A sangha member observed:

“One thing that I have been finding very interesting the last couple of weeks—I am very comfortable letting go of the past and really stay in the moment most of the time, but occasionally something will happen and my physical body reacts, then I start projecting a story about the future. I find I can let go of the story quickly, but I start beating myself up about reacting. Then last week when we were listening to Adya, one woman asked a question during the session and everything became so much clearer for me . . . the physical body is still going to react and I just need to be OK with that; once I catch myself projecting a story, just let it go and then remember that the body is still going to react to certain stimulus because that is what it does, but I don’t have to study it and try to figure it out—just move on. I guess that is where my inquiry is right now.”

Dear Friend,

Thank you for mentioning something that is often noticed as we start functioning/living from, and as, Grace. The clarity with which you described the above ‘conclusion’ is spot on. Noticing how the body still reacts to the old habits is the movement of Grace bringing further clarity to the expression of your particular essence. It is exactly that, the body reacting the way it did to a certain stimulus, and as you said perfectly, “I don’t have to study it and try to figure it out.” From that, there is just the felt human experience and the “moving on” to this moment, this moment, this moment. There really is nothing else. Adyashanti once stated, “When you remember the past, you are not actually in the past. Your remembering is happening here. When you think about the future, that future projection is completely here. And when you get to the future, it’s here. It’s no longer in the future.”

Even when an apparent you experientially knows this, really groks that you are that from which it all arises and is experienced, there is still an apparent human body in the habit of reacting physically. This reactivity doesn’t automatically go away. It may never go away completely. Even after you recognize that you are not your thoughts, mind, body, etc., these biological manifestations seem to persist and spontaneously respond in a certain way to perceived dangers for self-preservation. Eventually, as the stories are seen through time and time again, and the experience is recognized as the direct expression of Grace living in the moment, the reactive habit becomes less charged, and each reaction feels less and less dramatic. In due course, the emotions and body are clearly seen as the spontaneous flow of life as Life, and Life does not judge itself or take itself personally.

Namaste, Steve and Bec

 

The Habit of Body

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