What does it mean to surrender?

On Monday this week, Paul had surgery on his left hand. He had these cord like tendons pulling his pinky fingers on both hands in a downward motion. So the pinky couldn’t be stretched up straight anymore. It’s call Dupuytrens Disease and it’s hereditary. He got the right hand done last October and things have been healing fine.

He woke up two days later, on Wednesday, feeling really horrible and in a lot of pain. We went to get the bandages removed and they made a splint for him. He’s now meditating in the easy chair as I write this. It’s been a tough day.

I’m sharing this story because I’m feeling powerless to help him. I can’t take the pain away. I can’t make the coming months of physical therapy any easier. I can’t fix him. It feels bad.

I remember over 35 years ago when we first got married he tripped and put his arm through a glass door window and had to have 50 stitches. That night he was hurting pretty bad and I remember feeling, again, so powerless. It did not feel good!

As humans there is only so much we can do in these situations. We can make people more comfortable. We can do things to help but we cannot take away any suffering.

As an empath, this is very difficult for me. So what do I do? I surrender.

When I want to feel power in my life I surrender. This is also how one gets clean and sober. We admit we are powerless and we surrender. We accept that we can’t do it anymore.

If you just look at the average connotation to that word, surrender, you can easily get deceived into thinking it has more to do with weakness, submissiveness, supplication or throwing in the towel, etc.

However, when we raise our level of awareness and take another, somewhat deeper look, we can see the word surrender points to ‘non-resistance’.

When we can get into alignment with a much greater power, i.e. God, Nature, Source, Love, Infinite Intelligence or The Force, and accept the flow of what is real and is happening, right now, well then, we can find peace. Even in the midst of the pain or chaos.

When we are too busy resisting life and what is happening in reality, then life always seems to be a struggle and we are constantly trying to change the way things are.

But for those who have surrendered to the fact that there is an intelligence that runs the universe, beats our heart, heals our cuts and a million other things we can’t stop or control, life seems to flow a little easier and there seems to be far less to worry about, regardless of the circumstances we are living with.

Why? Because it’s never the perceived problem that is the issue. It the size of our resistance to allowing a solution to present itself from a higher place.

I’ll put it another way. The more we fight reality, the more often reality tends to win.

So instead of fighting, try surrendering to the belief that no matter what happens, Life is looking after us and everything is going according to plan.

And, more importantly, it’s okay for that plan to be outside our current ideas of how we think it should be unfolding.

Once we surrender at this level, we may just notice that our stress levels go down, our sense of power goes up, and those things we call circumstances start to conspire in our favor.

So let go of what you can’t control. Practicing surrender will bring you acceptance and peace.

And don’t forget, “this too shall pass.”

All my best,

Maureen

P.S. After reading this to Paul to get his “okay,” he shared with me that he meditated for an hour on allowing and accepting the pain and the healing. He said he felt a lot better after that.

P.S.S. A great tool/prayer for surrender is the Serenity Prayer:

On the Emerge. Evolve. Lead. podcast this week . . .

I had intentions of presenting you with episode 100, the last podcast episode for a while, but I didn’t get it done. I promise you’ll have it next week.

Instead, I’m giving you links to some of my favorite episodes that have to do with “surrender” for your listening pleasure.

​Walk Through The Fear with Tom Fay​

​Healing From Within with Kelvin Young​

​Surrender is My Secret Sauce with Kristina Dennis​

Ready for another great Roundtable Discussion? Please join me . . .

Thursday, Feb 16, 2023, Noon (ET)