we need to cultivate a presence practice that helps us stay as grounded and centered in the nowness of this moment as possible.

And the more we exercise it, the stronger the presence muscle gets. The stronger it gets, the more reaction-resistant it becomes.

In other words, the more grounded, centered, and anchored we are in the nowness of this moment, the less reactionary we become. And the more responsible we become.

The word responsible actually means the ability to respond (as opposed to react).

Two Powerful Practices

So how do we cultivate this presence practice, allowing us to stay ever more sane and responsible?

Obviously, there are many tools and practices we can lean into, but there are two in particular that I lean into the most that I want to share with you.

If you have listened to any of my talks catering to the pillar of Practicing the Presence, you have probably heard me talk about both of these before, but if not, here we go.

But before we go into these, I just want to say that what I love about them both is that they are soo simple. Both can be used at any time and anywhere. They don’t require any preparation or any particular setting or environment.

Our Moments In Between

So we all have what I call our moments in between. These are all those moments when we are not occupied doing anything that requires our full attention.

Moments when we can partly turn our attention away from what we are doing without causing harm, injury or damage.

• Taking a walk is such a moment in between.

• Doing dishes or laundry are moments in between

• Cooking is a moment in between

• Going to the bathroom is a moment in between

• Driving can be such a moment in between

• watching TV can be a moment in between

• Standing in line or waiting for someone are moments in between.

• For the advanced practitioner, talking to someone, either in real life or on the phone or Zoom or whatever, can be a moment in between

These are only a few of these wonderful moments, and they all offer a beautiful opportunity for us to practice the presence.

All we need to do is to turn part of our attention from whatever we are doing and place it on our breaths, as we perhaps would do in meditation.

As I am writing these words, I am present with my breath. Simply witnessing and observing how the chest rises and falls, how the air flows in and out.

And what happens is that by being with the breath, we allow for a space between us and that mental activity to open up.

Which in turn allows us to be witnesses and observers of whatever is going on in our mental (and emotional) bodies, rather than being hijacked by it.

If you try this and find it challenging to keep your attention on the breath, please be patient, loving, and kind with yourself.

You are strengthening the presence muscle, and if it is not yet strong enough, it takes time for it to grow stronger.

But just as with any muscle, the more we practice, the easier it gets.

Oops!!

This is where I had planned on sharing the second exercise, the one actually called Practicing the Presence, but as I am already close to the length limit of this post, I will need to share more about that practice another time.

Invitation

Our invitation in this now moment is like a two-stage rocket: The first stage is for us to identify 5-10 such daily recurring moments in between in our everyday lives.

Let’s jot these down on a piece of paper in no particular order.

The second stage is for us to pick 2-3 such moments to begin with, and then set the intention to use them to practice the presence. And to do it as often as we can remember.

So that we, just like the trees, may stay deeply anchored, centered, and grounded in the nowness of this moment, regardless of what happens around us and within us.

Audio Treat

The audio for this post is about how we can use these moments in between as a way to center, anchor and ground ourselves in the nowness of this moment.

As always, I trust you will enjoy it, and should you wish to dive deeper into this powerful practice, I invite you to join me on the Path to Freedom App.

Start Your 7-day Free Trial Today

As always, thank you for joining me.

To our eternal transformation

With much love 💜✨

daniel

As we continue with our theme of the Month, Practicing the Presence, let us, for a moment, turn our attention toward nature and the wonderful testimony it shares to the soulful power of staying grounded and anchored.

I have often reflected over and marvelled that trees remain standing through all kinds of weather, floods, blizzards, droughts, and extreme winds.

Take an oak tree, for example, this massive, majestic being, kind of like the king of trees (if there ever were such a thing). And yet for all its massiveness, it can stand wherever its roots are planted. And it can stand there for hundreds and hundreds of years.

It stands there harmoniously, going with the flow of whatever season and weather.

Never fighting against it, never resisting it. Just embracing and allowing whatever is to be exactly as it is.

And it’s secret: Its roots run so deep into the ground that for all of its massiveness and hugeness, the oak tree remains anchored and grounded enough to withstand whatever is going on around it.

A Profound Lesson for Us

If we want to transform our lives and live a life of ever-expanding love, joy, peace, harmony, and wholeness, we are so wise to study, copy, and mimic nature.

