If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it. ~Toni Morrison
We only feel comfortable when we believe we are in control – whether it is the television remote, our emotions, our career, or the day we have planned for ourselves. When our day, our job, our week, or our relations do not follow our expectations, we are disappointed and disillusioned. Rather than surrender to what is, we insist on what should be!
We work really hard to land the best-paying job with the most perks. We achieve that and finally, feel we are a success. A success! We have money to buy all the toys, take those wonderful vacations, buy a timeshare, really treat yourself and your family to the finer things in life. You have worked so hard all of your life to achieve this ‘life marker’ you feel deserving. You may have focused so much on work and your idea of success, you ignored relationships, your family, even your health – pushing yourself so much, you do not know how to slow down. You cannot remember what it is like to rest! You have not learned to simply ‘be’!
One day, the company you put so much time and attention into goes belly-up; distributing pink slips to every employee late on Friday with your paycheck. You are stunned! What will you do now? You spend every waking hour seeking work again – but work will not come in your given career. You decide to try other fields, changing your resume` to suit another career path. You toss and turn all night. Your stomach is always upset. You wake up with a headache from worry and you become even more stressed out. Each day that passes without a new job, you lose your self-esteem!
Why, how could this be? You are the same person with the same talents, training and talents – but no other employer will even give you an interview.
How can we possibly surrender control? Will we be taken advantage of, used like a door mat by others? What will others think of us if we ‘give in’ without a struggle?
The key word here is ‘struggle’! If you discover every day, each task is a struggle, you are hanging on tight to control, grasping the illusion of control. Honestly, none of us are very much in control. We struggle to maintain the illusion we are in absolute control. Then comes the time when reality destroys your illusions – about who you are, what you do, how you live your life, bringing your deep-seated fears to the surface of your consciousness.
What is the lesson from your higher-self? It is a simple and very necessary lesson in life. You have confused ‘what you do’ and ‘what you have’ with ‘who you are’.
I suggest an exercise that I use in my workshops and seminars. Take a large sheet of paper and create three columns. The first column heading is: RELATIONSHIPS The second column heading is: CAREER The third column is: THINGS The fourth column is: I AM Fill in each column rapidly with the first word or phrase that comes to mind.
Now, put that sheet of paper away. Do not read it again for four weeks. At the end of the four weeks. Take a new piece of paper and write down all of your worries and fears, your concerns – again, write one word or a phrase rapidly without pondering what to write down.
Put that sheet away. Take another new sheet of paper and rapidly write down what you love to do, how often you do it, when you last did it, and with whom you did it or if you were alone. During this time, keep a journal of your dreams. Keep a pad of paper and pen next to your bed. Without opening your eyes when you wake, write key words to describe your dreams or nightmares.
Four weeks has passed, now it is time to review all you have written down over this time. When you read what you have written – do you find you are confused, or have you found clarity? Have you learned to BE, to be in the present, right here, right now?
Have you learned to ‘surrender to the wind’?
Note: Jussta is available for Life Counseling and Readings via Skype. Inquiries via email: jussta@jussta.com
© 2012 Jussta All Rights Reserved
