I didn’t used to think much about presence, but I was always deeply shaken by its presence and absence—the feeling of someone staring or suddenly walking on the same street… the vacancy of conversing with a distracted person.

You know it, too.

Once I began community caregiving work, I lauded presence’s relatives as the linchpins of wellbeing:

• embodiment
• breath
• connection
• community
• awareness

But whenever I would wonder, “Well, what’s the mother of that?” I’d return to presence. After all without presence, nothing else is possible. Of course, there are degrees, and not all presence is nutritive.

But that’s only if we are to understand it as “being there/here and lending undivided attention.”

The presence I’m speaking of is inherently compassionate because it is also present with the wellbeing of others, as well as itself. In fact, it considers the wellbeing of others as its own. It’s not only a state of being, but a quality of intelligence.

The English language is limiting in this way: there are not words that include embedded nuances. Just as there should be different words for various types and qualities of love, I believe the same should be for presence.

For the sake of what we do here, trust that I alway mean compassionate presence when I used the word. Feel free to share any questions below.