And so let us, in this now moment, make the choice to up and expand our presence practice.

This does not only mean, or more accurately, it does not mean spending more time in meditation.

But it means cultivating a way of life where we, just like the oak tree, are more or less grounded, centered, and anchored in the nowness of this moment, every moment of every day.

So that when the storm hits, we are already rooted enough to remain relatively untouched by the egoic blastings and projections about what should and should not be, of doom and gloom.

This does not mean that we choose not to care about anything, that we become indifferent. It simply means that rather than mindlessly reacting to whatever is happening in the world around us, we equip ourselves to respond from a high place of awareness and consciousness.

Not being at the mercy of external conditions and circumstances dictating our lives, but being in control and master architects of them, is a beautiful and very peaceful way to live.

Video of the week

I invite you to join me as we explore the Secret of the Trees and how we can emulate that in our own lives in this week’s video.

Invitation

Our invitation is clear: to set the intention to use as many of our moments in between to stop, come back to the breath, and begin again.

So that we, just like the trees, may stay deeply anchored, centered, and grounded in the nowness of this moment, all throughout our days and lives.

Audio Treat

The audio for this post is the audio version of the video, in case you prefer listening over watching.

As always, I trust you will enjoy it, and should you wish to dive deeper into Practicing the Presence, I invite you to join me on the Path to Freedom App, where there are countless hours of powerful content to help us transform our lives, forever and for the better.

Start Your 7-day Free Trial Today

As always, thank you for joining me.

May we all be happy, healthy, rich, and wealthy beyond our wildest dreams

With much love 💜✨

daniel

As we continue to walk this beautiful Path of Freedom, enhancing our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, one of the lessons we need to learn is to transcend and go beyond time.

Have you ever noticed that all of our heaviest anxieties, our deepest regrets, and our most persistent “problems” all have one thing in common?

They are all bound in time.

And the moment we step out of time, and come back to the nowness of this moment, they dissolve.

When we step out of time (past, present, and future), we realize that right here, in the nowness of this moment, is where peace is, joy is, harmony is, wholeness is, and abundance is.

And while the mind frantically and incessantly tries to figure out how to move forward, it is only in the nowness of this moment that we are fully open and available to catch guidance, inspiration on how to take the next step toward the realization of our dreams, visions, and intentions.

Why Time is the Root of the “Problem”

Many of us spend our lives trying to solve problems that haven’t happened yet or reliving and beating ourselves up over mistakes we may have made in some past moment.

We buy into the notion that past experiences have bearing on future events, which actually only prevents us from staying in the only moment where we actually have the power to create: The Nowness of this moment.

In the video, we explore how:

• Problems need time: If we remove the “story” of what happened ten minutes ago and the “worry” of what might happen ten minutes from now, what is actually wrong right here and right now?

• Presence is Power: When we anchor ourselves in the nowness of this moment, we stop reacting to external conditions and circumstances and instead start responding in a way that actually serves us.

• The End of Suffering: Suffering is created in and by time. Freedom, true freedom, is found only when we step out of time, into the nowness of this moment.

Invitation

Our invitation in this now moment is for us to take a look at how we, currently, are practicing the presence.

Are we allowing time to hijack us 24/7, or do we have a practice of actually coming to a full stop to center, ground, and anchor ourselves in the nowness of this moment on a regular basis? Every single day.

Are we present enough to remain calm and centered even when the world is twirling and swirling around us?

If our answer to these questions is No, then it is our invitation to uplevel our presence practice so that we may maintain and sustain sanity and well-being even in the midst of fast pace and turbulence.

Audio Treat

The audio for this post is actually the audio version of the video, in case you prefer listening over watching.

I trust you will enjoy this message, and as always, should you want to go even deeper into transforming your lives, forever and for the better, I invite you to join me on the Path to Freedom App.

It has hundreds of hours of talks, meditations, prayers, courses, and much more.

Start Your 7-day Free Trial Today

Join The Conversation, Share Your Thoughts!

I would love to hear how this post resonated with you.

This space is our sanctuary, and your voice is a vital part of the Freedom Tribe Family.

What came up for you when reading this post?

