The Presence Process

Why is it so difficult for us to respond consciously when we are upset? Why do we instead resort to harmful, repetitive, unconscious, and reactive behaviors?

The reason is that we all have deeply pent-up emotional imprints that have been programmed into us through experience and emulation of others. These imprints reveal spontaneously over the first seven years of our childhood. Until these emotional charges are consciously recognized and terminated, whenever we are disturbed, we automatically resort, like a programmed organic mechanism, to these reactive behaviors.

The presence process invites us to aspire to "conscious emotional response" as a way of life. Reading and applying the simple procedures found in this book makes it possible for anyone, anywhere, to transform the quality of their life experience from uncontrollable, reactive, to deliberate responsibility.

We all yearn to break free from our emotional outbursts and instead experience a calm inner response in the face of difficulties. What the process of presence reveals through firsthand experience is that any attempt on our behalf to “get rid” of our emotional discomfort is misguided. In fact, it shows us the miraculous transformation that unfolds when we instead embrace conscious emotional responsibility.

The process of being present is a guided, self-facilitating journey towards taking full responsibility for our emotional state. It is a path that we walk step by step so that the sad child within us matures emotionally.