I’ve been pondering the nature of surrender for some time now. Not because I’m some kind of spiritual whizz kid but simply because life is demanding me over and over again to let go …to surrender. To give up control (or seeming control) and to free flow into life trusting that all will indeed be well.
This state of being is talked about a lot in the spiritual world. Let go let God… ride the wave, don’t fight life flow with it. Well if you have ever tried surfing out on a rough ocean then you will know what it takes to flow……. in one of my beginners lessons on a grey beach in Cornwall, I was told to go against my instinct to lean backwards to balance my point of gravity. But actually as the wave took me to have the courage to lean forwards and to go with the great rush of energy underneath me. On one of the few occasions I managed to stay upright enough to do this the exhilaration was unbelievable!
So if I apply this principle to life it goes like this . All my instincts tell me when things are chaotic or scary to do what I can to bring them back under control. For most of us this looks like pushing….we have to MAKE things work. I see it at exhibitions when vendors go into fear and start hard selling to innocent by passers….BUY BUY BUY. They are pushing because they haven’t sold much and are worried they won’t cover their costs. They are pushing the ocean! I’ve been guilty of this too in some circumstances… so no judgement! However when my awareness is good, I sit quietly. I withdraw my energy and become peaceful inside. I then create good feelings and begin to share this feeling of peace and good wishes with the room. I imagine light touching everyone walking past. I give thanks for my life, for my health, for the music……what happens? Always something beautiful, someone will come up and start talking to me, sometimes a small crowd will gather…always there is a shift. From fear and pushing to peace and allowing. Like the surfer who sits quietly on the board waiting for the right TIME…the right wave. Then she rides the wave …leaning forward and feeling the rush of life.
It takes courage…..poise……presence, to surrender. BUT most importantly it takes a willingness to live in the place you are ..the place of ambivalence where one moment you are in flow and the next you are racing round like a loony trying to control life again…the next you are just afraid. We are on the road….to be a surfer takes a lifetime…to truly surrender and trust the divine …to know I am carried by life at all times even when its very very hard…this may take lifetimes. Truth will not be rushed. So this is my practice, to watch myself each day learning…getting it wrong then remembering and easing the hold a little. Then sometimes free falling into magic and riding the wave of true surrender…..wheee
12 Comments
Amazing job!
Thanks Martha…its an ongoing practice of course, but when I find that peace inside something always, but always changes and shifts x
The art of surrendering is most definitely an on going process….every time we think we are there, we are pulled back into the fight and it is tiring at times. But, the realisation that we have been pulled back is enlightening in itself and you can then stop, breathe and re asses……..and that, I thank YOU for. much love
..yes its tiring but keep on keep on and never give up …as the song goes…much love xx
Just read your Surrender! Love it all, let go and let God. It’s so easy to get caught up in what’s going on around us and what the the mind is telling us, ha ha. Think there’s some kind of a joker up there, l mean in our minds, that is telling us what to do when our instincts our telling us something else and we get confused as to who to go by. So, as you say, take a step back from the chaos and the chaotic mind and allow God to take over, the small voice within ?
Thank you very much for your kind words Evie yes slowing down is key to living more awake and mindfully
the key is to keep coming back to ground and starting again x
wishing you well
lucinda
Thank you Lucinda x
SO right on, Luce. The Control Freak needs to give way to …. life. And, probably most “creatives” are by nature CF’s, “controlling” the “what I want to do” thing. It don’t work like that, does it?!’ Love, Sam.
Absolutely Sam xxxx
One of my favourite ever quotes is by you Lucinda; “Find 20 things a day for which you are thankful, when you practice thankfulness you create newness”. Is that something you consciously do every day?
Hi there thank you for your interest. Its something i certainly try to practice. I used to do a list of 40 things each night but that was at a time for crisis. Now i could go on forever to be honest…im grateful just to be breathing….xxx Its a wonderful practice that creates magic
Hi there ..yes I used to do 40 a day …writing it down…now I’m just grateful all the time really…..its a practice xx much love
lucinda
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