Explorations in Energy

    The first thing I turned to in Synthia Andrews’s new book, The Path of Presence, was the heart-stopping story of her daughter Erin’s accident. As a parent, I read Synthia’s words as if they were my own, and what she was experiencing was so vividly told that it felt like my own story with my daughter. I was immediately invested in this story and the book. 

I wondered what would follow the telling of the various episodes of Erin’s experience. I soon discovered, as I turned the pages, that Synthia was taking us along a powerful heart-centered path into the very essence of presence by demonstrating the attributes of presence through each of the eight pillars. Each pillar came to life for me as I realized she was teaching what she had come to use and understand through her experiences with Erin but also from her many years as a healer and teacher.

    In Chapter 2, for example, Synthia follows the telling of Erin’s accident and the call in the night with meaningful and practical understandings of how to survive such an experience mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and what to learn to navigate the treacherous waters of any challenging life experiences. While Synthia was forced to draw on inner strength and knowing from the experience with her daughter, still this book is for all of us in any circumstance in which we seek to manage life in a better way.

She teaches us about “awareness of present time,” for example, and the challenge of holding our attention in the present. She offers us an explanation of how staying in awareness of present time sharpens our senses and wakes us up to opportunity.

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She writes:

• There is a deeper level of reality that is accessible when you are awake in the present moment.

• Your presence dynamically interacts with this level of reality to work for the higher good in concert with your inner truth.

• You have inner resources and abilities that can only be accessed in present time.

• Your attention is a force that can be turned into a laser beam of perception that takes you below the surface and beyond the obvious.

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    This is no abstract discussion of presence, but a profound journey into the depths of what is needed when the extraordinary and the ordinary hit our lives and we struggle to find meaning, support, grace, and endurance.

    Presence is difficult to grasp because it is a way of being that defies description. Yet Synthia does a masterful job of guiding us through the varied ways we can understand presence and live in that sacred space.

From the very first chapter, I found myself reading slowly and carefully, not wanting to miss any of her finely crafted phrases or thoughts. As I read the various chapters dealing with being, connecting, grounding, centering, balancing, aligning, clearing, and honoring, I found a renewed appreciation for presence and her gentle but on-point discussion of how to recognize presence and claim it within our own hearts.

    In today’s world, in times of stress and in times of joy, we look for ways to find that special inner space from which to manage our emotions, to find balance when there is only challenge, and to discover love and caring for ourselves when others are too busy surviving their own lives. As I explored the various pillars in Synthia’s book, I quickly realized that Erin’s story was but one story of the many we each have in our lives when we need to have something within our own mind and heart to rely on—and that something is the connection to spirit.

    Spirituality isn’t about understanding the power of love in an abstract way, but where the rubber meets the road and we need to have guideposts to mark our way through uncertainty into a place of peace, joy, and acceptance.

    I’ve known Synthia for a number of years and have enjoyed her books. But I felt such a strong resonance with this book because I recognized the truth of her elegant words and her genuine awareness of presence. She was writing from knowing presence rather than just speculating about it—and that makes all the difference.

     This is a book I knew immediately that I would return to over and over to rediscover its wisdom and practical tools for staying steady in presence. The Path of Presence is a gift to all of us, and I know it will travel through many hands, helping, healing, and teaching the real way to experience presence. Well done, Synthia!

    Meredith Young-Sowers, DDiv

    Author of Agartha: A Journey to the Stars, The Angelic Messenger Cards, Wisdom Bowls and Spirit Heals. Founder and Director, Stillpoint School of Integrative Life Healing