Surrender can sometimes feel like a major EVENT – an all-caps, black-or-white collapse into, “Fine. I give up,” or “YES. Just…yes.”
But I think far more often we experience it as a lengthy and layered unfolding.
I’m struck as I move through new layers of my own unfolding by the ways my efforting – the hard work I’ve done these last years to grow more conscious of my fears, to soften my tensed-up heart around spiritual pursuits, to launch and grow a business – by the ways this hard work has felt like the first leg of a relay race.
It lowered some of my defenses, healed some of my wounds, got me intensely aware of my wish for more ease, and able to finally verbalize that I want to inhabit a different way in the world than I’ve been inhabiting – a way that doesn’t eschew hard work, necessarily, but that is fueled by a powerful softness and openness to the mystery of Life/Spirit/Universe/Creation working in and through and around us all in ways I can’t plan for or predict.
Once I got to the brink of this latest surrender, though, it felt like a different part of me took the baton. A part of me that feels much more supple than the part that got me here – much less interested in trying to logic-mind every next step and much more interested in listening for and helping me align myself with “flow”.
And the hand-off! No mighty, all-caps event. Just a clear, quiet decision inside to put the baton of volition into the hands of something other than my tensed-up self. To say yes to the flow I’ve been resisting. Though potent, the movement was as subtle as standing in place, shifting weight from one foot to the other.
And I wonder whether you can situate your own life right now, or pieces of it, inside an unfolding of surrender…whether you can imagine your hard work or your struggle or worry taking you to a point of readiness to release your tight grip on life and open your arms to the sky.
…Whether your already-open arms might be speaking something to your heart about what flow might mean for you today and in the days that stretch toward your horizon.
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Each week I send a free print to one randomly-selected commenter. Comment on today’s post before this Friday at 12pm Pacific to be entered to receive a 5×7 print of today’s sketch. Winner will be announced Friday afternoon.
UPDATE: This random number generator gave me comment #11 is this week’s winner. Yay, Karen! Send me your snail mail address and I’ll put this in the mail to you.
Everything Belongs
Seasons are universal. Treat yours uniquely.
…while the strain that brought her here bowed…
Comment by Pam — January 24, 2013 @ 1:02 amwow…
this hit hard or maybe soft… to yeilding…
my tight grip on life is painful and don’t know what will happen
if i actually let go….
what does it really take to surrender?
forgiving
having faith
I want to get there…
A clear, quiet decision to hand off the baton of volition … oh, yes. So many of the big shifts in my life occur like this, silently, unheralded by trumpets. And yet … something changes. Something big. xoxo
Comment by Lindsey — January 24, 2013 @ 5:48 amOh Kristen,
Comment by Playcrane — January 24, 2013 @ 6:42 amI love this. I need this. Thank you. I do hope you will put this one as a print in your shop.
Jodi
Jodi, I’m so glad for the resonance! And I will happily add this to my shop. xo
Comment by Kristin — January 24, 2013 @ 7:24 amKristin, I love the graphic of opening up to the sky and the cosmos. Knowing I am part of something so big and so mysterious helps me put things in perspective. I can more easily release my burdens, which suddenly seem quite small. Thanks for a helpful post.
Comment by Diane Glass — January 24, 2013 @ 8:38 amSurrender can be soft? you mean it doesn’t always involve kicking, keening, lamenting? wow. Obviously I need to rethink surrendering.
Comment by Gail — January 24, 2013 @ 8:40 amGail, I’m smiling. It definitely can involve those things, too. But I don’t think it does by definition. I hope you have chances soon to experience the softness of it. :)
Comment by Kristin — January 24, 2013 @ 8:43 amWow! How did you know what was in my heart this morning? I’ve been re-reading Return to Love by Marianne Williamson…maybe there really is something to the premise that we are all of one mind…living in a dream and trying to wake up to our perfection…the knowing that life doesn’t have to be difficult…we are hardwired for joy and ease. Thanjavur you for this post. This gift of soul sistah confirmation!
Comment by Julie — January 24, 2013 @ 8:46 amI just stumbled upon your lovely site via Pinterest. Sooooo VERY glad to have found you :) Your artwork, your words – soothing to the soul. Looking forward to your “shop” re-opening.
Comment by Donna Schwender — January 24, 2013 @ 9:18 amDonna, so glad to meet you!
Comment by Kristin — January 24, 2013 @ 10:20 am“the softness of surrender”. I love that description. Those two word are becoming pretty inextricably linked in my world lately and while it’s not yet feeling comfortable, every time I let myself soften into surrender, life is so much better. Thanks for such a great visual picture to have in my head as a reminder. Hugs!
Comment by Karen Coverett — January 25, 2013 @ 12:57 amWow! This post so beautifully summarizes what I’ve been experiencing over the last few months. Thank you so very much for reflecting my life back to me! So grateful for your work… Namaste!
Comment by Andrea Wenger — January 25, 2013 @ 6:41 amThanks to andrea Wenger for sharing this and then giving me a link – this is beautiful!
Comment by Tammy Vitale — January 25, 2013 @ 7:09 amAbsolutely stunning. Thank you so much!
Comment by Ellen Koronet — January 25, 2013 @ 7:17 amFunny, I was just thinking about a recent trip my husband and I took, I left everything up to him, not in a bad way, but in a I want to enjoy myself, you enjoy taking care of me, so lets both do what makes us happy kind of way. Best vacation ever, and it was all about me surrendering that control freak part of my nature. Not an easy task, but worth it!!!
Thanks, my picture arrived safe and sound :)
Comment by Renee — January 30, 2013 @ 1:58 pmKristen, thank you so much. I found your website
Comment by Cheryl — January 30, 2013 @ 8:43 pmJust this evening.. Couldn’t believe what I was reading…
It has given me some peace this evening… I was feeling so
Bad about not knowing everything at work, not having all
The right answers,, the right solutions to all the
Problems brought to me today and this week.. And it’s only Wednesday.
Not normally feel like this.. A weak moment..
So, just a big, heartfelt thank you!
For being you and doing what it appears you love to do!
Helping others.
Cheryl
[...] a fabulous place to find inspiration. Each week she has an giveaway of one of her drawings. I won this one and one of my tasks this weekend was hanging it up in my bedroom, right where I will see it every [...]
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