Surrender

Some days, it seems all I can do is to surrender.
For most of us, that's not an easy assignment! And it's remarkable that it's not easy, because "surrender" doesn't cost anything, doesn't require us to do any work, and will probably give us more than it takes away, unlike most things in life.

Surrender, letting go, trusting... simple words. "Simple, but not easy," as they say in the 12-step rooms.

Through the years of my spiritual/life journey, I've learned some tricks to help me to let go. They don't make it any easier, but they remind me that part of me wants to surrender, to accept, to trust whatever is happening - inside of me or outside of me.
One trick is what I call "The God Box." "The God Box" is an actual box - a small one, I would think, which is placed in a safe place. "A safe place" is a place where no one else is inclined to go poking around to see what is in that little box!

My God Box is on a shelf right above the beautiful, refinished secretary where I keep the bills to be paid and an adding machine, until I'm ready to pay the bills each month. No one but me looks at the shelves above the enclosure where the bills are kept (I'm about 100% sure of this).

When I have something to surrender - a feeling, a relationship, a question, a problem, a concern, a person - I write that on a piece (scrap) of paper and place it in the God Box.

Then I go back to what I was doing. Which is usually: worrying about whatever I've placed in the God Box. Only this time, I treat that issue differently. I gently remind myself that part of me has already surrendered, trusted, let go of the worry I've put in the God Box. Maybe not all of me is ready, but part of me - even a very, very small part of me - is ready to "let go."

Warmly,
meb