When things stir deeply within us, we should pay attention. I do not mean a strong emotion or sentiment and I do not mean a passion. These sensations are important but are typically directed outwardly. What I mean is something different. I mean a sensation that stirs inwardly. They are expressions of three-dimensional meaning. They might occur at the base of your spine, in your gut, or through your chest but less so through your head. These sensations move at a deeper level than usual. They somehow include your ache, your longing, and your vulnerability. Although they move inwardly, they also feel expansive. They are meaningful moments of integrated mind-body consciousness and can create the purpose of our lives. They can also pass by unnoticed.
These sensations might be caused by an encounter with incredible beauty or a sudden, extraordinary connection with another person. On lucky days, a poem, a song, or a new idea might cause them. They are moments that stop us in our tracks, make us tingle, even take our breath away. These sensations remind us that we inhabit a body and we are very much alive.
I remember a night in college when I was twenty. I was up late night in our living room, my four other roommates long asleep. The year was 1986. I was pecking words into a first-generation Apple Macintosh computer, hectically finishing a paper as I was known to do. I was listening to a radio show called Windham Hill Spotlight and the feature album was Michael Hedges’ Aerial Boundaries, one of the greatest acoustic guitar album ever made. The title track absolutely blew me away – so lonely, so hopeful, but with so much clarity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaIN13aDbCc
Something stirred in me deeply. It wasn’t just that I loved the music. Something shifted. I remember the stark contrast between the way the music felt and trying to follow the rules of writing an academic-style paper. I decided in those moments that my life would be dedicated to exploring the expanse of living and not just to following the rules set before is. This stirring moment set deeply. Did I know that in a few years I would leave my graduate studies in academic philosophy to pursue a study of sensation-based consciousness through a life-long study of yoga? Absolutely not! But I did know that I was going to explore, that I was going to wonder past the rules. The rest simply unfolded.
I have no idea how your stirring moments might unfold. I just hope that you notice them, that you recognize them as precious expressions of living. We take so much for granted. That we can get stirred on seemingly an invisible level and yet have it play through our bodies is a miraculous feature of human consciousness. Turn these sensation into whatever you want…just turn them into something.