Back to Basics

A Path Towards Conscious Living

In these early days of the New Year, looking towards the change in government here in the U.S. next week and the geo-political shifts happening around the world, it seems that the year ahead could get even more unsettled and uncertain. The ground beneath our feet will probably not stop shifting. Even as I write, among other challenges and controversies, devastating fires continue to rage around Los Angeles—yet another reminder that our lives can change dramatically in an instant.

While all of this makes my heart heavy at times, I choose to focus on a greater invitation: What will I live in these changing times? And what will we live together?

Following on last week’s article, “Words to Live By: My Guiding Mantra for 2025,” I lean into those eight simple yet powerful words: live simply, love fully, walk with, carry nothing. They bring me back to basics of what my life is really about and how I choose to meet the world around me. They bring me back to my personal commitment to conscious living—to living with clear focus and intention—no matter what is happening in the world around me. At least the best I can in the moment.

One of the fundamental principles of Transformational Presence says that life is energy in motion. This principle was at the heart of ancient wisdom teachings, and now quantum physics shows us the science behind those teachings. It’s key to understanding how life works. And therefore, it’s foundational to conscious living and conscious leading. In essence, it helps us understand Life as a verb—that in its natural state, life is movement. It has a pulse, a rhythm, a beat—different for every person and every situation, yet always there. It’s constantly changing and evolving. It’s up to us to learn to partner with its ever-unfolding nature rather than fight against it. To learn to navigate. To sense how to engage in any particular moment. And to choose how we will show up, how we will meet what is happening, what we will move towards and what we will step away from.

When Life feels uncertain, unsteady, challenging, and maybe even overwhelming, sometimes we might get lost in those feelings. Lost from ourselves, lost from each other, lost from what we hold dear deep in the heart of our being. When that happens, it’s important to remember who we are, what really matters to us, how we choose to live. In other words, to get “Back to Basics”—to live in a way that brings us back home to ourselves and to each other.

Which brings me to six Back to Basics verbs that, for me, create a pathway towards conscious living and leading:

Let’s look at these verbs one at a time.

Choose

In all my years of teaching, writing, speaking, and coaching, the most important awareness I hoped people would take away from our time together is the power of choice. We have the power to choose where we put our focus. We have the power—the agency, if we claim it—to choose who we will be and how we will show up, whatever our situation or circumstance. We may not be able to change what is happening in the moment—we may not be able to control the situation or other people’s choices—yet we can choose how we will meet the moment.

There have been times in my life, and probably in yours as well, when I felt like there was no choice—there was only one option. Yet I’ve realized over time that in those moments, I was focusing on what to “do” instead of who to “be”. I was in “reaction” mode, and although all of my focus was on figuring out my next step, my awareness was limited. I was only “in my head.”

Yet when I learned to drop down into my body—into my heart and my belly—and take a step back to sense a bigger picture of what was happening and who it was asking me to be—how it was asking me to show up—I could shift into “response” mode. As I learned to respond first in “being,” I was almost always shown what to “do” next. My options no longer felt limited; my choice in the moment felt clear.

To choose clearly is to claim agency in our own lives. And it opens the door to the other five Back to Basics verbs as well.

Before you read on, take a moment to consider these questions: Where in your life are you being asked to choose where you will put your focus? Where are you being asked to choose who you will be—how you will show up?

Love

A few years ago when Pulitzer Prize winning author Marilynne Robinson was asked in an interview what one single thing she believed would make the world a better place, she answered, “Loving it more.” Poets and philosophers across time have said some version of “What we do not love we will not save.” So, Marilynne Robinson says to make the world a better place, “Love it more.”

However, her words take me to a deeper sense of love as a verb—love as a state of being—love as a presence. To be love. To live love. Even when it’s hard. Even when what is happening goes against the very fiber of our being. Even when we’re scared or angry or frustrated or anxious. Even when we’re in disbelief about what could happen. Still to be love. To show up as love. Which is not the same thing as loving what is happening. What is happening may feel wrong, dangerous, painful, or even infuriating. To be love means bringing the presence of love into the moment. Becoming an embodiment of love. Choosing to be love and let love guide your response in the moment.

Love is the creative and sustaining force of life. It can be gentle and nurturing, and it can be like a force of nature moving in for swift action. When you choose to live love, your response is more likely to bring what is needed for a greater good in the moment.

Where in your life are you being asked to live love? To show up as love. To choose to be love in the purest way you can muster and let love guide how you engage with what is happening. Take a moment to reflect before reading on.

Live

To live is a verb. To live is to be energy in motion. And how you live—who you are and how you show up every day—is a choice.

So how do you choose to live? How do you choose to show up, both in the broad spectrum of life as well as in the specific moment? Do you tend to react quickly to what is happening around you and within you, or are you more likely to first take a breath and consider your response?

Feelings and emotions are a fact of life. Sometimes they serve us and support us to live our best life, other times they don’t. The difference is how we experience them. We can be present with fear, doubt, anger, frustration, or disappointment without living our lives in reaction to those emotions. To feel those emotions is healthy and real. To express those feelings in an honest, authentic, and intentional way from a place of integrity and respect is, at least for most of us, a learned skill. It goes back to the power of choice and where we put our focus. When feelings or emotions hold us hostage, we are more likely to live in unconscious reaction to events and circumstances. To choose how we live means fully acknowledging our feelings and emotions, choosing where to put our focus, and consciously responding to what is happening.

