Hello friends, I have a question for you, a few questions. Have you ever been reading a book and completely zoned out and started recalling something in your mind, but your eyes kept tracking on the words and you realized three pages later you don't know anything you just read? Or have you ever left the room to go do something and when you get there, you don't remember what it is you meant to do? You just remember something else you were doing at the same time, or what if you do, like I just did pick up your phone to check a message or just to look for something in your phone and find yourself 20 minutes later, 30 minutes later, with your eyes tired from looking at the screen. And down 10 other rabbit holes, but you still didn't actually do what you set out to do when you picked up the device. So these are ways that I've caught myself not being very present recently. And I know I'm not the only one. I'm not here to berate anybody. No shame, please not at all. But it comes down to something I've been thinking a lot about and that is presence and, and where. We put our attention and as the podcaster in me loves to talk about Picturing Love in the world, I know that when I check out, when I zone out and I do nothing productive, like I eat a whole snack and I don't even realize I did it. And then I didn't even enjoy it 'cause I didn't notice that I was eating. To me, that lack of presence is not Picturing Love. It's actually robbing myself of a living experience. Now if I, I'll, I'll get to the point, okay. The reason I care about talking about this is. What if we were more selective with our presence? I don't mean every minute of every day, mind you, but be more selective about the things that are purposely trying to distract us from happy and whole living. And I am talking about some of the tyrants who are in powerful roles who are spreading. Uh, maybe there's a little bit of truth in there, but you are just getting so many stories you don't know what to sift through and, and to me, I found that I never benefit from trying to sift through all the truth, especially because I'm not in a public service role. I am, I'm not a public servant like a lot of our political characters are. So trying to play that role just doesn't serve anybody when it's coming from me. What I did notice is I do make a much better impact on those that I serve when I take care of myself first, and then show up better and whole for them. And just like the conversation that I repeated with somebody I love a few days ago who recalled nothing about the story I told because I was getting that Uhhuh Uhhuh, you know that that habit response, you know somebody's really not listening, right? They're just giving you that canned grunt or those words that are a habit. To respond because you were taught to be polite and respond to somebody. But I think we need to, I think we deserve to give ourselves the gift of being present and coming from that space. I choose not to give tyrants. The love and ener, the energy that I could be spending on loving my family, my pets, my garden, my earth, my beaches, my neighbors, my community, my podcast community. I choose to be present for me for you, and I want to invite anybody. To maybe just make, choose one, one thing that maybe we can let go of pay less attention on or cut back the time that we give it if it's draining our energy and giving us attention. Because you know, how many times have you heard me or others say, you know where your attention goes, energy flows. That's what grows. Yes, I am rhyming but it's true. And the more we share and sensationalize fearful stories, true or not, the more we sensationalize them and feed them, the more disarray our nervous systems are and the foggier our minds are. And we just, we get to be these trained to stay in these little loops where we can be controlled and divided. I am giving up political parties. I choose people. I choose life. I choose living. Red or blue? Mm-hmm. Human. And I can love anybody and not agree with them. I can show love. I don't have to agree and I do respect that other people are going to have beliefs that are not mine, and that's okay. But I'm choosing to be present in my love for humanity, and I am choosing to be present for my love of my neighbors and my country. And that doesn't mean I don't hurt for those who are being wrongfully misused and abused and, and all that, but I have chosen to forgive the nonsense. For me. Forgiveness doesn't mean I'm excusing somebody's behavior. It means I'm not willing to let them make me sick over it. And that's one of the ways I'm calling my power back. In presence and I, I want you to consider this a formal invitation to call your power back in presence with me or with those that you love. And if there's anything that I said that you wanna expand on, I would love to hear it. I would, because we might not fully agree on everything, but I'll tell you this much. Your life is just as precious as mine, and mine is just as pres precious as the next. And there is nobody, no matter how much power or money or influence they have been entitled with, none of them are more important than you and I. None of them. We are all one. And the days where we remember that we are pieces of a whole. Instead of sides. We all have light and dark in us. We all have good and bad, we have polarities. That's how we learn, that's how we learn, and, and I'm choosing to rise to the occasion of right now by being fully in my body, by being fully present with you. By being fully present here, by giggling at myself when I leave the room and I forget what I was about to do, give myself forgiveness, just like I would forgive somebody else for forgetting my name. You know, we're all pieces of a whole, and if we can just honor the life in each of us, honor the souls in each of us. It just makes it a little bit easier to let go of the good and bad judgment. Let's just be present. I dare you to find something beautiful right in front of you right now. Look down at your hands and your feet or your lap, or look over you. Look above you. Look around you. Close your eyes and smell something. Use your senses. Grab a glass of cool water if you can. Take a deep breath. Be grateful for the opportunity to have this life because this life was not meant to throw away. We are all here for purposes, and we all have the opportunity to picture love in our own way. That's all I wanted to share today. So let me hear how you are being present. And maybe share this, pay it forward to somebody else, Who might wanna chime in. I love you. I really do. Whether I know your name or not, I love you cause unconditional love. That's the power we all need to tap into. Let's be present in the spirit of love. See you next time.