Impact, Impulse and Impeccability

Impact

A man once betrayed me. One comment he made has stayed with me: “You are a holy woman so you should not feel any anger.” In the middle of the storm, I was far from being neutral. The circumstances impacted me and I was angry, sad and in pain.

From that experience I learned something very profound about life. The experiences that the subconscious randomly throw at us are inevitable yet necessary to shape the world of form. We constantly receive stimulations and that makes us sense life and able to interact with our environment.

The physical body, through our senses, sends constant stimulus in the nervous system, creating feelings and sensations of thoughts. The four earth bodies (physical, etheric, emotional and mental) receive discharges from our subconscious, which cause our experiences.

The impact can be subtle like the breeze caressing our skin or brutal like the pain of a betrayal. Those impacts are inevitable and are part of our experience of being alive.

To fight the impacts of our experiences is to go against life.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with allowing impacts. You actually need to allow them. Allowing them proves that you are alive and that you are involved in your experiences in a healthy way.

Now let’s make a distinction between “impact” and “impulse”.

Impulse

My first impulse at the moment of the betrayal mentioned above was to want to kill both of them. Did I do it? No, I did not. Regarding our impulses, we have a choice. If we followed our impulses, society would have no harmony and our reactions would remain close to those of animals’. Our choices of impulses are very much in congruence with the clarity of our mind. For example, a mind that is educated with meditation can see the bigger picture and understand that actions like killing my betrayers was not necessary.

You may ask me what did I then with that impact? It is here the art of non-intervention plays a role in liberating that impulse out of the system.

If you put a judgment on how you are feeling your impacts, they will stick to you. If you let them be with your full presence, they will dissipate within a few minutes. You need to do nothing.

The impact will dissolve quickly if you don’t act on your compulsion for perfection, and selection of behavior. There is only a tiny space between your impact and the choice of your reaction, however, that will determine the freedom you give to the flow of life.

Observe a young child for example. He is able to move from one emotion to another within a very short time. He does not have any concept of whether an emotion is good and bad; he just lives his impacts fully. The moment we start teaching children to select between the good and the bad, their emotions and behaviors become repetitive and incomplete. They become stuck in certain emotions or behaviors that seek completion.

Understand that your theory of perfection does not permit you to display your emotions, to have them exposed, so you adopt a false face, a false feeling, an imaginary “good” behavior that only aggravates the attachment and the repression.

Understand me well: the point is not about expressing every feeling you have (good or bad), it is about allowing the sensation of the impact to be there, and to allow the choice of you impulse to be owned. You are responsible for your choice and you are not responsible for the impacts that life offers you.

All impacts that are not congruent with your impulses are suppressed in the subconscious. They will be there as a time bomb waiting for a trigger to impact you again, to reclaim their full impact and to play they role they were supposed to play in the lesson of your experiences.

Impeccability

I am referring to impeccability here as your ability to resonate in congruence with the impact of life. You have a natural response to pain, to joy and to all the flavors of your experiences. When you are impeccable, you are free from the intervention of acting perfect and you understand the facts of the world of form.

You understand that your purity, your true goodness and your values have nothing to do with the way you have chosen to express your impacts.

Impeccability embraces and includes your experiences as a repertoire of lessons, not as a test of good or bad, or that you are good or bad if you choose to express your impacts in an unique way. Of course the consequences of your choices are at play in the formation of your reality.

Impeccability is a quality of self-realization. I tell you that self-realized people are not free from impacts; they still feel sad, angry and all what you may label as “not spiritual.” Their choice of expressing their impulses, however, is unique to the moment and to each individual.

In a state of self-realization you still have thoughts, you still have feelings, you still are at the mercy of life’s mysteries, and you are happy to receive all the fragrances of the garden of life.

When you are impeccable, you know the facts of a situation and you are able to communicate those facts within yourself and to others neutrally. You are, as well, grateful for any impacts you receive. You understand that impacts are a part of life and that the impulses are your choices.

Establishment in the state of self-realization does not mean that you stop being human. It means that you are free from any dictatorship of the mind. You gain freedom from your inner rules of perfection and the norms you have allowed your mind to create.  It is paradoxical that when this freedom is realized and put into play, creativity flows, joy gets established and the impact of unpleasant sensations is not experienced as a big deal.  In this state, every experience is short-lived and you are free not to look forward to new ones.

Communicating our impacts and impulses.

Communicating our impacts and impulses to ourselves and to others with no judgments is the basis of our harmonious and impeccable communication and contact.

We often move our perception from the facts of our situations and color it with our interpretations and meanings.  This habit of disempowering the moment disempowers you and the people around you. The disempowering occurs when we fail to connect in the presence of others and therefore disempowering them.  That lack of impeccability brings much isolation and reinforcement of your opinions and interpretations.

To understand and discharge your impeccable communication, you need to see what are the facts of the situation.  Review in a neutral way what life is throwing at you.  The situation can be pleasant or unpleasant, however it is revealing to know exactly what you are truly facing.

The facts will give you an overview of what is real, away from your interpretations and away from the self that looks to accommodate everything.

After you review the facts, check what the impact of those facts is on yourself.  Finally, review what are the impulses you have chosen to respond to this impact of life.

Let’s demystify this concept with an example given by a student in one of our retreats.

Facts of a situation in an India retreat

On the southwest coast of Kerala, India is a lush tropical paradise. Nested beside the ocean is the Shoreline Beach Resort, where our group of eleven lived for 3 ½ weeks while undergoing panchakarma treatments at the Anjali Ayurvedic Spa in the city of Kannur.  My small cabin faced east towards the rising sun and overlooked a river bordered by tall palm trees and dense foliage.

Each morning, I would arise at 5 a.m. and do my daily breathing and meditation exercises followed by a short walk, usually illuminated by the moon, to our classroom.  This classroom was on an outdoor balcony which overlooked the ocean. Two hours of light yoga and teachings by our teacher preceded a gentle swim in the ocean and a traditional Kerala breakfast.

Each day, then held two hours of the ayurvedic treatments. There where various activities offered such as a 4 a.m. visit to a Tahyam ritual and a tour of an ayurvedic medicines manufacturing facility.  Traditional dance lessons and an art class by a traditional Kerala artist were also part of the activities.

Ample time remained to explore the shops of Kannur and to spend time alone -whether in meditation, reflection, reading, drawing or walking.

Impacts on a student:

I have the opportunity to travel by myself.

I have the opportunity to make new contacts.

I have the opportunity to experience panchakarma (ayurvedic purification).

I have the opportunity to experience a new culture.

I have the opportunity to experience retreat life with other people.

Now, if we read her descriptions of facts, we can realize that the possibilities offered her many, many impacts or opportunities. Let’s now review her impulses or how she responded to some of the offered impacts.

Student impulses

I chose to travel with new contact rather than with myself.  It was very rewarding.  I overcame fear and opened myself to a new relationship.

By choosing to respond to living with 8 new people, my impulses were uncomfortable at times, however most of the time my impulses were to feel enriched and satisfied.

By taking the impact of panchakarma, I chose a variety of responses.  I experienced sadness, peace, anger, intolerance and happiness.

By choosing to respond to the impact of meeting local people, my impulse was receptiveness, happiness, and excitement.

By accepting our impulses, we are able to move in the flow of new impacts. By declining the request of our impacts, we only create unfinished experiences that will continue to look for completion and wholeness.