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Awakening Exercise for Chapter 6: Breaking Free of the Pain-Body

Accept whatever moment you are in.
Don't try to become free. Don't look for peace. Don't look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Instead, try these three exercises the next time you feel the arising pain-body: 


  • The moment you completely accept your nonpeace, your nonpeace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.

  • When you accept what is, every moment is the best moment. That is enlightenment.

  • You don't need to deceive yourself and say that there is nothing wrong with a particular unpleasant or undesirable life situation. It may be time for you to get out of it. If so, you can recognize fully that you want to get out of it. Then, narrow your attention down to the present moment without mentally labeling it in any way. No judgment, no resistance, no emotional negativity. Just the "isness" of this moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the situation.

After the Exercise…

 

Adapted from Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from The Power of Now (p. 111–117)