The Art of Surrender

The art of surrender

I’ve been trying to write this article for weeks. I try to write every article for weeks. According to my (self-imposed) deadline, it should have been proof read and sent to you two weeks ago. I’ve never made my article writing deadline yet.

Alright, so it’s a self imposed deadline, and being self-employed I can do what I want, when I want (almost) but I just know that if I really tried my hardest to write this, what comes out won’t be any good. I’ll send it out and when I read it once it’s arrived in my inbox (so I know it’s arrived in yours), I won’t like what I’ve written. I’ll have gotten on my high horse and gone completely off topic. The tone won’t be right, I’ll have missed vitally important information or it’s just plain boring/unreadable.

So what do I do? I bow down to the universal wisdom, my hormones, my tiredness levels and surrender. I give up basically. I can’t do something when I can’t do something. There’s just no point trying.

So how did this article get written? When I surrendered, I trusted that there would be a time at some point this month that I would have the inspiration and energy to write it. And here it is, you’re reading the proof, it worked.

It's the same when I get a cold, or am tired, or just feeling a bit below par. I’ll go and have a lie down, or a walk, or do the minimum I can to get through the afternoon until I can go for a walk or get into bed extra early. If I’m lacking in energy that day, I don’t see the point in wasting any more of my resources trying so hard to do something that really, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that important and can wait (just a bit longer). 15 minutes to half an hour spent recuperating means that I can function far better afterwards than I did before. If I were Prime Minister (Leader of the Universal Peace Party), my wining policy would be to make every work-place in the UK have a Rest & Relaxation Room.

Anyway, I digress. The art of surrender involves:

1. Listening to your body when it tells you it’s time to stop
2. Trusting that you will feel better for taking time out to have a power nap, listen to a relaxing piece of music or go for a refreshing walk in the park
3. Taking action and actually doing whatever it is your body is crying out for
4. Knowing that the time will come for the job to be done and when that time comes, the job will be done with joy, ease and grace.
5. Enjoying the moment and the beauty of life – seek and ye shall find…

Wishing you peace and good health,

Bess