The wisdom you are already living – Identifying with the body’s intelligence.
- You have a higher purpose
BODY – Every cell in your body agrees to work for the welfare of the whole; its individual welfare comes second. If necessary, it will die to protect the body cells perish by the thousands every hour, as do immune cells fighting off invading microbes. Selfishness is not an option, even when it comes to a cell’s own survival.
YOU – I am here to serve. I am here to inspire. I am here to love. I am here to live my truth. - You are in communion with the whole of life
BODY – A cell keeps in touch with every other cell. Messenger molecules race everywhere to notify the body’s farthest outposts of desire or intention, however slight. Withdrawing or refusing to communicate is not an option.
YOU - I will appreciate someone who doesn’t know that I feel that way. I will overlook the tension and be friendly to someone who has ignored me. I will express at least one feeling that has made me feel guilty or embarrassed. - Your awareness is always open to change
BODY – From moment to moment, it senses everything in your environment – Cells adapt from moment to moment. They remain flexible in order to respond to immediate situations. Getting caught up in rigid habits is not an option.
YOU - I will spend ten minutes observing instead of speaking. I will sit quietly by myself just to sense how my body feels. If someone irritates me, I will ask myself what i really feel beneath the anger – and I won’t stop paying attention until the anger is gone. - You feel acceptance for all others as your equal, without judgment or prejudice
BODY – Cells recognise each other as equally important. Every function in the body is interdependent with every other. Going it alone is not an option.
YOU – I will spend five minutes thinking about the best qualities of someone I really dislike. I will read about a group that I consider totally intolerant and try to see the world as they do. I will look in the mirror and describe myself exactly as if I were the perfect mother or father I wish I has has (beginning with the sentence “How beautiful you are in my eyes”) - You seize every moment with renewed creativity, not clinging to the old and outworn
BODY – Although every cell has a set of unique functions (liver calls, for example , can perform fifty separate tasks), these combine in creative ways. A person can digest food never eaten before, think thoughts never thought before, dance in a way never seen before. Clinging to old behaviour is not an option.
YOU – I will imagine five things I can do that my family will never expect – and then I will do at least one of them. I will outline a novel baed on my life (every incident will be true, but no one would ever guess that I am the hero) I will invent something in my mind that the world desperately needs. - Your being is cradled in the rhythms of the universe. You feel safe and nurtured
BODY – Cells obey the universal cycle of rest and activity. Although this cycle expressess itself in many ways, such as fluctuating hormone levels, blood pressures, and digestive rhythms, the most obvious expression is sleep. Why we need to sleep remains a mystery. yet complete dysfunction develops if we don’t enjoy its benefits. In the silence of inactivity, the future of the body is incubating. Being obsessively active or aggressive is not an option.
YOU – I will spend half an our in a peaceful place doing nothing except feeling what it is like to exist. I will lie outstretched on the grass and feel the earth languidly revolving under me. I will take in three breaths and let them out as gently as possible. - Your idea of efficiency is to let the flow of life bring you what you need. Force, control, and struggle are not your way
BODY – Cells function with the smallest possible expenditure of energy. Typically, a cell stores only three second of food and oxygen inside its cells wall. It trusts totally on being provided for. Excessive consumption of food, air, or water is not an option.
YOU - I will let at least two things out of my control and see what happens. I will gaze at a rose and reflect on whether I could make it open faster or more beautifully than it already does – then i will ask if my life has blossomed this efficiently. I will lie in a quit place by the ocean, or with a tape of the sea, and breath in its rhythms. - You feel a sense of connection with your source
BODY – Due to their common genetic inheritance, cells know that they are fundamentally the same. The fact that liver cells are different from heart cells, and muscle cells are different from brain cells, does not negate their common identity, which is unchanging. In the laboratory, a muscle cell can be genetically transformed into a heart cell by going back to their common source. Healthy cells remain tied to their source no matter how many times they divide. For them, being an outcast is not an option.
YOU – When I catch myself looking away from someone, I will remember to look into the person’s eyes. I will bestow a loving gaze on someone I have taken for granted. I will express sympathy to someone who needs it, preferably a stranger. - You are committed to giving as the source of all abundance
BODY – The primary activity of cells is giving, which maintains the integrity of all other cells. Total commitment to giving makes receiving automatic – it is the other half of a natural cycle. Hoarding is not an option.
YOU – I will buy lunch and give it to someone in need on the street (or I will go to a cafe and at lunch with the person). I will compliment someone for a quality that I know the individual values in him/herself. I will give my children as much of my undivided time today as they want. - You see all change, including birth and death, against the background of immortality. Whatever is unchanging is most real to you
BODY – Cells reproduce in order to pass on their knowledge, experience and talents, withholding nothing from their offspring. This is a kind of practical immortality, submitting to death on the physical plane but defeating it on the nonphysical. The generation gap is not an option.
YOU – I will read about the soul and the promise of life after death. I will write down five things I want my life to be remembered for. I will sit and silently experience the gap between breathing in and breathing out, feeling the eternal in the present moment.
From “The Book of Secrets” by Deepak Chopra
