Living Awake

A 48-Hour Challenge To Infuse More Mindful Presence In Your Day And Align With Your Deepest Values

written by

Anthony V. Lombardo


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    How do we become more present in our lives?

    How do we live life awake, aligned with our deepest and truest values, instead of maneuvering from one moment to the next on autopilot?

    One of the things I’ve been challenging myself with every morning is seeing how present I can become regardless of what I’m doing or my momentary circumstances. Whether I’m working with a client, responding to an email, weeding my garden, or brushing my teeth, how much can I bear witness to my experience, noticing the life all around me and within me?

    It’s not always easy, but we have the ability to cultivate this power and build the muscle of pure, unadulterated presence — and not just while on the meditation cushion.

    In the Insight Timer course, Mindful Paths: Steps Towards A Living Spirituality (based on the book of the same name), author James Anthony Walker offers a simple practice that can help expand your level of presence and awareness in the midst of the often chaotic world around us. He calls it the 48-Hour Presence Challenge which aims to infuse more awareness, intentionality, and authenticity into your life.

    The 48-Hour Presence Challenge

    1. Do a quick, honest assessment of your current level of presence.

    Reflect on the following:

    • Over the last few days, where have I been mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?
    • How many of my thoughts during that time can I actually remember?
    • How many well-considered actions did I take?
    • What were those actions and why did I take them?

    If these answers are too difficult to recall, that’s okay, your presence can only go up from here. You are just gauging where you are at.

    2. Pick one word that resonates with your core values or represents an area of your life you want to grow in.

    This word should represent a spiritual quality that you most want to integrate into your being and you think will benefit you and the people in your life.

    Examples of such words might be:

    • Love
    • Peace
    • Patience
    • Kindness
    • Generosity

    3. Over the next 48 hours, assess your ability to stay fully present with this word.

    The goal is to observe yourself throughout the day: your thoughts, your emotions, your actions, and your interactions with others with respect to the word you’ve chosen. Non-judgmentally notice your level of alignment with this word.

    4. Journal about your experience with that word.

    Over the course of the 48-hour period, write down your observations on intending to see your reality through the lens of that word.

    • How has it affected your day?
    • How easy or difficult was this experience?
    • What insights did you discover during this experience about how this word affects the way you see and interact with yourself and others?
    • How does this quality conveyed in this word affect your life either positively or negatively?
    • Has doing this challenge shifted anything in you? If so what?

    Your Spiritual Lens

    A similar exercise I’ve been doing the past several months that helps me stay more open and grounded in each moment is asking myself every morning and as much as possible throughout the day: “How much love can I have in my heart?”

    No matter what tool or practice you use, the key is finding one that resonates with you and then, most importantly, remembering to do it.

    Make no mistake though, living with the daily intention to remain aligned with spiritually charged qualities will greatly transform the way you experience reality. Little by little, you are creating a unique spiritual lens to filter the way in which you see the world.

    And the more you wear those glasses, the more you will love what you see.

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