🌱 What Presence Makes Possible
What you find when you’re actually truly here for it.
Hello again! Happy Thursday... in a week that the Bank Holiday has made it truly hard to track what day it is… 🤦♀️
Welcome back to Edit Your Life.
We’ve spent this month focusing on presence. Not the picture-perfect, everything-else-in-your-mind-disappears kind.
The real kind. In your body, in your day, in your thoughts, in your breath.
It’s not always comfortable. Sometimes it’s boring. Sometimes it feels a bit vulnerable. But something happens when you stop rushing and start noticing it.
Things shift. You soften. You respond instead of react. You get clearer signals from your mind, your body, and yourself, even if they’re not quite what you expected.
This Week’s Edit: What I’ve Noticed When I’m Actually Here
Here’s what I’ve experienced, and what I’ve heard from a couple of you:
🟡 You make better decisions.
Not because you’ve planned everything perfectly. But because you’re responding to real information, not stress, panic or people-pleasing mode.
🟡 You feel a little less behind.
Presence interrupts the lie that you’re always meant to be somewhere else. It anchors you to what’s true right now.
🟡 You’re more honest with yourself and others.
When you’re present, you’re less likely to overcommit, smile when you’re seething, or say “it’s fine” when it’s not.
🟡 You actually enjoy things.
You notice the flower in the lapel of the man walking past. The sun on your face. The lyrics of the song in your ears. You don’t miss the good stuff while racing to the next thing.
It’s not about being perfectly mindful. It’s about giving yourself the option to be more here than you were last week.
A Bit of Theory: Mindfulness, Rick Rubin and the Space to Notice
Mindfulness has become a well-established money-making industry, but at its core, psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn describes the mindfulness concept as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.”
That’s it. Not floating up-up-up on a cloud. Not becoming a new person. Just being here, with a bit more kindness.
Record producer Rick Rubin often discusses creative presence - the act of stripping things back to what feels true in the moment. In his book The Creative Act, he writes:
“Awareness is not a state you force. There is little effort involved, though persistence is key. It’s something you actively allow to happen. It is a presence with, and acceptance of, what is happening in the eternal now.”
You can’t force presence. But you can persist and make some effort to get there. That’s what we’ve been doing this month.
Quick Edit: If You Do Nothing Else, Try This
💬 Instead of: “I need to get through the day.”
✨ Try: “What could I actually enjoy today?”
That’s it. That’s the shift
Let’s Talk
What’s one thing you’ve noticed this month by being a little more present, even just once?
Hit reply and share if you feel like it. I read every message.
This is the final edition in May’s Mindfulness & Presence series.
If you’ve found even one small shift this month — if you’ve breathed slower, listened more closely, or let yourself rest without guilt — I’m so glad.
Thanks for being here. If you’ve found this edition helpful, I’d love you to consider upgrading to a paid subscription, or just helping fuel next week’s edition by buying me a coffee – iced every time – here.
Next week, we’ll begin June’s theme: Relationships - of all kinds. We’ll discuss boundaries, support, and the individuals who help you reconnect with yourself.
Until then, thanks for reading, noticing, editing your life bit by bit, and being here.
Warmest wishes,
Beth x