How’s your 2020 shaping up? It’s wild isn’t it?
What’s that saying, “We make plans so God can laugh at them” … ?
I consider myself fairly present, and yet it’s taken me a wee while to adjust that my plans and schemes will have to sit on the back burner, many of them in the “let’s see what happens” pile for some unknowable amount of time.
I would have never expected this virus lockdown with everything being cancelled, I wouldn’t have expected Sumati to get so sick, I just didn’t think that I would need to abandon everything and head in this total homebound caretaker direction.
I’m not the only one … we all have had plans and ideas and a future totally re-arranged. It seems every company I’ve ever walked past on the high street is sending me an email about “these uncertain times” – and look at me, I’ve just added to the pile.
The one thing that it is showing me is the beauty of flexibility. It’s part of what the Ishayas call surrender.
It’s surrendering – giving up – my plans and expectations in exchange for dealing with what is, for what is needed right here and right now.
Personal strife and stress only comes when I don’t surrender to reality: When I get stubborn and pig headed and try and stick with my plan regardless of what reality says. Which is never pretty is it?
Through painful past experience I’ve learnt that surrender is always the smart path.
Go with what is, never against.
Now Joseph Campbell once said something pretty powerful related to surrender. He wrote:
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
We miss out on life itself because we’re too busy planning and thinking about it. Right? It’s here, under our noses, yet we miss out so much because we’re not awake to it.
That puts a whole new take on surrender, does it not? Surrender gives you life.
Frederick Nietzsche talked about surrender in another, but equally powerful way:
“My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it… but love it.”
Not just coping with reality, but LOVING it.
Jettison your expectations and there you will find a different relationship with reality, one based in pure acceptance; and acceptance is always the cornerstone of love.
Beautiful.
But play with it, explore. That’s the deal. You have to test it out. Don’t just discard or accept an idea based on belief or convenience. Put it to the test, here and now, and consistency. Alright?
Whatever you do, keep the peace!
_____
If you missed my talk with Maharani last night, here’s the replay link:
Maharani Ishaya talks about her new book, "Whole-ass: Stop living a half-assed life and enjoy an extraordinary existence. So you can play your part in making this world a better place."
As well as being the longest book title in the world, it’s available now.
She also shares insight into her own spiritual path and waking up, common pitfalls that she's seen, surrender and trust, spiritual guides and teachers, the need for courage, and the importance of doing what you came here to do.
Maharani is super wise, humble and real, as well as very funny. Enjoy!
Go well,
Arjuna