Surrender

Today's theme was about surrender.  Not in a giving up type of way or relinquishing control type of way, but in a peaceful let's see what can happen type of way.

In A Place for Worries and Fears  by Madisyn Taylor, she talks about this idea of a surrender box. So, in class, we visualized writing down one of our worries or stressors [write this in a positive way...for ex, do not write I am worried about my health. Instead, write I am thankful for my good health] and placing the piece of paper in a beautiful box. In this way, you "surrender" your worries to the Universe, or higher power, and are now free to turn your attention to what you may have missed!

Madisyn Taylor writes, "We may believe that we are somehow taking care of our desires and concerns by keeping them at the forefront of our minds. In maintaining our mental hold on every detail, however, we may actually delay the realization of our dreams and the resolution of our worries because we won’t let them go. At times such as these, we may want to use a surrender box."

Give it a try! Consciously let go, give yourself permission to let go, of whatever you write down and tuck away into that box.  Maybe weeks later, go back into your box and those messages you wrote that are no longer relevant, discard and say thanks.

 I shared the following two poems in class. Where does the surrender come in?

People Like Us
by Robert Bly

There are more like us. All over the world
There are confused people, who can't remember
The name of their dog when they wake up, and
      people
Who love God but can't remember where

He was when they went to sleep.  It's
 All right. The world cleanses itself this way.
A wrong number occurs to you in the middle
Of the night, you dial it, it rings just in time

To save the house. And the second-story man
Gets the wrong address, where the insomniac lives,
And he's lonely , and they talk, and the thief
Goes back to college. Even in graduate school,

You can wander into the wrong classroom,
And hear great poems lovingly spoken
By the wrong professor. And you find your soul
And greatness has a defender, and even in death
      you're safe.  
 


 
"The Guest House"
 by Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

  This being human is a guest house.
  Every morning
a new arrival.

  A joy, a depression, a meanness,
  some momentary
awareness comes
  as an unexpected visitor.

  Welcome and entertain
them all!
  Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
  who violently sweep your
house
  empty of its furniture,
  still, treat each guest honorably.
 
He may be clearing you out
  for some new delight.

  The dark thought,
the shame, the malice,
  meet them at the door laughing,
  and invite them
in.

  Be grateful for whoever comes,
  because each has been sent
 
as a guide from beyond.