What's in a word?
This past week I have been mulling over the word 'surrender.' At a recent tarot party, I asked the woman I was reading for if there was any situation in her life that required she surrender? She looked at me aghast - and said 'I will never surrender!' She said it with such conviction that indicated she was proud of that. For her, 'surrender' meant giving in - giving up. It took me aback and gave me reason for pause. I had another way of looking at surrender.
One word - different perspectives.
"We shall go on to the end...whatever the cost may be...we shall never surrender." - Winston Churchill
"Be crumbled so wild flowers will come up where you are. You have been stony for too many years. Try something different. Surrender." - Rumi
Surrender. I have spent a lifetime trying something different on my life's journey as I learn to crumble and heal myself. And I wouldn't have survived some of the challenges on my path if I hadn't learned to surrender at least some of the time - admittedly with varying degrees of success!
I love the image of the hungry little caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. As it waits in its cocoon, surrendering to a higher purpose - the natural process of transformation. And when the change is complete, the watercolor wings split their silken cage and the butterfly emerges - ready to fly! Metamorphosis!
This kind of surrender is to a force bigger than oneself - not to another person. And it's learning balance and discernment - how to harmonize the energies at play in any given moment. We learn to advance when doors are open and to pause when they are closed, moving with rather than against these forces. This kind of surrender has nothing to do with waving a white flag, or collapsing into complacency or ceasing to be the change we wish to see in the world.
Spiritual surrender means relaxing - letting go of our fixed agendas, unclenching our fists, being open to responding to what is unfolding rather than reacting in a holier than thou kind of way.
What if surrender is our greatest source of strength rather than a weakness? In battle the person surrendering is seen as the loser, but in life it's not about losing or winning. Surrender is about being okay with what is.
There is no greater act of courage than to take a deep breath and be with exactly what is happening in the present moment.Being present doesn't mean that you can't plan for a bright future or take that trip you've always wanted to take. It just means you don't worry about the outcome or micromanage how you'll spend each hour. Surrender is really just a state of non-attachment.
Stop. Drop. Be here now.
Thanks for the life lesson, Universe! I am surrendering my attachment to a definition of 'surrender'.
Meditation Musing:
"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." - Lao Tzu
Get ready. Get set. It's time to write...
Journaling SPARK:
Where are you fighting with life?
Where can you surrender to create more ease?
Blessings on your path,
Beth