Exploring a fresh environment highlights how presence can transform simple moments—like stepping into soft snow or listening to the hush of winter—into experiences of joy, awe and connection.
This reflection demonstrates that mindful awareness fosters inner growth and outward expansion, enriching every encounter.
Recognizing each moment as an invitation to be fully here reveals a deeper calling that guides and energizes every aspect of living.
Why am I here?
This has been a constant inquiry of late.
I look around to see a new vista – trees new to me, a house becoming my friend, land spirits just beginning to appear.
Standing at the Threshold
Then I go outside with Forrest, my canine buddy, and we take a deep breath. Both of us, heads lifting, scenting the fresh, clear air. Snow everywhere. Me bundled, Forrest with her smart black and red coat. She dances and I step into the powdery base ready to meet the road.
The sun is bright, and rays illuminate the crystals of snow like jewels sprinkled with joyous abandon, glittering in the light.
Down the drive we go, each step a connection. Each breath in a reminder.
Joy in Everyday Moments
Forrest gets to the road before me and turns to check my intention. Let’s walk I tell her and off she prances down the road. First one side and then she dances to the other. Joy swells in my heart.
I stop and close my eyes and listen. And there it is. The sound of presence. Mine, hers, theirs, ours. The trees, the birds, the snow, the forest. Many would say there is naught but quiet. I say there is everything in this presence.
This, then, is the reason I’m here – this presence, this connection, this awe. For all the moments grand and subtle which are my life in my here.
Listening to the Quiet
Why am I here? A question of both ambiguity, complexity, and simplicity. All depending on the definition of here.
Sometimes my here is my house and the land it rests upon. Sometimes my here is the city of my house or the state of my house.
Sometimes my here means this moment or this week or this year.
Sometimes my here refers to experience in this moment or how this moment is connected to other moments of experience.
Sometimes my here is about my inner here – my thoughts, feelings, sensations, awareness. Sometimes solitary, or sometimes connected to experience, a time frame, my physical location.
Thus, this question is more than rhetoric, though sometimes it is one of both overwhelm and clarity.
If you were, in this very moment, to ask me why I moved to Vermont, I would roll out several very plausible explanations which might satisfy you and would feel hollow to my ears and my heart. Because I’m not yet convinced I know exactly why my here is now Vermont. I mainly know that at the beginning of 2024 my here had to change. Sooner than later.
Thus 2024 became the year of the move of my here. If you’ve been around a bit, you’ll have heard of my journey from there to here.
Burning Away Walls
While I’m still not convinced, I can still be overjoyed with the presence of my here, now in my life. For my here is always present and always open to my awareness and my definition and my learning.
Each moment, I connect by reflecting on what emerges when I ask: Why am I here?
This year, in honor of my here my word for the year is expansion – joyful expansion – because why live life in anything other than hell, yes!
My soul calls me to be here. To be fully present and connected, open and empowered.
The paradox, in this moment, is that the move of 2024 fuels the expansion of 2025, burning away fences and walls and the barriers which tend to sprout when my here is no longer here.
The paradox is that I’ve run out of excuses or reasons to be less than or pretend I’m not good enough.
Thus, the vision of my here is to let me flow free, to not hold back, to not play small, to not be anything other than the joyful me that being here has unleashed.
Here’s my vision of now: I’m here, present, connected with belief, trust, and truth.
And because I’m here, this fueled expansion will be good for you, too.
In the Coming Year
Did you know that each month, I teach a minimum of 10 classes/workshops/seminars. Each one with new content. Each one done by me live, in person. Each one filled with tidbits of wisdom and epiphanies to knock you off that place where you’re trying to not be noticed. (I know because I’ve tried to get away with the same. However, my new here won’t tolerate the disconnection within the pretense.)
What this means for you is a flood of thoughtful articles, new workbooks, new books, new video – lots more of everything. Not to mention all the newness which is already scheduled every month of this year.
While I always try to do what I say I will do, in this moment, I’m not sure what to promise especially in terms of what will publish when. Instead, I will promise to remain here and not hold back. Because I’m here, I’m all in ready to roll, ready to release all that the move temporarily held back.
Here and Now
Between my move, and my birthday in October, and the deepening alignment with my new here, I feel I’ve been renewed, maybe even reborn.
I’m at a new beginning, a new experience of here.
Giving new meaning to be here, now – I invite you to presence with your here.
In this moment – and in any moment – begin in your here and ask: Why am I here?
With you all the way, I’m here, always.
In Joy!
Cheryl
Find more articles like this on Cheryl’s Blog or on Cheryl’s YouTube Channel.
