“If grief can be a doorway to love, then let us all weep for the world we are breaking apart so we can love it back to wholeness again”
~Robin Wall Kimmerer
First of all let me apologize to any Dorothy’s out there for targeting you. You were not meant to be singled out!
One of my very favorite movies of all time is The Wizard of Oz. For whatever reason whenever I hear the word “surrender” I see the Wicked Witch of the West riding her broom in the sky with the words “Surrender Dorothy” miraculously spelled out of the cloud formations.
Little did this very naughty witch realize that “surrender” allows and precipitates all kinds of possibilities to come into our lives, as opportunities and allies that would never have emerged if we did not simply let go and find the hidden power in our own vulnerability.
These days the global pandemic affecting millions of people and economies, as well as planetary shifts, essentially demands that we surrender and acknowledge there is, at the deepest level, no control or certainty. For most this is a vulnerable place where our deepest primal fear of death resides.
We all have woven a tapestry of identity that is familiar, and for the most part comfortable for us. During challenging times part of the tapestry comes apart and normally we simply “repair” it and go on with our lives.
However, at this time you may have felt that someone pulled hard on one of the threads of your tapestry identity and it all came undone at once.
Perhaps we could call this time on our planet “The Great Unraveling”.
Dorothy in the Oz story ended up being empowered by surrendering to her own innate wisdom, intuition, resiliency and power, and that of her loyal companions. But it didn’t come without great disorientation and fear.
After all her entire identity and home space shifted all at once! She was forced to see her life from a different perspective and to join with other companions whom she grew to trust.
I see this happening now with so many doing acts of kindness, compassion and donating time and skills to others in need and to our planets health. A global community becoming more consciously connected and innovative.
The power to transform is embedded in challenges such as we are currently experiencing. Even within the ordinary daily ups and downs on the roller coaster of “normal” life. Where something seems to be taken away there is always a new possibility or opportunity for change that emerges in right timing.
Opportunities to surrender and let go seem to be so numerous these days it is easy to be overwhelmed. We are so intimately connected that a lot of what you may be experiencing is the global fear, grief and at times panic that is affecting us all at some time or another.
In other words, others emotions and energy. It is important to know this and release what is not yours, as well as face your own simply by acknowledging and then letting go, instead of “something to be worked on”. Allow this opening and release to transform your inner world and perspective.
Re-weave your tapestry to reflect your innate sense of belonging and the embodied artistry you are here to express.
Three weeks ago within a 2-day period I experienced a lay off from my job, a necessary move during sheltering at home, and a dear friend hearing her cancer had progressed.
In those moments I realized clearly that I had choice. Just a breath away was the potential for an active surrender – a dissolution of patterned boundaries and an emptying out.
This conscious decision, amidst all the inner voices directing to mobilize and attempt some control of the situations, allowed the unfolding of circumstances that could not have been planned for, or even seen the possibility of, if staying contracted in fear, doubt, worry, anxiety and re-action.
How does it feel to surrender control and certainty…..and trust the unfolding?
Spaciousness, freedom and release where alternate possibilities emerge with a shift in perspective….
and strength, knowing and resiliency reside.
A return to trusting the unfolding of life.
I now live on 20 wooded acres near to the South Yuba River in Nevada City, California, have been accepted for unemployment benefits, and my friend has heard more hopeful news since the day we talked about having a more intimate relationship with dying,
Yes, these are challenging times. Yes, they take all of who we are, and are becoming, to meet and navigate. Yet our world is ripe for a consciousness shift on so many levels and in so many domains. All within cooperative connection with others, and communing with the natural world through our senses.
With surrender comes opportunity partnered with vulnerability. This has the potential to transparently unlock possibilities for change and increased well being.
With letting go comes a new found strength and resiliency that has been there all along.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
Are you ready to surrender?
Free Audio Surrender Guidance: It is advised that you find a very comfortable space and position to listen to this guidance on surrender. Either lying down with support for head/neck and low back or sitting in a comfortable reclining chair that feels safe and puts you at ease, or a sacred space in nature. If you have an eye mask or a soft piece of cloth you can place over your eyes to relax them and block out distraction, then do so. Give yourself this gift of time devoted on behalf of your own well being, and that of others whose life you touch.
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Copyright by Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 4/22/20
GAYE ABBOTT lives and thrives in Northern California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains where she communes with hummingbirds, flowers, plants and wild things. Communing with nature is her favored activity along with ecstatic dance, Wisdom Healing Qigong at sunrise and sunset, volunteering in her community, laughing out loud and enjoying her family and friends with great appreciation and gratitude!
She is available for guidance/energy sessions via phone, Zoom or Skype. Contact via the “Contact” tab on this site. Two hands at my heart…..
BREATHING SPACES 