Have you ever noticed when you give your attention to your plants how well they grow? Or when you gaze with appreciation upon your cat how her eyes shine, and she begins to move with pleasure? This is the same when you are present with a human or any other living thing. In fact, even inanimate objects vibrate when we give our attention to them.
Being present with a human or non-human does not drain us as we may presuppose, for why else are we all so distracted? Being present with someone or something other than ourselves actually brings us in touch with our own exquisite liveness. It gives us energy rather than taking energy from us. In fact the energy is always already there. It is only when we want something from the other person, animal or thing, or if we are mentally preoccupied – not present – whilst we relate, that we experience the relation as an exhausting currency. But if we relate with curiosity, appreciation and care – with presence – we come in touch with the magic of our life force, which is the same force coursing through all things.
We are so distracted/disconnected from ourselves and our environment because we think we are lacking something and we are preoccupied with the pursuit of finding what we ‘need’. But everything is already as it should be. In appreciating the other, our environment and so on, we are appreciating ourselves, and tune into that greater currency of liveness and plenitude that we always already are.