Passionate Presence: Experiencing the Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness Paperback - 2003

by Catherine Ingram

A celebrated teacher and cofounder of one of the world's cutting-edge meditation centers reveals how to connect more fully to the world around us, and experience contentment, harmony, joy, and love - every minute of our lives.

"Usually people associate a sense of unbound presence with epiphanies in life-being present at a birth, or a death. People lose themselves in sexual union, in nature, or in the presence of a heart-wrenching beauty. In those moments they forget to keep up the story about the one having the experience, and all that is left is the actual experience."

In Passionate Presence, internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher Catherine Ingram shares her insights and wisdom for connecting more intimately to the experience of our daily worlds. Through her popular interactive Dharma Dialogues (dharma meaning truth, or "the way"), she has helped thousands of spiritual seekers everywhere in their quest for awakening by encouraging them to give up the quest. Now she brings nearly thirty years of experience to a book that shows us how to recognize these everyday miracles, and become more cognizant of life's greatest gift: our own passionate presence. Based on "non-dual" teachings that rely on direct experience, with numerous stories illustrating her points, Ingram takes readers on an eye-opening journey that will help them to:

o Know the seven traits of passionate presence: silence, tenderness, discernment, embodiment, genuineness, delight, and wonder
o Relax in simple presence to dissolve barriers between people, foster better communication, and create inner peace and harmony
o Discover why true aloneness can never be lonely
o See how tender mercies can purge intense feelings of anger

and much more.

Filled with illuminating anecdotes and personal reflections, Passionate Presence reveals our true natures and opens the doorway to the divine in all of us. Inspiring and profound, it is certain to gain a wide and devoted readership.