distillation

Contracting our attention into the moment is hard, but it increases its potency, just as the brevity of words increases the potency of an idea, creating deeper grooves in the mind. If brevity is the soul of wit, then presence is the soul of experience. We cannot be fully ourselves until we are fully in the moment—attention nowhere but here.

This process of distillation never ends. We never “arrive” at distillation. It is a continuous process of refining. And that’s what makes it fun, you know? To know that we can always distill more crisply. That we can focus more powerfully. That our essence could be more potent. That our experiences can be deeper. That I could write this in half the

this hurdle I have to jump over each time I write: How can I say this more crisply? When I write (which is really just to say: when I think) it all boils down to one simple, but utterly excruciating question: What am I really trying to say here?

Complete presence melts self-consciousness and self-doubt away. It lets us stand in our true essence without the need for approval or validation. When we are fully present, our awareness is glued to the moment. The complexity of our inner world is collapsed into one point of awareness. This lets us express ourselves fully.

When we are fully in the moment, we feel, see, hear, internalize things differently—more purely, more clearly. We become a stronger sender and receiver of everything. We become a more concentrated version of ourselves, a stronger magnet pulling in what aligns with us.

The more present we are, the more we relax into ourselves, the stronger a magnet we become for what aligns with us. That’s the paradox of the self: it is most potent when we are least focused on it.

The more attention we pay to the moment, the simpler it becomes. Because you are no longer juggling endless loops of thought at once. You’re exclusively focused on the precious moment you are in. And in doing so: you expand into it. In focusing your attention on one point—precisely where you are—you channel your infinite attention directly into it,