What does your Presence practice currently look like?

Share your comments, reflections, and realizations in the comment section below.

As always, thank you for joining me.

To Our Eternal Transformation 💜✨

daniel

#AllProblemsAreInTime #TransformYourLife #FreedomFamily #MasteringTheInnerGameOfMoney #ThePowerOfNow #Presence #SpiritualGrowth #FinancialFreedom #InnerWork #ConsciousLiving #MindsetShift #Healing #DivineAbundance

I trust, as always, that this post finds you in Divine health, peace, joy, harmony, and abundance.

Coming Back To Root Cause

This morning I was drafting another post for this blog about an experience I had a few days ago that I think beautifully illustrates how unresolved issues can totally blind us and pull us into deep emotional and mental turmoil.

As I paused from writing to tend to our kids and puppy, my mind continued to process that particular experience.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that the underlying cause for the inner turbulence I had experienced was not the fact that I had unresolved issues, which I do.

Nor was it the fact that I got caught by egoic stories and judgments, which I did.

No, the underlying cause was that I, for quite some time now, have neglected to honor and tend to my spiritual needs to the degree that I need to stay centered, grounded, and harmonious - even when things are swirling in the external.

Taking a step back and looking at my life and spiritual practice, I am actually amazed by the level of sanity that I am experiencing, considering how intense my life has been since coming back to Sweden, and the currently random and low level of formal spiritual practice I am engaging in.

I remember sharing with my wife the other day that I feel as though I am on a merry-go-round that just keeps on spinning and spinning.

I feel as though I am caught in a whirlpool of endless doing and activities.

My nervous system is so overstimulated that I am barely no longer aware that it is overstimulated, because I have gotten so used to it over these last few months since coming back to Sweden.

It has been stated (and I know I have said it many times in talks and to clients) that we do not want to build our spiritual practice around our lives.

But rather, we want to build our lives around our spiritual practice.

Just like a tall building needs a strong foundation to remain safe, secure, and standing, so do we need a strong spiritual foundation to remain sane in this crazy and fast-paced world.

The Analogy of the Trees…

A number of years ago, I caught an analogy, and if you have listened to any of my talks, chances are you have already heard me share this.

But as I think it so beautifully illustrates the importance of having a strong foundation in place, I’ll take a moment to share it once more here.

As I remember it, I was sitting out on the deck of our house, looking out over the fields.

At the far end of one of the fields, there was a magnificent oak tree standing. It was huge and had probably stood there for hundreds of years.

With the open fields and the nearby lake, it was often very windy, and close to every spring, the field where the oak tree stood was often flooded, and yet here it was.

Standing, thriving, and flourishing, without a seeming care in the world.

As I was looking at it, I realized that the reason it was still standing was that its roots ran so deep into the ground that it was able to withstand all these different conditions.

I also realized that this analogy perfectly illustrates how we need to have a practice that centers, anchors, and grounds us so that we may remain in joy, peace, love, and harmony regardless of external conditions and circumstances.

Over the years, I dedicated my life to cultivating and building such a habitual practice.

Transcending The Ego’s Excuses

Then we moved to Spain, and as my life changed dramatically, the habitual structure I had worked so hard at building slowly fell apart. Until it became more random than habitual.

And since coming back to Sweden, I have not been able to find my way back to that habitual structure.

There have been many reasons (i.e., excuses) as to why, and until now, I fully bought into the notion that these reasons were legitimate.

The ego served me all kinds of excuses, like “I get up too early in the morning to meditate”, and “we live in a too small apartment for me to find a place to meditate”. “There is no time or place for me to have breathing spaces, nor do I have the energy for it”.

These and others have been serving the ego very well in pulling me away from what keeps me grounded and centered. And as I said, I bought into them totally.

Until now.

Having had that hellish emotional experience a few days ago, I realize that I can either continue to buy into these excuses, which will render me more and more reactive and at the mercy of external conditions and circumstances, like a leaf to the wind.

Or, I can begin to re-assume responsibility for my own well-being. I can choose to begin to reclaim my mind and my sanity.

Which I am now determined to do.

As with everything that comes into manifestation, it begins with an idea, a vision, a dream, or an intention that we need to say Yes to.

