Touching Gratitude through the body

As you awaken; the moment before you open the eyes, pause and reflect upon what is being experienced.  This is not the sameness the mind protests and suggests; oh no. This is new and all for you!  Thank God/Goddess, the Universe; whatever you thank for life that you are again back in the dream.  You have arrived back in the game in the same spot in which you fell asleep.  Even YOU are new this morning; this moment; the cells; this Now.  Nothing is the same.  The sheets are in a new wrinkle, the light is adorned in new shafts of dusty asymmetry; even through closed eyes when you feel deeply you can sense that you are being born.  We entered this world from womb to light like the opening and closing of the left and the right.  We are born with each eye-opening; with each breath.  Touch this knowing within before you open our eyes so that you do not step back into routine or habit; a lesser experience than may be experienced.  Does this sound simple and silly?  Well, it is; and is this not great? 

When a child arises the day is fresh, fecund, vibrant, and pregnant with possibilities.  What has changed?  Do you think it advantageous to examine into this?  We do.  You are still that awareness which filled and observed through the child.  You ARE.  We ARE.  You have the same, if not stress-weathered body, but it is the same body.  What has changed?  The perception has. The mind has changed.  Knowledge and facts have been stored as best as they could, but we dozed off with the autopilot activated and now we are awakening and "cleaning" shop.  Each time you close and open your eyes everything is new, it truly is; and we can get in touch with this knowing, like the juice from the pulp of Now as it runs down our smiling chin, through the gratitude gleaned through knowing the body.

As you open the eyes, become aware of the body, but slowly.  Understand the true meaning of gratitude.  We are not obligatorily sending gratitude “out” to some unknown and mysterious “thing” in the Kosmos.  No, we are so deeply rooted in our experience and the knowing that this body can carry and act out our wishes that we can barely contain this joy; this gratitude for having body-ability.  Without the body we could not be here; we could not play the game; we could not experience vibration. 

Without this divine vehicle we could not smell the dreamy fragrances of nature, or the must of another, or the emptiness of the wind.  Without smell we could not experience the multidimensionality of the food we eat or the signature of approaching rains, or even a version of time travel.  Or what if we had no eyes?  Without eyes we could not have explosions of indescribable colors fill us till we near combustion from the sensation of love and thankfulness.  Without these magnificent lenses we could not see the indescribable pastel pallet of sunrise or burning hues of sunset, or the sparkling eyes of love in the eyes of another being who loves us just because.  We could not see the undulating waves on the water, in the trees, on the sand, or through the clouds.  We could not see the ever-shifting and ever-giving kaleidoscope of light which we Are; and if we no ears? Without ears we could not hear the words “I love you.”  We could not hear the melodic hearts of singers or chanters, or of frogs, or thunder, or the rain onto flat stones or metal roof.  We could not experience the music of prayers, or conversations, or instruments.  We could not hear the sobbing of suffering or the laughter of Joy.  We could not hear.  What? 

Are we starting to understand gratitude?  There is no guilt just observation.

Without hands we could not caress each other or comfort those in need.  We could not carry our children, or each other, or puppies, bricks, or the building blocks of construction; we could not express ourselves through art or word; we could not play instruments; we could not create our meals.  What if we had no hands? Just imagine as you look at your delicate and amazingly designed hands what they mean to your life.  Look at the bones and connections, and how it bends and grasps and spreads: the design is unreal.  If we only lost one finger our life would be altered significantly.  This is not drama; it is the way through gratitude to presence.  This exercise can go on forever. 

How much do we take for granted through lives of sameness and disconnection?  What about the interior of the body.  Without our organs we would cease to function.  Imagine how loved we are in that we can eat whatever we want and our body will digest and assimilate our needs or us.  Our body does all the work.  It even heals itself so we can continue observing the glorious God of Now.  We do not worry if certain enzymes are being carried through the blood, or if the heart has stopped beating, or how the bone marrow is doing, or if there are the correct hormones being released, or what to do with the billions of dying and birthing cells.  We are so loved that we don’t even have to breathe because the body breathes for us.  We can just sit here looking and observing without thinking about the body or its incalculable operations and BE.  Do you think we should love this body?  Yes.  So, move the body.  Help the body when asked by cessation or stillness or mobility.  Be sensitive and listen...  Stretch the body.  Strengthen the body.  Utilize the body.  The body understands and enjoys these activities.  Feed the body life and it lives.  Run, dance, skip, climb, lift, wrestle, jump, play jog, make love; be in the body.  This body can be your wildest dream so FLY.

“All is provided.” As the wise one’s state; and just as every other statement of truth is multi-layered so is this truth.  All we need do is be grateful and observe this bountiful and humbling gift we are forever receiving and we will BE.  Do you feel this?  Is this not utterly mind-blowing, and then again perfect and sensible?  It is beyond understanding, so we don’t need to understand it.  Love loves us so much; WE love us so much, that anything we could ever need is provided; anything at any level – incredible!  This feeling you are feeling is the present.   

