The Secret Within: Chapter 15, Silent Fitness: A Personal Perspective

The Secret Within is a book I’m writing about the art of finding happiness and peace amidst personal difficulties. 

This is the 15th installment. Previous installments can be found here.

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Chapter 15,  Silent Fitness: A Personal Perspective

I have always been wary of standing against the current of a river. One never knows what the river will bring (like snakes in the Springtime of my native Missouri). Nonetheless, it’s exhilarating. 

Life is like that. The twists and turns of life’s river are unknowable, so we stand against the current, feigning control, hoping we won’t see snakes. 

Silent Fitness taught me to watch the river. The current is awareness; its twists and turns my experiences. The current is easy to ignore as it flows beneath the surface, but it brings me the river, and the river brings me life. 

I stood against the current for most of my life, fighting the snakes. When the snakes took over, I stopped fighting the current and learned to relax into its flow.

That’s my experience of Silent Fitness in a nutshell.

Meditation practice showed me that awareness is the current. Learning to relax and be aware helped me accept where life takes me. The current is beautiful. The more aware I become of awareness, the deeper I experience things previously taken for granted. Resilience is gained as I accept rather than fight the current’s flow. This is not to be confused with acquiescence. No one who practices acceptance makes that mistake.  

Initially, we attempt to control the events of our lives. Ultimately, we learn that many of the most important things in life, like health, escape our control. Silent Fitness practice helps me avoid replaying such disturbances in my mind. When I catch myself doing this, I hit the stop button. I’ve learned to accept that snakes are a part of life. 

Silent Fitness helps me experience life in a new way. Awareness unpolluted by ego deepens my reverence for life. It teaches me that life is a journey.  

Initially, “Self” is our context for everything.

Philosopher Ken Wilber beautifully describes the next step of Life’s journey as “The Miracle of We.” When our egocentric nature expands, awareness becomes more inclusive. Fully mature, “We” evolves into the Spiritual force called love. 

One day, resting in pure awareness, I caught a fleeting glimpse of awareness’s destination.  This was strong coffee; a tiny sip awakened me to a new way of being. I have no name for the experience beyond the direct feeling that separation in life is an illusion. 

The things we seek—joy, peace, unity, and love are found beyond “Self” as our journey progresses from “I,” to “We,” to “One.” 

I have a long way yet to travel.

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Installments of The Secret Within can be found here. 

Former blog posts can be found here by subject category and here chronologically. 

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My first book, Towards A Life Well-Lived, can be purchased by clicking this link. Proceeds from sales are donated to Peace In Schools, a Portland, Oregon-based organization supporting mindfulness training in high schools.