dear Friends,
Happy 2016! A new opportunity to experience life and ourselves with renewed inspiration and intention! My focus and meditation for this year is ‘Surrendering into Presence.’
Surrender is a practice that has informed, inspired and guided me my entire life. I have experienced the grace that comes through surrender many times and know its power to heal. In contemplating the nature of surrender as a universal principle for my book, I realized this paradoxical truth about it:
“Surrender is a conscious act of will. It takes courage and humility to align our will with Divine will.”
We can think of ‘Divine will’ as simply that which is greater then ourselves, the little me, with its limited vantage point. When we surrender and let go of what we think we know, and open to the mystery and vastness of Life, we are rewarded with more peace, enthusiasm and inspiration.
Lately I have been curious about the relationship of surrender to presence – and about how I can choose to surrender in a moment to moment way, not just those times when I KNOW I am in way over my head.
What I am learning is that in order to experience more Presence, with a capitol ‘P’, I need to be willing to acknowledge and stay present with the painful emotions/sensations that arise – the very thing we all spend most of our time distracting ourselves from!
These emotions/sensations are not my enemy, something to be avoided or gotten rid of, but quite the opposite. They are here for me, to bring me into greater awareness of who and what I am, and as I find the courage to turn toward instead of away from them, I receive their gifts. Even the darkest, scariest aspects of our being want above all, to be acknowledged.
Life (and my own thinking) gives me plenty of opportunity to practice surrender. And the more I practice, like anything else, the easier it becomes. Whenever I realize my mind is caught in a painful story or triggered by something or someone, I know I have the choice to surrender. Though it is not always easy, I bring my attention the sensations in my body with the intent to unwind the gripping that I notice. Sometimes I feel the release quickly, sometimes not – but I do know, the more I choose surrender, the more access and connection I feel to the Presence of my greater Self.
‘Surrender builds a bridge between the scared, little me to the vast, unlimited potential that I am.’
Presence is the healing force within all of us. It is what frees the past and brings us fully into our lives and reason for being. When we are present, we don’t have to try to be peaceful or compassionate, we simple are. Presence is what we long for and the greatest gift we have to give, or receive.
with love and blessings of presence in the new year,
Elysabeth