Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The Art of Surrender

I don't know about you, but I consistently find myself over-thinking things. Sometimes it happens to the point that I drive myself a little 'batty'. It's not something that I do consciously most of the time. It seems like a pattern I've always lived with.

Recently I made the intention to address this subject within myself. I sat down, quieted my mind and made the intention that I would begin to surrender the mental chatter. In the past, I used to believe that surrender meant failure. In my years of study since then I've come to realize that surrender is an act of courage, trust and faith. I've made friends with the concept of surrender, no longer thinking I would be admitting failure if I surrendered something.

I guess I hadn't really realized just how much my mental chatter was getting in the way when I was being creative. The chatter was beginning to be a real hindrance. I've noticed that I wasn't getting my work done. I was day dreaming in my mental chattering and spent too much time looking out the window. This was really getting to be a subject for me.

I finally quieted myself long enough and realized I was being attached to certain outcomes. The more I ran it around in my mind, the more I thought I was being in control of the situation. Unfortunately I was having just the opposite affect! I was interfering in the process of natural development and Divine Right Timing.

I decided I needed to change my ways.

Trying to control the outcome meant I wasn't trusting that it would all work out. I needed to surrender once again. It's a simple practice, but one that is challenging to achieve sometimes. I call it the Art of Surrender. It involves the complete letting go of the outcome to something you really want and have worked hard to achieve. Like others, when I work diligently at something I want to be assured of the outcome. I want to know I've produced something that will bring me the outcome I desire. However, that eliminated any sense of trust on my part.

What I got was a wake up call.

I was really driving myself nuts and it finally hit me- the Art of Surrender. Stop, listen and let go. Take a deep breath and walk away knowing that you've created something, now give it time to grow and blossom. The seed doesn't come to bear fruit until its ready and has had time to grow properly. Watching it and urging it will only hinder its growth.

Just step back and let go.

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