Do you feel stuck or blocked? Have you reached the point where you’re out of ideas, nothing is working and you can’t see a path forward?
First, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve been there too, and it sucks. Likely, this isn’t your first dead end, but maybe this time feels worse, and right now you just can’t find your way out.
When you’re at this point, the hardest thing to do is stop pushing. It feels counterintuitive to stop working harder, searching, or taking action. It’s especially difficult if you’re naturally Type A or have been trained to be Type A (like many of us have).
In Melody Beattie’s book, Journey To The Heart: Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul, she writes:
The reason we can’t see any further is because our ideas are limited by the past, by past experiences, by what life has been like before.
When you become paralyzed with worry, fear, and stress, you only have one option. Surrender. Surrendering to where you are now is the only path forward. Yes, it’s scary, and you may not know how to trust or really let go (you certainly haven’t been trained to do it). Chances are, your life has been a series of messages and homework assignments teaching you to move forward, find a way, be aggressive. But that doesn’t always work. Sometimes, surrendering to the moment and letting life show you the way is the best course of action.
If you have trouble letting go, here are three things that will help you surrender:
1. Pray/meditate. Pray to your higher power, your spirit guides, whatever divine source you subscribe to for protection and guidance. Ask for help surrendering your need to control and with strengthening your ability to trust the process. Sit in meditation for five minutes every day using this mantra:
I will not let my words, thoughts and fears limit me. I am open to the messages, the opportunities, and the ideas that will heal me. I release attachment to what I think life should look like and accept that what I need will come. I’m listening.
If you sit in meditation and a different mantra comes to you, by all means use that. It’s the one you need. You can use this one to get started.
2. Spend time connecting with nature. Perfect timing as we are nearing Earth Day on the 22nd. Mother nature has that uncanny Mom ability to calm your soul just by being in her presence. However you prefer to connect, running, biking, or napping in a hammock, do it. Just hang out with her.
3. Release attachment. In order to fully surrender, you must release attachment to the outcome. Attachment to the outcome is control, and if you’re stuck and blocked, control clearly isn’t working. See, we are connected by universal energy and this energy flows through every living thing. It’s where we get our creative ideas, messages, and it’s what creates the synchronistic experiences that propel us forward. However, just like a dam blocks water from getting through, tension and control block the flow of energy. Give this powerful force the opportunity to flow through you, to work for you, by releasing mental and physical tension; including attachment to a specific outcome. You can release tension through exercise, meditation, spending time with family, in nature or with animals, whatever helps you relax your nervous system.
Surrendering takes time and practice so be forgiving with yourself. And if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. When you get it right, you’ll know. Things will start working out again, and you can get back to taking action on all those new ideas and opportunities coming your way.
I hope you found this article helpful. If so, like it, share it, and let me know what resonated. Also, buy Melody’s book! It’s sure to support you on your journey, whatever it may be.
Originally published at www.linkedin.com