So, if we listen attentively with our eyes open to the sounds of where we are, then close our eyes and listen and then reopen, we know that all is new.  The record of life is still playing for infinity, it does not stop and restart; this is what the mind does not the river of Now.  The river flows onward.  As we now listen there are new animal songs and calls and mechanistic whirs, bangs, beeps, grinds, creaks, etc...  There are different frequencies of tones and hums abounding.  Even in silence there are waves of variance within the full emptiness; subtle waves of gossamer knowing.  Nothing is the same; the mind is only replaying programs of the past and projected future which create the illusion of sameness which then stales and dulls the experience.  It is akin to spending one’s life sitting and staring at a small scene being played out on a table in a room when outside of that room there is a never-ending play of newness with scope unknown. 

Now that we have connected deeply with the body through this exercise let us rise from where you sleep and feel the awakening and birthing muscles, joints, and bones, as you stand.  As you stand connect with the body in silent knowing of thanks and begin your day.  Feel the floor and the shifting of the feet as you walk.  See the angle of the walls and doorways shift and bend as you move, or as it moves by you. Listen to the shapes of the rooms and how the space feels differently through the home.  Be aware of the depth of breath and clearness of mind as you wash the sacred body.  Love the body as you clean; not because you are supposed to clean the body, but because you LOVE THE BODY.  Every brush of the cloth and swipe of the soap and splash of water is the language the body knows, so be present and observe as you shower or bathe.  (Languages are not only in the forms of sounds or words.)  Love your body; for it has carried you up until this point healing fevers, hangovers, bones, the heart; and will continue to do so just because it loves you; because you love you.  Look at yourself deeply in the mirror as you brush your teeth or shave, really look; for you are AMAZING.  See yourself.  See US.

Stay grounded as you prepare your meal.  Smell the aromatic food and feel the shiny, hard utensil.  Watch the mind as the thoughts and programs begin to load as it staggers awake, knowing that you are present as this occurs.  You are now free of these programs because you have observed them.   At this point it only takes the discipline needed to dismantle the habits.  This can be achieved through the body awareness we did, meditation, Yoga, or praying, etc… Create silence daily to connect with this knowing and it will, by way of inner observation, clear the habitual and limiting programs of the mind.  The minute we realize we are outside of a situation, we then are.  We may feel completely lost when we are in a thick forest, not realizing that the exit is but a few meters beyond the edge of the thick wall of trees.  But once we realize this we are then outside and inside of the woods simultaneously, and thus we are free to know the woods wholly, without fear or stress.  All experience can be this way.  Each time we step outside of a situation we are then free to experience the next layer, and so on; as we forever expand into the newness of Now. 

Gratitude is a gateway to grace.

Try and practice gratitude utilizing the tangential perspective we tested earlier throughout your day.  The more present we are the richer the life experience.  Try driving in presence.  Start the car and feel the vibrations.  Feel you hand, (thank God for hands) on the wheel, the temperature of the plastic and the shape of the curves; stay in “touch” with the moment through tactile sensation.  Let’s not listen to the radio today, OK?  Feel the way the body sinks into the seat the longer you sit, and then drive.  Push the gas and feel the acceleration and the shifting weight on the axles.  Notice how everything blends into one moving panoramic scene as you observe the whole, and not the pieces.  Try and look out through all of your eyes, not just the center.  There are no individual pieces just one happening through the senses.  Listen to the engine symphony and the aria of the road surface.  Here the syncopated percussion as you travel over the variances and seams in the road.  Hear your breath and your heart; this is possible the more you observe.  There are countless beautiful sounds drowned out but the incessant chatter of the mind that will surface and resound through presence.  Let people be in the other cars as you experience the drive.  Can you sense how thick the drive is becoming?  Can you feel the empty/fullness of not worrying about others or of anything but the drive?  Let the traffic traffic; it does not concern you as you are now free.  Expect nothing and you are never let down or upset.  Support yourself and no one can drop you (let you down) or push (upset) you over.  People drive and cars zoom.  Some are late and some are early.  Be present.  If someone cuts you off then they cut you off and back to driving.  Don’t become attached, for attachment does exactly what it states; it attaches you to something as the river flows onward.  Stay in the river through acceptance and gratitude.  Anyone can have a bad day and be irritable on the way to work; hence they are not present and not aware of driving wholly.  Let them go on in their way as you observe. Observation is not attachment.  Observe the day.  Observe people at work.  Observe the trees and sky, and be free.   Let it go.  Let it happen.

 
When we observe we are neutral.  We are full of the potential needed in any situation through our presence, and then we are free; for just as the body does all that we need, so will the “now available” potential of presence.   Again, it is applicable to use as above, so below.

 
There is an alert knowing and fullness of moment for which we are eternally grateful. 

By the grace of God may you taste the inexplicable through this travel.