“I’m Here” explores what it means to arrive fully in the present after years of living at high tempo. In this episode of Mindful at Sea Level, host Bob A — military veteran and mindfulness educator — reflects on the shift from restless mental motion to disciplined presence.

Drawing from his poem “I’m Here,” written days after a life-threatening illness and surgery, Bob A traces the moment he found a quiet refuge inside a mind once crowded with noise. He describes clarity as a subtle tapping that had always been there, waiting to be noticed. Through morning sounds, fresh air, and the simple rhythm of a new day, he reconnects with the sensory world and the steady truth beneath it.

The episode centers on one radical realization: what’s different now is that he’s truly here — not rehearsing the future, not revisiting the past, but standing in the living moment with intention and integrity.

Poem: I’m Here by Bob A, Mindful at sea level podcast

Music: Guided by the Northern Light, Suno AI

Artwork: Mindfulnauts and a campfire on a cold beach, Gemini AI

I’m Here A free verse poem By Bob A

Being alone with my thoughts, finding safe haven from the storm, in a mind once cluttered with unimportant things.

Clarity rises, a quiet tapping at the soul, reminding me it has always been here, waiting for a single, living moment.

Morning arrives. Fresh air on my skin. Birds chirping over the hum of tires, rolling along the nearby highway.

I take the time to soak it in, to take all of it in, moment by moment.

Listening to music, hearing each word, feeling each note until I become the dancer.

What’s different this time, I’m here.

More...

Mindful at Sea Level is a short‑form mindfulness podcast offering poetry, reflections, and nature‑rooted teachings. Hosted by Bob A — mindfulness educator, military veteran, and self‑described Mindfulnaut — each episode is a brief return to steady awareness at “sea level.”

A Mindfulnaut is a person who explores their inner world with the same steadiness and curiosity a mariner brings to open water. They navigate thoughts, emotions, and sensations like shifting tides — not to control them, but to understand their movement and return to center.

Mindfulnaut

Origin: From Old English myndful (“of good memory”), later adopted to translate the Buddhist Pali term sati (“awareness” or “present‑moment attention”), combined with Greek nautēs (“sailor”).

Meaning: A sailor of mindfulness — one who navigates the inner world with steadiness and curiosity.

Usage: A “mindful sailor of the inner world” exploring thoughts, emotions, and sensations like shifting tides, returning again and again to center.

Mindful at Sea Level Podcast is dedicated to the "Jack Russell Nation." We miss you dearly our friend and companion, Ike.

“There’s a field, I’ll meet you there…” -Rumi