Writing this post helps me stand firmer in my Yes.

It helps me hold myself accountable to no longer buy into the ego’s stories and excuses, but to do what I need to do to stay in a high vibration.

It helps me begin to once again build my life around my practice rather than the other way around.

My Four Spiritual Needs

So what then is this spiritual practice that I am talking about?

Well, we can actually make anything a spiritual practice when fueled with intention and awareness, but in my case, I have identified four different practices that combined make up the foundation I was talking about earlier.

These are Meditation, a Creative Space, Physical Exercise, and what I call a Breathing Space.

From experience, I know that when I engage in these on a regular basis, I am able to sustain a high vibration of joy, harmony, and love, as well as a general sense of well-being.

Regardless of what happens in the external world.

However, what defines the word regular varies for each of these. Meditation needs to be daily, and I have been saying for years that meditation is more important to my sense of well-being and high functionality than food.

I could (although I am choosing not to) go for days without eating properly, but just a couple of days without meditation used to have an enormous effect on my consciousness and vibration.

Having said that, I realize that I now need to reevaluate this, as I have not been meditating regularly at all since coming back to Sweden, and yet, except for that one experience last week, I have been enjoying a relatively deep sense of peace, joy, and harmony.

The creative space needs to be ongoing, but more or less on a daily basis. This entails having a space where my unique gifts and abilities get to be expressed. A vision or intention that I am continually moving toward, midwifing.

I need to physically exercise 3-5 times a week to sustain my physical well-being.

And, I need to have a Breathing Space every two to three days, as well as when the need arises.

Now, as we are all unique, what works for me may not necessarily work for someone else.

The important thing to remember, though, is that it is not as important what we practice as that our practice serves as a solid foundation for peace, joy, and harmony.

As the saying goes, Practice makes perfect, and so we need to be very mindful of what it is we practice on a regular basis, so that we continuously expand our consciousness and raise our vibration.

Especially in times like these, when there is so much fear, worry, and anxiety running amok in the world.

Time To Reclaim My Breathing Space

Coming back to my practice, though, and actually what I originally intended for this post to be about, is an almost desperate need for me to find my way back to having a regular Breathing Space.

But let me begin by quickly describing what I mean by having a Breathing Space. It is pretty much what it sounds like.

A space meant for breathing and to find clarity.

It is a consciously dedicated space, void of activities and any doing.

As I shared before, I used to go out onto our deck and just sit there for 20 minutes or more.

In order not to let the ego trick me into ending the space prematurely, I always set a 20-minute timer on my phone, and I do not leave the space until the timer goes off.

And then I would just sit there. Still and silent.

Sometimes with soft music in my ears. Sometimes, with no other sounds than whatever sounds come into my awareness.

Sometimes, while in this space, I mentally tune into some project or endeavor to catch guidance as to how to move forward.

Sometimes I just sit there, allowing the mind to roam free.

Regardless, I seek to be as present with the breath as possible for the whole duration of the space.

In other words, in that sense, the Breathing Space is like meditation, only when I catch guidance, or when the mind takes off into a particular direction, I go with the flow of it.

And so, rather than immediately bringing my attention back to the breath as I would do in meditation, I sort of divide my attention between the mental thought forms and the breath, so to be aware of both simultaneously.

Except for being a beautiful and highly rejuvenating space, the Breathing Space allows me to check in to make sure I am headed in the right direction.

A few weeks ago, I found myself strolling into a park and seized a rare opportunity to have an undisturbed Breathing Space.

During those 20 minutes, among a few other crucial things, which I honestly don’t remember right now, I caught that I need to find myself an office space, where I can work and practice uninterrupted.

Which is something I can rarely do in my home office in our apartment.

As always, with guidance when we catch it, we want to not only listen, to hear it, but also immediately obey it when we catch it.

And so, I went home and started looking for such a space, and I am actually moving into a perfect office space next week.

I know that I, in passing, have thought to myself that I need such a space since coming back to Sweden. But it has been in passing, while I have been busy doing something else, and so it wasn’t until I was in the space of actually listening and being receptive to guidance that I truly heard it.

And this is the beauty, and the purpose, of these Breathing Spaces.

