Inconsistency and Renewal

The best way to break through the seeming solidity of your habits is to be inconsistent. Habitual movement is an attempt to be consistent by connecting past movement experiences with present ones. Habits of movement are generalizations; a form of stereotyping. We try to recreate an old response to one situation and apply it to the situation we are facing now. The problem is that the breath you are taking right now is not the same breath you took yesterday or even a second ago. Each one is as unique as a snowflake. Still, for some reason, some part of us treats them as if they were the same instead of letting each moment have its own identity. Noticing is a way to break out of this kind of stereotyped response to things. Each act of Noticing is like taking a photograph with a flashbulb. At the instant of the flash, you are allowing your mind and body to spontaneously respond to the particular demands of the activity at that moment. When you next Notice the same thing happens and if you keep taking one flash photo after another, you can slice through the solidity of your habits, enjoy the surprise of spontaneity and move through life with a natural sense of ease that is constantly being renewed.