Fearlessly Feral Living!

Surrender!?!?!?!?!

July 15, 2020 Karen Season 1 Episode 6
Fearlessly Feral Living!
Surrender!?!?!?!?!
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Show Notes Transcript

Surrender is not typically a New Thought topic, except that it is.  We just call it something different.  We call it releasing with love.  Or accepting the gift.  Or changing our thinking to change our life.

Join me for this discussion on surrendering, New Thought style.

Links in this episode:  www.cslcc.org, for supporting our mission:

Our MISSION is to provide a strong and unshakeable inner foundation that works for long term successful living.

Our PURPOSE is activating inner self awareness to live unlimited lives.

Our VISION is a world in which everyone lives Fearlessly Feral.

Alternatively, you can go to https://www.patreon.com/Fearlesslyferal?fan_landing=true and become a member! 

We also have a private Facebook group called Fearlessly Feral Living where we discuss podcast topics and other things too!  You can join by going here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/255310015873757/?ref=share

Support the show

Fearlessly Feral episode 6

 Welcome to Fearlessly Feral Living!  Broadcasting to you from the Woogie Ranch, out here in the back 40 of northwestern Nevada, where I’m a half hour away from the nearest gas station and grocery store! This is a podcast devoted to using New Thought principles to ensure successful creative living.  Successful living begins from within us and moves outward.  Change your thinking and change your life.  Today we are going to talk about surrender.

This topic was requested and I want to mention that I do try and honor requests for podcast topics.  The request came through on my Fearlessly Feral facebook page, and I’ve got some other requests there too!  Stay tuned because eventually I’ll get to them all and join us there for wonderful conversations. 

Left to my own devices, I would not have chosen this for a topic.  Because surrender is not one of my favorite topics.  But really, is it anyone’s favorite topic?  It’s like a scapegoat, it is everyone’s favorite whipping boy.  “Sigh....I guess I need to surrender.  I HATE surrendering!”  But let’s explore it shall we?  I’m a new thought person through and through.  And surrender is not typically discussed in New Thought circles.  At least not in the ones I hang out in.   

Oh sure, it is in there.  But it isn’t called surrender.  It’s called releasing what does not serve you.  It’s called finding the gift.  It is called accepting the gift.

Surrender seems to be like a four letter word on steroids, it is something everyone says they want to do but no one really wants to do it.  

So let’s talk about what surrender really is, according to some research. Then I will tell you what I think it is.  Which is based in new thought.

Look it up in the dictionary and you get this:   

1.      to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress: to surrender the fort to the enemy; to surrender the stolen goods to the police.

2.      to give (oneself) up, as to the police. 

3.      to give (oneself) up to some influence, course, emotion, etc.: He surrendered himself to a life of hardship.

4.      to give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, hope, etc.). 

5.      to yield or resign (an office, privilege, etc.) in favor of another.

No wonder people don’t like the word or the concept. Give up, yield.  Ugg.   

Look up surrender in the Science of Mind textbook and you discover it is used a total of 14 times.  That isn’t very many times in a book that is almost a thousand pages long.  It isn’t listed in the glossary of the book, nor is it listed in the metaphysical bible dictionary.

It’s really not a new thought thing, surrender.  And yet, here in the US, we live in a predominately Christian culture, which means we sometimes think in Christian terms even if we don’t claim the faith.  And even if we do, we still don’t like surrendering much.

Hence I get people asking about surrender all the time.  I remember when I was first presented with the word and the concept.  I was living a new life, one without alcohol, for the first time in 32 years.  And I was being presented with some tools for successful living without alcohol.  One of those tools was surrender.  My mentor told me, “surrender to win!”  I had no clue what that meant.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that in being open to a process, in saying yes to a process of opening up to new ways of thinking and being, I was surrendering.  And I won.  And I continue to do so.

So really, a surrender is not a giving up, nor is it a yielding, not really.  Except that it is.  It is, in its simplest form,  a giving up of old ways of thinking.  It is a yielding to new ways of thinking.

This inherently makes surrendering uncomfortable.  Because who in the hell likes to give up their old ways of thinking?  And then, if one gets that far, who likes being in that unknown place where we say, “ok, I’ve given up my old ways of thinking, what now?”  Because then we have to wait a bit before new ways of thinking are revealed.  

It is all a process.  That place of the unknown is the hallway.  So a door closes.  Or, we close a door.  We say to ourselves, “self, this isn’t working any more.  And we close the door.”  And now we are in that place of uncertainty.  What now?  What next?  I was once told, by my father, “a lot of doors are going to open for you, don’t stand behind them when they do.”  And my mom used to be fond of saying, “don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.”  If you are wondering why I grew up slightly confused, now you know.  Anyway, I think both statements illustrate the same principle.  There are doorways in our lives.  And sometimes they get closed for us (notice I said FOR us, not TO us). Because it has been my experience that EVERY time a door is closed, is is ALWAYS for the best for me.  It may not feel like the best at the time, but it has been that way every time.  And sometimes we close the doors by making conscious decisions to think in different ways.  And then we move into that hallway.  That place of uncertainty.  And here is the beauty of the hallway. 

We get to choose.  We get to choose which direction to go in.  We get to choose which doorway to open.  We get to choose.

So really, we really do surrender to win.  It is just that there are some steps in between the surrender and the winning.  

Here are the steps:  a door closes.  You get fired, or divorced, or sick.  Or you lose your house.  Something happens.  Door firmly closed.  That way of life is no longer available.  Or, the closed door might be a bit more subtle.  We might be asked to do things in a different way.  We might be asked to change our lifestyle.  

