Inertia: the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion (this includes changes to its speed, direction or state of rest).Inertia is not inherently good or bad. If we do not have enough of it our life will be unstable, erratic. If we have too much of it we will live our life in a rigid inflexible way.
In the inner Work of self realization one of the main barriers is inertia, sometimes called laziness, or biblically – Acedia, sloth.
This can be a tough one to take on, we either think its true and go into shame and shut down or we defend against it by listing how much we do. The key is to notice either tendency, do neither and stay open to finding where in you this is true. Where does your laziness show up in your Work?
This is fairly easy to see in that most people are not actively engaged in the process of Self realization, of actualizing their deepest potential. Most of us spend most of our time in a state of inertia just going with the flow of the conventional personality, living life on the surface.
The ask of the great traditions is that we counter this inertia, this laziness, by intending moment to moment to orient toward the depth dimension of our True Nature. Not to ignore the surface layer but to also look deeper. To constantly expand our embrace of the moment, to include more of what is present in any moment.
Sample practice:
Start with a simple situation, watching TV, reading a book – expand your awareness to include your body, then your emotional self, then your mental self, then the relational field around you (this can be a tricky one). There is no effort or intent to do anything with what you notice, just notice, simple expand your conscious embrace of the available experience in the moment.
If you notice some resistance to doing this there is a good chance you have encountered your inertia, great, feel deeply in to it.