Some meditation advice has a vibe like... “To become more present, all you need to do is practice! It's just a skill, like learning to ride a bike 😊”
That’s how I wasted five months of my life. When I tried to force presence through practice, I made little progress.
So what if being present isn’t a skill to build? What if it’s the natural state?
Presence is blocked by incentives. Presence is effortless once all incentives to be not-present have been unlearned. In my case, there were blocks like:
“Pain will be overwhelming.”
“Feelings will make me less productive.”
“Expressing emotions will anger others.”
“If I see others’ pain, I’m obligated to fix it.”
And many, many more.
Almost all of these objections were correct in my life context. I couldn’t just hope them away. They had to be fully integrated!
One last thing: Once you have a moment of full presence, you may be tempted to think “Oh, I get it now! Being present is so simple! Just be present!” But that will overlook all the little incentives integrated along the way. This is especially tricky because once these blocks are unlearned, they are forgotten.
Natural presence is already here, waiting to be unblocked.
I'm largely in agreement -- that cultivating presence is the natural outcome of removing the inner impediments to it (i.e., the emotional/psychological blocks that get in the way.)
However, I'd argue meditation (and similar activities) also develop meta-cognitive capacities and attentional regulation. Easiest example, phone/tech/social media use has a way of hijacking our attention independently of our emotional capacity. So meditation offers a deliberate means of training collectedness/concentration/awareness, which supports presence versus the external impediments.
(Of course, more emotional blocks/insecurities will lead to more escapist/avoidance behaviors as well, not to down play that.)
I love what you’ve written. Often my practice feels more like getting out of my own way than learning a new thing