Just show up. That is all one needs to do, so I have been told over the years. But what does that really mean to “just show up?” For many years, I have taken that to mean something very superficial such as just showing up for work, just showing up to the gym, just showing up the to event, etc. I recently took a course with a seven-time published author who said “writing is easy, all you have to do is show up. Even when you don’t have anything to write, just show up to the computer.” The more I listened to hear speak, it occurred to me that she isn’t just showing up to the computer. She is someone who has a true desire to write thus shows up to the moment expressing that intention, letting creativity flow as it will. How could someone just blindly show up to the computer and write seven books? There must be something beyond the task that one shows up to.
I connected her words to a note I have on my computer that says “Keep Showing Up.” Many times when I have opened my laptop, I have wondered what on earth I am showing up to? And there it is! There in lies the moment. There in lies how I arrive; I arrive in question, doubt, and fear. Showing up is more than just physically being somewhere and abiding in a specific space and time or task because I can easily physically be somewhere but my mind can be lifetimes away. Truly showing up is about showing up to life Itself in each moment; showing up to the Truth that is in front of you in each moment.
I now have to repeat the question over and over again for several moments to let this sink in and fully experience how I truly show up. What is the feeling behind the moment I am in?
How am I showing up?
How am I showing up?
How am I showing up?
It is a powerful question worth asking over and over again to bring awareness to this specific instant and then the next and then the next. The question could also be translated to the statement, “Stop, Be Aware. Stop, Be Aware. Stop, Be Aware.” Be aware of anything and everything in that moment. Check in with the body, the breathe, the belly, the sounds around you, the feeling of your skin, the thoughts in your head, the feel of the body, the feel of the toes. There is an infinite amount of the possibilities to be aware of.
Look deep into the moment and ask, am I showing up discouraged, unworthy, lacking, distracted? Am I showing up present, grace-filled, joyful, peaceful, worthy, knowing, calm? It seems that we show up one side of the coin or the other: positive or negative, here or there, good or bad, happy or sad.
Often we show up to the world we think we see and are often a victim of, meaning we must be the victims of the moment. We aren’t aware of how we show up on a deeper level. We just show up to the world we think we see. For example, if I show up to a moment feeling as though I am unworthy and lacking in some way then by the Universal Law that is what I will experience. Russell Brand, in his book Revolution, makes the observation,
“We apply reality from within. The world is our perception of the world (p 107).”
How I show up to each moment, my intention, is the root cause of the effect I see in the world in front of me and most likely the moments to follow as one moment builds upon the next. My current moment creates the future that I will see. That is why it is said choose your thoughts wisely because as we reap so we will sow.
In a hurried life, it is easy to play the victim in the world we expe
rience. It is far tougher to slow down, to create a gap in the thoughts, in order to recognize and take responsibility for how we show up to the moment. I like to call it the Power of a Pause, to just take one full breath before acting or reacting; to take a moment to recognize where I truly am.
There is extreme power in the breath of life, why would there not be that same power when we, as born creators, take that same deep breath for ourselves in the moment? The power is not in the constant movement and rushing from task to task and moment to moment. The real strength is in taking a moment to breath and fully show up present. This is the launching pad God created us from. You didn’t hear God creating from a to-do list or hurrying from letting there be light to creating man and taking just a moment to grab a bite to eat in between while also surfing the internet. You didn’t hear how stressed God was, either, in creating the Universe or how She second guessed Herself or how She didn’t have time to take a vacation or had to be put on meds for high blood pressure from the stress of creating all mankind and the entire Universe.
God, in love, created moment to moment. She showed up, fully present, read the energy of the moment, and began to create from there. Thus, we were created out of peace, calm, love, and pure creativity as we were created in Her likeness. How could this life we were created to live be anything but this?
This is where we tricked ourselves by being God pretending not to be God, forgetting that we were created to be joyful, loving, and happy. Yes, happy! Which means we were not created to suffer or to see who could suffer the most in order to be the first in line when we got to heaven. Does that really sound like the sort of life God created us for? A God that is all loving and all accepting? It is surely not the life we were created for but because God is all accepting, we can do what we will, until we decide that we have had enough of the charade and it is time to wake up from it all and claim our Queendom.
It starts to make sense to me that showing up to the moment is our way Home. It is our path to the remembrance that we are God. That is why it is the “Power of a Pause,” it is the power to transcend the thought that we could ever be separate from God and what She created us to be. It is the power of remembering how powerful we truly are. It is the power to create any experience we wish in this life.
I mentioned above showing up on one side of the coin or the other. It is rather amazing how God seems to be full of paradox. Yet, what if there was another way? What if I just showed up? What if I just showed up in full awareness? Imagine what I could do with a moment like that. What sort of life could I create if I didn’t choose from one thing or another but let the moment reveal to me all sorts of possibilities that I couldn’t even imagine in my wildest dreams. That is the power of the limitlessness in which God creates. What if I just showed up and said, You show me? Or simply,
“Thy Will Be Done.”
So, how do I show up? Even in this moment as I type these words. What is my intention behind sitting here in front of the computer? What is truly present in the moment? Is it my Higher Self? Is it an agenda-seeking ego? There is no right or wrong answer to any of those questions but what is important is being fully aware in each moment as I show up.
To honestly answer my own question, I show up as my Self, with no roles or masks on. I show up in front of this screen in pure vulnerability, knowing that this topic is purely for me and what I am to be with at this moment in my journey. It may not be yours and you may not even relate to what I am saying but as I said, I’m just showing up because I was asked to and this is what came out. Right now, showing up is being vulnerable. Let Thy Will Be Done.