Welcome
AWAKENING TO PRESENCE
Proceed to the course below. We look forward to supporting you as you learn the Practice of Presence.
Welcome
Awakening to Presence: A Self-Paced Journey into Stillness, Peace, and Spiritual Freedom
Congratulations! You’ve taken an important step toward deepening your spiritual journey and discovering the transformative power of presence. In choosing to embark on this course, you are opening yourself to a new way of living—one rooted in mindfulness and spiritual connection.
This course helps you practice presence at your own pace. You’ll find tools to ease stress, deepen faith, and live a more centered life.
What to Expect
As you move through the course, you will learn how to:
✅ Quiet your mind and free yourself from inner conflict
✅ Recognize and release negative thought patterns
✅ Deepen your connection to God’s presence
✅ Cultivate lasting peace, confidence & spiritual clarity
Each module builds upon the last, offering practical exercises, meditations, and reflections to help you integrate presence into your daily life.
A Personal Welcome from Jim Heaney
Before beginning, take a moment to watch these videos featuring Choosing Presence author Jim Heaney.
Jim provides an overview of Awakening to Presence and how it can transform the way you experience life. He shares the heart of this journey: learning to live fully in the present moment, manage stress, and develop an unshakable foundation of inner peace.
New to mindfulness or struggling to quiet your mind? Jim offers simple, practical advice for approaching this journey with openness. He encourages you to take your time, be kind to yourself, and trust the process.
A Word About God
Throughout Choosing Presence, Jim Heaney refers to God using language from his Catholic tradition. However, this journey is for everyone. Whether you call this divine presence God, the Source, the Divine Mother, or your Higher Power, what matters is your personal connection. Presence is a universal practice open to all spiritual seekers.
Common Questions
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No. This course is designed for everyone, whether you are new to mindfulness or have an established spiritual practice.
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This course is flexible. You can move through it at your own pace, but we recommend spending at least a week on each module to fully absorb and apply the practices.
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That’s completely normal. The mind is naturally active, and presence is a practice—not perfection. Even noticing your distractions is part of the process. Be patient with yourself.
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Presence isn’t about achieving a goal—it’s about experiencing a shift in awareness. Over time, you’ll notice moments of greater clarity, peace, and a deeper connection with yourself and God.
An Evolving Learning Experience
This is a living, evolving experience, continually refined and enriched to provide the best learning journey possible. While the course is fully developed and ready for you to explore and enjoy, we are always enhancing it based on insights, feedback, and new discoveries. Your participation is part of this ongoing refinement, and we’re excited to have you on this journey!
Awakening to Presence: A Christian Mindfulness Course
Let’s Begin!
Presence is not something you achieve—it’s something you experience. This course is your invitation to let go of past burdens, release worries about the future, and discover the freedom of this moment.
Your journey toward inner peace and spiritual transformation starts now.
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Chapter 1: The Unconscious Self
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Understanding the Origins of Our Stress and Anxiety
Fear and inner conflict arise from the unconscious mind, but practicing stillness connects us to God’s peace, transforming fear into inner knowing and presence.
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Lesson 1.1: What Is the Unconscious Mind?
Objective: Understand the influence of the unconscious mind on daily life.
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Lesson 1.2: Hitched to Our Ego
Objective: Examine the ego's role in maintaining attachment to the unconscious mind.
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Lesson 1.3: The Role of Our Emotions
Objective: Understand how emotions, particularly fear, are manipulated by the unconscious mind and ego.
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Lesson 1.4: Making the Shift
Objective: Provide strategies for shifting from unconscious to conscious living.
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Making Meaning of the Message
By practicing presence, we break free from the unconscious mind’s grip, quieting fear, anxiety, and compulsive thoughts, and instead, we experience the peace of the present moment—our true reality and the gateway to God’s presence.
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Chapter 2: Meeting God in the Moment
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Getting Out of Our Heads and Into Our Hearts to Connect with Spirit
God’s peace is always present, but we must embrace stillness to dissolve fear, guilt, and inner conflict.
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Lesson 2.1: What Does It Mean to Have a Personal Relationship with God?
Objective: Explore the essence of a personal relationship with God as a foundational step to spiritual presence.
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Lesson 2.2: God as Teacher
Objective: Understand how God teaches us through our experiences and guides us towards spiritual awareness.
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Lesson 2.3: The Role of Humility
Objective: Recognize humility as a key to deepening one's relationship with God and experiencing His presence.
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Lesson 2.4: Where Do We Find God?
Objective: Highlight the present moment as the primary locus for encountering God.
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Making Meaning of the Message
To truly experience God’s presence, we must stop overthinking, be still, and fully embrace the present moment.
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Chapter 3: Stillness
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Simply Doing What God Told Us to Do
Stillness is the gateway to God’s presence, replacing anxiety with peace and revealing the power of now.
