What is "presencing'?   Presencing is the act of connecting to the God as a source of inspiration and will. It allows for the individual or group to go to the place of silence and allow the inner knowing to emerge.  It is a combination of being present and sensing the spirit.  Leaders who practice the art of presencing are creating the proper mental environment conducive to creativity and profound insight while sensing the hidden sources of idea generation (MIT Sloan School of Management, 2005).

Here are a few tools to begin your journey into presencing and listening to the spirit.

“God’s first word is silence.”

-Thomas Keating

Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; rather it casts a new light and depth of meaning on them. Centering Prayer is an ancient method of Christian prayer adapted for modern times by Fathers Thomas Keating, William Meninger and Basil Pennington.

The Centering Prayer application will support your daily prayer practice commitment. Beautiful and peaceful, the app includes an adjustable timer, as well as opening and closing prayer options that you may read before and after your silent prayer time. An assortment of sounds and backgrounds allow you to choose the type of environment you want to create for your prayer time. Brief instructions for learning Centering Prayer are also included.

It is recommended you practice being in relationship with God through Centering Prayer twice a day for 20 minutes to begin with.

In Western Christianity, Lectio Divina is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word. In the view of one commentator, it does not treat scripture as texts to be studied, but as the living word.  Below are some resources about Lectio Divina.

A journal ... is a book in which a person writes down various things. As a Christian, your journal is a place to record the works and ways of God in your life. Your journal also can include an account of daily events, a diary of personal relationships, a notebook of insights into Scripture, and a list of prayer requests. It is where spontaneous devotional thoughts or lengthy theological musings can be preserved. A journal is one of the best places for charting your progress in the other Spiritual Disciplines and for holding yourself accountable to your goals.

Christians through the centuries have written spiritual autobiographies, personal diaries and journals. Some are available to us while the contents of others are known to God alone. Some were written to be read. Others were so personal and confidential that they we ordered burned at the authors death. Some classic autobiographies are: Augustine’s Confessions; Teresa of Avila’s Life; George Fox’s Journal; Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain, Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings; and Henri Nouwen’s Genesee Diary and The Road to Daybreak. The personal reflections of some of the great missionaries can also be accessed and read. It is worthwhile to mention here that we are not in competition with others. Our journal is ours. We may draw diagrams, jot down words or phrases and connect them with arrows. It does not need or should it be subjected to the standard of grammar, spelling, margins, paragraphs structure, etc. This will only serve to discourage most of us and prevent us from experiencing the blessing of it.

Below are some journaling exercises that you might find helpful: