Photographed at the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn., Russell McGee is Genesis the Greykid, a new columnist for the paper. If you observe people long enough, you’ll quickly see that we tend to be prisoners of ourselves, shackled by our own judgment. Which in turn, blocks us from being fully present.
If everyone lives with their own internal compass, it’s in our best interest to make sure this compass of ours is working properly. The problem arises when we decide to check this internal compass; many feel it’s a mystical process – like searching for baby unicorns in unexplored valleys of the earth – something that’s hard to make tangible.
This transformation of a human being doesn’t have to be shrouded in mystery. It’s something we all can tap into. Here are a few simple concepts that we all have access to, ones that could help you explore your own process, your own pathways of presence.
Walk outside more
Throughout the day, many people go from one inside to another. From the car to the house, from the house to the car, to some restaurant, then back to the car, then back home, repeating a “cycle of insides” as philosopher Frederic Gros once put it. But a good, nice, long walk gives access to a utopia of presence. It forces your body, your nerves, your entire being to be pushed into the landscape you’re moving through.