I was reading an AtR blog post(1) about total exertion when something clicked for me.
Walking on the street, you look at the traffic and maneuver your way to reach your destination, the traffic and people walking are as much an inseparable part of the activity which you call 'your walking', each moment of walking is doing together action with all conditions.
Reading the phrase "your walking", made me realize that the reason total exertion hasn't been apparent is because of lingering attribution of activities as personal. There is nothing in this activity that draws a line between the movement of my feet and the pavement under them. Or between other bodies walking and this body walking in sync so they don't bump into each other. The whole thing is the walking, no way to separate any part of it from the rest.
I used to get stuck contemplating this, blocking beliefs would come up like: "There are many activities going on right now, and they are separate and distinct. My walking, your walking, bird chirping". Nope! There is just this activity, and it is all! We call it our walking and try to draw lines of separation around our activities, but in experience it is all there. None of it is personal or separate.
I've noticed at this phase in my practice, I get glimpses of how particular beliefs are shaping my experience in real time. This used to be something I would contemplate to understand where the cognitive distortions are, but now it shows up as an intuition and letting go happening on its own.
Just a quick sharing of some of my thoughts here in case it helps someone