How are you living these days? Do you tend to live more in conscious response to life events and situations, or do you frequently live in unconscious reaction? Be gentle and compassionate with yourself while also being honest. What is asking for attention in how you live?

Pause to reflect before reading on.

Learn

I believe we came into this life to learn and grow into the greatest potential of who we can be. It’s not about “being good enough”; it’s about living in a state of becoming. Because our lives are energy in motion and therefore constantly changing and evolving, we are always in process. Whether life is going incredibly well or not so much, rather than getting carried away in self-congratulations or beating ourselves up with self-criticism, we can be well served to ask ourselves: What am I learning right now? And put our focus there.

Conscious learning starts with awareness of our patterns of thought, emotions, choices, and actions and how they shape our lives. It continues with recognizing that we are learning through our experiences every day. Sometimes that learning reinforces aspects of our being; sometimes it invites growth and “becoming” in others. Often both. Conscious learning engages the intuitive and rational or intellectual minds, allowing who we are and how we move in the world to transform and evolve as we broaden our perspectives and expand our understanding of how life works.

Focusing on learning instead of judgment invites deeper compassion and fosters a more expansive worldview. It makes it easier to choose, to be love, to live with intention, and to learn constantly. And it opens the door wider to serving and blessing, our last two Back to Basics verbs.

What are you learning right now about yourself? About how life works? About how you fit into the world around you?

What is your life asking you to learn right now?

Serve

Conscious living and leading involve serving something bigger than ourselves. We start by asking “What wants to happen?” instead of “What do I want?” This doesn’t mean that there is no place for “what I want”; it just means that we ask the bigger question first. We first honor what wants to happen for a greater good or in a bigger picture; then we consider what we want within that context.

Serving by sacrificing ourselves is not sustainable. We must also take care of ourselves and what is important to us. That said, serving something bigger than ourselves—serving a greater good—creates meaning and fulfillment in our lives as we contribute to a greater whole. It’s all about doing our part to create a world that works for all, while at the same time, taking good care of ourselves.

The more I learn to live love and to pay attention to what life is asking me to learn, the more I find I want to make a difference for others. I do that now by writing, speaking, mentoring and coaching, leading the free Zoom Monday Meditations, and paying attention to what I am putting out there into the mass consciousness every day.

What about you? How are you serving something larger than yourself at this time in your life while also taking good care of yourself? What does serving a greater good mean for you?

Bless

This last verb is perhaps the one that is the most newly present for me. More and more, I’m holding the intention that my presence be a blessing wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, whatever situation I find myself in. I can’t say that I’m always great at it, yet this is the Back to Basics verb I’m focusing on right now. To be a blessing to others by how I live and how I love. To show up authentically, to create spaces where people feel seen, heard, and valued simply by my presence. To recognize that it’s not so much about what we do; it’s about the energy or intention flowing through our presence as we do what we do.

Living as a blessing means understanding that our actions, words, and presence make an impact in the collective consciousness. It means being grateful for the gifts we share and receive. And showing up in a way that lifts others up.

What would it mean for you to be a blessing by how you live? What might be the invitation to you now?

A “Gathered” Life

When Senator John Lewis died, the great civil rights leader and activist James Lawson described him as a man who was “so gathered”. I had never heard that term—“so gathered”—as a way of describing a person. Yet that word—that concept—hasn’t let go of me since then. For me, it brings a whole other sense of what it means for us have our lives together, to know who we are, to walk in the world in complete alignment and congruence within ourselves. To be “gathered” in heart, soul, mind, and body to be able to meet whatever circumstance or situation is suddenly in front of us.

This is what conscious living and leading is all about. It’s what these six Back to Basics verbs are all about.

What does Back to Basics mean for you right now? In what ways are these six verbs relevant to your current opportunities and challenges, to your personal and professional relationships, to how you walk in the world?

My hope for 2025? That as we navigate the ever-changing terrain of our lives, more and more of us will be “gathered” in who we are, in how we choose to show up, and in how we choose to be with one another. Perhaps these six Back to Basics verbs can serve as a path to bring us back home to ourselves and to each other—a path that guides us on our way.

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Invitations:

• Join Alan for the Free Monday Meditations on Zoom series continuing on Mondays through February 24th. 10 am ET / 7 am PT / 16 CET for just 20 minutes. The theme for this series is “Back to Basics”, and each week we will explore one of these verbs. All are welcome to attend in person or to listen to recordings at your convenience. Register for free to receive 2-day reminders and links to recordings after each session.

• Free recorded Meditations for Changing Times on the Center for Transformational Presence website. More than 50 guided meditations. Choose the title that speaks to you and listen. Available for free to you anytime.

• If you are anywhere near Newburyport, MA, join Alan for a free half-hour contemplative meditation, “Touching the Sacred Within,” at First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, at 8 am the first Sunday of each month. All are welcome.

• Visit The Center for Transformational Presence website

• Learn about Alan’s Books

• Learn about Coaching and Mentoring with Alan

• Consider Inviting Alan to Speak

• Explore Upcoming Programs in Transformational Presence

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