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Lesson 3.1: What Is Stillness?
Objective: To define stillness and its significance in connecting with God's Spirit.
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Lesson 3.2: What Stops Us from Stillness?
Objective: Explore barriers to achieving stillness and how to overcome them.
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Lesson 3.3: Knowing Is Not Doing
Objective: Highlight the importance of practicing stillness to truly understand and experience its benefits.
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Making Meaning of the Message
Stillness is the foundation of presence, allowing us to quiet the ego, experience God’s Spirit, and find true peace in the present moment.
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Chapter 4: Accessing Presence
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Being in the Space Where We Know That God Is Here Now
Accessing presence requires consistent practice; through stillness and conscious breathing, we reconnect with God’s peace and renew our spiritual well-being.
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Lesson 4.1: Presence Is a Spiritual Practice
Objective: To understand and embrace presence as an active, daily spiritual practice essential for connecting with God's Spirit.
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Lesson 4.2: Breath as Healer
Objective: Explore the breath's role as a spiritual and healing force that connects us with God's presence and inner peace.
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Making Meaning of the Message
Accessing God’s presence is simple—through stillness and breath, we quiet the ego and open our hearts to the present moment.
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Chapter 5: Inner Conditioning
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Building Our Foundation on Rock
Inner conditioning through stillness and breath deepens spiritual peace, silences the ego, and restores presence.
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Lesson 5.1: In Pursuit of Peace
Objective: To explore the continuous action required to achieve and maintain inner peace through the practice of presence.
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Lesson 5.2: It’s All in the Questions
Objective: Understand the critical questions that guide the practice of presence and its role in accessing inner peace.
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Making Meaning of the Message
Inner conditioning through consistent stillness keeps us present, allowing God to teach and reveal Himself to us.
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Chapter 6: Resistance
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Our Main Obstacle to True Peace
Resistance arises from denying reality, but through stillness and acceptance, we free ourselves from suffering.
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Lesson 6.1: What is Resistance?
Objective: To define resistance and understand its pervasive impact on our peace and spiritual wellbeing.
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Lesson 6.2: Confronting Resistance with Presence
Objective: To explore how the practice of presence can help confront and dissolve resistance.
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Lesson 6.3: Why Do We Resist Practicing Presence?
Objective: Investigate the underlying reasons behind our resistance to practicing presence and how to overcome them.
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Lesson 6.4: It’s Not Difficult
Objective: To demystify the practice of presence and encourage its integration into everyday life.
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Making Meaning of the Message
Nonresistance frees us from ego-driven fears, allowing us to embrace the peace of the present moment.
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Chapter 7: The Courage to Stop Negative Thinking and Gossip
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The Awareness That We Take Our Life Situations and Turn Them into Problems
Breaking free from compulsive thinking and gossip through presence brings clarity, inner peace, and trust in God.
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Lesson 7.1: What Does It Mean to Stop Negative Thinking?
Objective: Explore the distinction between productive thinking and compulsive negative thought patterns, understanding their impact on our wellbeing.
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Lesson 7.2: Negative Thinking by Another Name: Gossip
Objective: Examine how gossip serves as an external manifestation of negative thinking and its eIects on relationships and self-perception.
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Lesson 7.3: Breaking the Cycle
Objective: Learn techniques to interrupt and move beyond the cycle of negative thinking and emotional reactivity.
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Lesson 7.4: Perfection Isn’t Possible
Objective: Acknowledge the ongoing nature of the struggle with negative thinking and the importance of continued practice.
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Lesson 7.5: Thinking Versus Doing
Objective: Acknowledge the ongoing nature of the struggle with negative thinking and the importance of continued practice.
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Lesson 7.6: Anywhere, Anytime but with Intention
Objective: Highlight the accessibility of presence practice, irrespective of location or situation, through intention and mindfulness.
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Making Meaning of the Message
The practice of presence breaks the cycle of compulsive negative thinking, restoring awareness and inner peace.
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Chapter 8: We All Want Peace
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The Practice of Presence Gets Us There
God’s peace is found in stillness, freeing us from ego and fear, renewing us through His spiritual presence.
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Lesson 8.1: What is Peace?
Objective: To redefine peace from being a state free of conflict to recognizing it as a grace received from God.
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Lesson 8.2: Peace in Motion
Objective: Understand that peace can be maintained during action and does not require inactivity.
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Lesson 8.3: Why Do We Resist Peace?
Objective: Examine the reasons behind our resistance to embracing God's peace.
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Lesson 8.4: Peace Is a Choice
Objective: Emphasize that accessing God's peace is a matter of choice and intention.
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Lesson 8.5: Peace Is the Kingdom
Objective: Explore the concept that true peace is akin to the kingdom of heaven, present within us.
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Making Meaning of the Message
True peace comes from surrendering to God’s presence in the moment, freeing us from ego and unconscious thought.
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Stepping Out