WHAT IS SURRENDER?

"At the center of the Universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best for every person. Anything that we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds. Life is for service."

-- Fred Rogers (a.k.a., "Mister Rogers") 1928-2003

After many attempts at putting my ideas and thoughts into words for both you and myself, I finally turned inward for Guidance and Direction and the same day receieved a beautiful article by e-mail, which I will simply share here with you with credit to the author. It says all that needs to be said about what we've been talking about for some time now, and how my homecoming has taken shape. You can read about the homecoming on the India Journal and see some photos as well. Enjoy!

What is surrender?

Is it subjugating your will?
Is it not caring what happens?
Is it giving up?
Well, not really.

In every situation, we have the option to act, to attempt change, to apply our will to the given situation. Sometimes that application of intent and energy bears fruit and sometimes it doesn’t. The trick is being able to discern when it is appropriate to act or push, and when it is appropriate to let go and surrender to the flow of life. Sometimes we give up too quickly and sometimes we refuse to surrender, even when surrender is the very thing that will set us free.
So when is it the right time for us to choose surrender? Let’s say you always wanted to be 5’ 8” tall. You get to 5’7” and that’s it. This is an example of karma that can’t be changed. Well sure, I suppose you could go have the bones of your legs stretched through surgical intervention, but why? Does it really matter that much?
Or perhaps you have a beautiful and expensive shirt that you wear to a party. Someone spills grape juice on it, and you can’t get it out. You can try and try, but it’s not going to be the same color again. Sure, you can let go of the fact that you can’t wear the shirt any more, but will it serve you to still be angry and the person who spilled it? Probably not. This is the principle of surrender; letting go of that which you can’t change. Being angry will never bring that shirt back.
Anger or frustration is a choice; a choice to be attached to things, beings or situations being a certain way. Through detachment we are free to have peace regardless of what is going on. This is true surrender. It is the path of grace. By making surrender a conscious choice through positive attitude, awareness and acceptance, we are able to gracefully set ourselves free from the things that we can’t change. This gives us more energy to apply to the things we can and should change.
This frame of mind is particularly pertinent to those of us who always want to be in control of a situation in order to be safe. Really, that tight rein on reality is only creating a smaller box of what we are willing to accept in our lives. When we become more spacious with the things that ultimately don’t matter for our bottom line, we are freer to have more peace and joy regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Really, it’s not the situation that ultimately affects us… it’s what we choose to do with it.
Where are you pushing against your life and resisting reality? How are you imposing your will on life instead of embracing life? By moving towards love instead of pressing against fear, you partner with life and the Divine as it is expresses itself through your life. When your eyes open to love, love is what you get to see and experience with more and more frequency.
May you have the graceful discernment to know when to accept what life is offering you, and when to act to create positive change. May you move towards love, and release your fear of life. May you live fully here and now, with the greatest bliss possible.

© Sylvia Brallier
Author of the award winning book,
Dancing in the Eye of Transformation, 10 Keys to Creative Consciousness

Confusion and Comprehension...New Insights from India

Some extremely powerful things have been happening to me this trip, and I'd like, once again, to share them with you. If you are interested in this latest story, please follow this link:

New Insights

Namaste to all
Jane

Cnntinued Answers from the Universe-My Need to Serve and Those Needing my Service

I have posted a couple of things you may find interesting on my India Journal and the links follow. They say God works in Mysterious Ways but there is nothing mysterious about what is happening to me here...receiving channelings for other people, instructions for healings, and now the following two stories about Reiki, are all direct results of my intensive prayers and meditations over the past months that all those in need of my special services be guided to me. And they are!! They just come...and I serve...in the best way I can, for each of their individual, unique, Higher Goods, according to the guidance and direction I am given in each case, without fail. The messages and signs have been coming in many different and unusual ways, but when we listen, they are always there. From the moment we ask with pure intention for something, things begin to happen. We just need be aware of them.

So enjoy the following 2 links with my love.

Setting things in Motion


Reiki Classes

FIRST LESSON FROM INDIA 2007 / POEM March 8-9 2007

Rishikesh, India

LESSON ONE: TRUST IN THE DIVINE AND PUT YOUR FAITH IN TRUTH

Well, for those of you who have been following my travels over the past 6 years, you know that every trip holds certain lessons for me, and each trip is different in character and unique in the ways these lessons are shown to me.

This trip is no different of course, and, in spite of all the busyness of the past week (or perhaps because of it), I remained awake almost the whole night last night (and that is part of another story which will eventually follow on the India Journal), and while awake, some wonderful things and insights presented themselves to me. I will share them with you, but since they are more concerned with things other than travels, I am posting them on the Mindfulness Journal ...I will try to keep this as chronological, consecutive and straightforward as possible, but please forgive me if things do not come completely together...

Let's go back a little while, even before I left for India. In my prayer/meditation sessions each day I have been asking that all those who are in need of my special services, be guided to me by the Universe, wherever they may be.

So far several people have found their way to me right here in Rishikesh, in very strange ways...I will not go into details of all these stories, but a couple are particularly outstanding, including the one already posted, and one to be posted shortly.

But while all this is going, the God and his Universe are still working to move me along the path further with each new day. Note the previous Post about the message from the tree embracing the rock...and this brings us to yesterday and last night...so here we go:

After several discussions with "the girls" here, I have been considering a change in plans. I will, first of all be staying longer in Rishikesh than I had originally planned, and am now thinking of coming back in October!! And then yesterday, while waiting in my room for "the girls" to come back from a wedding they were attending, I received a message from one of my daughters that she decided to become a Mother. No further details, and this has also become part of a new equation. coming back in October involves many new concepts and ways of looking at my life. How will this all sit with my family? With my work? I have often strayed from what I know is the right path for me, either because of laziness, fear, or critism. Will I be strong and rooted in what I know is my destiney, like the tree embracing the rock?

Is there any way I could work here? AND THEN THE FIRST THING DAWNED ON ME:

The reason I found my way to Vivek, is because THERE I will find the solution to earning some money here in India. I will speak to him about working with him, or having him send people to me. And how is it that I have not thought of this until this minute?

And then again, trying to fall asleep with the idea that I will go down and see him the following morning....I tossed and turned and at 12:30 AM the following poem was lovingly "given to me"

The Sudden Need to Know-

But knowing is not what it seems to be
Is knowing knowledge?
or is it understanding of TRUTH!
To know what your personal truth IS, is the most profound
form of understanding.
And when what you know to be TRUE is what guides you
along your path,
Then you may stumble at times, you may even feel a momentary fear
when faced with some new obstacle,
But you will never stray

Because you KNOW!!

LESSON ONE:
TRUST IN THE DIVINE AND PUT YOUR FAITH IN TRUTH

My TRUTH is service to others! I have know this for a very long time, but it was shot with an arrow which hit the target bull's eye this time!!

And, just as all this came together, I read the following in Paulo Coelho's book which I am now reading:
...Death is possibly THE most important thing. We are all walking towards death, but we never know when death will touch us and it is our duty, therefore, to look around us, to be grateful for each minute. But we should also be grateful to death, because it makes us think about the importance of each decision we take, or fail to take: it makes us stop doing anything that keeps us stuck in the category of the "living dead" and, instead, urges us to risk everything, to bet everything on those things we always dreamed of doing, because, whether we like it or not, the angel of death is waiting for us.

So, this is the poem, and the lesson, and I will now work and making things move along, always following the guidance I am so lovingly given each and every moment of each and every day (and night)!

Namaste