Regular Course Corrections Are Needed

Now, while this kind of non-activity is completely nonsensical to the ego, which means that the ego would label it as a waste of time, historically, these Breathing Spaces have provided me with more openings and clarity than I can even begin to describe.

And probably even well beyond what I am aware of.

Just like an airplane on autopilot doesn’t fly in a straight line toward its destination, but continuously makes micro course corrections, so do we need to pause on a regular basis to make sure that we are still on track.

We need to slow down enough to make sure that we are still moving toward our dreams and visions, or if we need to make any course corrections.

As long as we stay busy, moving and running, chances are that we will either not even hear guidance as it comes to us. Or, as was the case for me, that we hear it in a sense, but are too busy to hear it loud enough to really register it.

Let alone heed it.

Perfect Preparation And Unfolding Are Always Happening

I know that this headline has appeared in previous posts, but as it is an unyielding spiritual principle, I think it fits perfectly into this post as well.

So, I just want to share how perfect Spirit’s design is as it reveals itself in, as, and through my life.

Before we moved to Spain, I used to have this daily morning routine where I would get up before anyone else was awake.

This gave me the space to first do 20 minutes of some Nia movements ( I’ll actually share a video of these just below here).

And after having awakened and treated the body, I would sit in silent meditation for 30 minutes and then have a moment of prayer.

It was a beautiful practice, and it served me so well for a number of years, but as we moved to Spain and my life, as well as our living arrangements, changed, I was not able to sustain this morning routine on a regular basis.

And coming back to Sweden, in our apartment, there was no way for me to perform this routine without disturbing the rest of my family.

And so, a couple days ago, I went to a 10-day conference, which means that for the next 10 days, I will have a hotel room all by myself.

As I woke up yesterday morning, I picked that routine up again, and it was so wonderful to be able to start off my day like that.

I hadn’t forgotten the routine, but I had completely forgotten how good it felt, how soul, heart, and body nourishing and refreshing it was to give myself that hour of loving self-care.

Once again, as I have been pushed into coming into the realization that it is time for me to slow down and come back to basics, I am moved into a space where I get to get into the habit of doing so, so that when “I go back into the world”, I will have my practice and routines in place.

So that I can once again begin to weave my life around my practice rather than the other way around.

Life/Spirit truly is good, and I am grateful to be here and now.

Invitation

The invitation for us today is two-fold:

One: to take an honest look at our current spiritual practice - however that may look, and ask ourselves: “Is my practice providing a solid foundation for me to live a life of ever-expanding peace, joy, harmony, and love?

If the answer is yes, then that is wonderful, and we are good for now.

And if the answer is no, then that offers an opportunity for us to expand and go deeper into cultivating a life that serves us at a higher level.

A life that serves the emergence of the next iteration of who and what we are.

Two: to begin to incorporate a regular Breathing Space into our existing practice.

So to give ourselves a chance to become aware of where we may have strayed from our visions or intentions, and if we may need to begin to move in a new direction.

Or to just catch guidance as to how to move forward.

Once again, this Breathing Space is not for any kind of activities or distractions.

And to clarify, when I choose to listen to music, it is very soft and instrumental music. No words or singing, as that distracts and entices the mind to go into thinking mode.

This space is for reverent listening only.

Audio Treat

The audio treat for this post is about how we need to become aware, honor, and tend to our spiritual needs. So that we may continue to build a solid foundation that supports ever-expanding peace, joy, harmony, abundance, and love.

Regardless of what is happening around us.

If this talk resonated with you and you want to get unlimited access to all my talks, courses, meditations, and prayers, I invite you to subscribe to the paid plan of this blog.

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Thank You…

for joining me on this beautiful adventure.

Whomever you are, wherever you are, and whenever you are, we are connected in a sacred field and I am happy that we get to walk this wonderful path together in this season of our lives.

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Until we meet again, I invite us all to hold the world and all beings in a space of boundless peace and unconditional love.

I bless, bless, bless your day, and I bless, bless, bless your way, in the absolute knowing that All Is Well, that Something Wonderful is Always Happening, that Everything Is Working For Your Highest Good, and that Perfect Preparation And Unfolding Is Always Happening.

With much Love and many Blessings

Namaste 💜 💜✨✨