Lack of surrender means we say, Oh hell no!  I’m not changing my lifestyle, I’m not changing my thoughts, I’m not changing my beliefs. I am absolutely not even going to consider doing things differently, not on any level.  Why?  Why would we so stubbornly stick to things that are obviously not working?  Because there is a part of us that is so frightened of the unknown that we would rather stick with the known than go into that unknown place.  Even if the known isn’t working so well.

By the way, next week (July 23) I’ll be teaching a 4 week class called the Art of Uncertainty.  It is based on the book of the same name by Dennis Merritt Jones.  Take the class, you will be glad you did.

Onward:

But see, I see all those refusals as a refusal to accept all the gifts that life has to give us.  Not open to new experiences?  Fine, stay stuck!  How’s that working for you?  

Surrendering means we are open.  

Now, openness implies vulnerability.  And being vulnerable is not a place most people will go to willingly.  Surrender into it?  Not a chance.  But stick with me here.  What if vulnerability and surrender were the only ways that we could step into something new and greater for us in our lives? What if vulnerability and surrender were the avenues towards living fearlessly feral?  What then?

So when the doors close, instead of fighting that closed door and trying to reopen it, to go back to what was, we simply say bye.  We release with gratitude and love.  Gratitude because whatever happened, it got us here.  And here is a sweet place to be if we are open.  Because it is gods good pleasure to give us the kingdom.  But we have to be open enough to accept it.  And that ain’t gonna happen if we are fighting.  We refuse the kingdom if we fight.

So the first step is to recognize when a door closes.  Because sometimes those doors are a bit subtle.

The next step, we don’t fight it.  We don’t resist it.  We don’t go to google and find examples and research to justify our decision to fight.  We don’t spend energy we don’t have to fight.  We don’t argue with folks about it.  We just recognize that what was no longer is.  There might be some grieving involved.  If so, do the grieving.  Grieving is different than fighting.  In fact, allowing ourselves to grieve is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves.

Next step, open up to possibilities.  This hallway place is the sweetest ever place to be, because here is where the choices are. Here is where we can have some fun with it.  Because we are going to a place we’ve never been, we can sit down and imagine all sorts of possibilities. 

We can visualize.  You know, that’s that stuff where we actually picture what we want.  You ever done a vision board? That’s invoking that  Law of attraction, version 101!  Vision boards can be the beginning of all great things in our lives.  Do a vision board.  Write about your ideal. 

We can vision.  This is different than visualization.  Visioning is a powerful spiritual practice where we go into a meditative state and ask for gods vision for us.  

And we strengthen and/or renew our faith.  You know, that thing that allows us to know that god is everywhere present and all good all the time, and so even this situation is good.  It is all good.  And not in that cynical spiritual bypass way.  Truly good.  Knowing that we can access that good when we become open to it, instead of fighting it.  Here’s an example:  let’s say you break up with your significant other.  Saying you found the good because you are no longer tied down and will never get in a relationship again is spiritual bypass.  Finding the things you are grateful for in that relationship, and discovering your part in it, that’s good yummy stuff right there.  Introspection, finding out more things about ourselves in a gentle and compassionate way.  That is finding the good.  Then we enter the hallway.  That place where we have discovered some truths about ourselves and decided to make some changes, maybe only in the ways we think, but perhaps also in the ways we show up in the world.  And in that hallway is where we begin to get ideas.  That hallway is actually a very fun place to be.

And I am here to tell you, if you have done your inner work and you are in that hallway,  if you have an idea, the yes is in there somewhere.  This is a basic result of the principle of oneness.  That principle that says that god is a part of us and we are a part of it.  Where do you think those ideas came from?  If we have an idea, there is a way to make it happen.  Now, disclaimer here.  I’m not talking about ideas we get when angry, sad, mad or any other heightened state of emotion.  Those ideas?  Throw them away.   Right now.  I’m talking about the ideas that come to us when we’ve surrendered.  When we’ve done our spiritual practices.  When we are feeling at peace with ourselves and the the world.  Those ideas.  Those are the ones.

And here is where the choice comes in.  Because those ideas?  Doors.  Lots of doors.  And we get to choose.  

So much beauty in choice.  Empowerment.  Knowingness, peace. Support.   

So, if you are being asked to surrender, go for it!  Jump on in, the water is fine!  Give up those old ways of thinking, grieve if it is called for, then play with some visioning, some visualization, some faith and see what happens.  It will be great.   I guarantee it.

 Outro:

I thank you for listening, and I know that it is no accident that you are here.  I affirm your greatest good!  I affirm your inherent divinity, and that that divinity shows up in your life as wisdom, prosperity, peace and unconditional love.  I know that you are the place where God shows up in this world.  I love you, and I support you.

 Fearlessly Feral Living is sponsored by Center for Spiritual Living Carson City Nevada, a teaching chapter.  

Our MISSION is to provide a strong and unshakeable inner foundation that works for long term successful living.

Our PURPOSE is activating inner self awareness to live unlimited lives.

Our VISION is a world in which everyone lives Fearlessly Feral.

If you wish to contribute financially to support this mission, you can go to www.cslcc.org and click on the donate button.  

Alternatively, you can go to https://www.patreon.com/Fearlesslyferal?fan_landing=true and become a member!

We also have a private Facebook group called Fearlessly Feral Living where we discuss podcast topics and other things too!  You can join by going here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/255310015873757/?ref=share

I’m currently serving as Interim Minister for Mountainside Center for Spiritual Living in Placerville.  I speak there every other Sunday, and currently all Sunday services are online via Zoom.  Future speaking dates are July 12 and July 19, august 16 and August 30.

I’d love to hear from you!  You can reach me at information@cslcc.org 

Until next time, I am knowing fearlessly feral living for you and for me.