Ha! I love how this card talks about resigning as the GENERAL MANAGER OF THE UNIVERSE.

I’m so tired of clinging to that job. Looking forward to seeing what happens with my life when I resign!

Hi Everyone -

I understand the difference between surrender and giving up. Surrender is so empowering.

I love the raft/canoe image on this card about “the futility of resistance.” No wonder I am often “exhausted.” Under the guise of being a good person, I am carrying and directing things that are not mine to do.

Yep. This is my life. I am grateful for my obvious blessings and my hidden ones, too. I live in city which has the second fewest number of days of sunshine in the US. For me, accepting help feels like the warm rays of the sun. So appreciated.

Ah, this one is perfect for me this week.

This morning, I’m working on my first 100 points for surrendering. I’m cleaning up my grandson’s weekend chaos around the house and noticing that it doesn’t really take ALL that long, instead of mentally screaming that ‘Kids should pick up after themselves’ and ‘I’m not his servant, dammit.’

And the question “What thought, belief, or expectation would I have to give up in order to surrender my resistance?” What a great question! (Sounds like one of Mona’s, that leaves me thinking for two weeks.)

For starters, I could give up the beliefs
– kids should pick up after themselves,
– people who live with me should be neat,
– if you tidy up after another person you’re their servant, and
– there’s something wrong with being a servant.

I want to make up ground here, because I failed to get a single point from the Excuse card last week.

Yay! I wrote in my journal – and awarded myself some points… Surrendering to the process and jumping in where I am rather than faulting myself for being “so far behind” earned me 100 pts. I also surrendered to my tiredness last night and went to bed early and then got up at 4:30 rather than trying so hard to get back to sleep. Found out that the world is very much alive in PHX at this time…local news on all major TV stations. Great to connect on the call last night even though I felt crummy with a headache and congestion. Hearing on the news just HOW bad the pollen is right now. I’m not alone in being miserable!

There’ve been a lot of opportunities to surrender to things lately. Geeze.

One stands out to me – last night I was feeling really stubborn about something and after fighting with that for a while and trying to hold on to my “stuff” eventually I just took a few deep breaths and let my attachment go…

It was a little nerve wracking to let it down…because I was afraid of what life would be like without my attachment. (I was trying to hold on to a certain state of being that I thought felt good…so I was afraid of feeling yucky on the other side of it.)

Interestingly enough…

This morning when I woke up the sores in my mouth were going away more. So my mouth is totally healing without me having “done” anything to it or taken any particular medicine. So that’s a lovely surprise to my day.

Pretty nice to have let go my attachment and worry about what was going on with my mouth last night on the call with you all.

Tonight – noticing some more clingingness/resistance to what’s happening with people dynamics in my community and that’s uncomfortable.

I’m going to go write out the answers to the questions from the card like we did last night but this time about this people dynamic as the topic.

@MARYANN – Totally know what you mean about the guise of being a good person and taking on stuff that isn’t yours. That’s what I thought of with the whole “general manager of the universe” thing.

@NANCY – Nice to see your post. Are you giving yourself a hard time in any way for not having earned points last week with the Excuse card? If you are, how might you be a little gentler with yourself as you keep going in this week?

That’s cool that you’re seeing it doesn’t take all that much time to do the pick up. Sounds like it probably takes you less time to do that than it takes you to get emotionally worked up over those beliefs that you mentioned. Ugh. Kinda like you were saying that you’d rather have 5 days of suffering type of thing instead of just taking 15-20 minutes to do your TMS journaling, but the reverse.

With the clean up, you opted for the quick way – do you see a way that the same dynamic could happen around the TMS work?

What thought, beliefs, or expectation did you give up that let you pick up the stuff instead of suffering over it emotionally for much longer?

@SUZANNE: What a great idea you gave me. The surrendering to tiredness is a good one to watch for. Sometimes I fight that. This afternoon I did in fact – though when I REALLY got sleepy, I did lay down on my office floor for 4 minutes with my eyes closed.

So eventually I did surrender to the tiredness. And that little tiny 4-min. thing did get me through the rest of my deadline that I was working with.

I’m going to watch for that tonight – surrendering to whatever it is that I’m feeling in terms of sleepiness. Thanks!

I really understand this weeks card. It is easy to think you are responsible for everyones well being and success. I have stressed about things that my kids need to do. Instead of nagging my daughter about violin practice, I told her once and let it go. Later on in the evening she was playing.

My other daughter has some vision issues. She has to do her exercises. That is a no excuse item and it gets done come _____ or high water.

I am picking my battles. Some things I recognize as problems and then think about if it is really my problem to solve. Then I say out loud, “That’s not my problem.” It helps me to recognize it and let it go. Even though I would like to solve all of the problems of the world, I can’t.

I have noticed that I am a calmer person knowing that I can’t solve everything. :>

This was a tough week for me in a lot of ways and this Surrender card, sitting on my coffee table so I would see it at least twice daily, kept reminding me that I could just surrender….I did have a choice…

And so, over the course of the week I did – on several big fronts.

I surrendered to thinking I was in charge of my schedule and instead simply gave in to “following the simple directions” from this job or that job… and worked a lot. And I probably will again next week. The surrender enabled me to feel grateful for all this work helping me pay off my credit card… to feel needed and appreciated… to feel abundant as I negotiated even more money for at least part of this big special project. In surrendering the belief that “I can’t work all the time”, I am finding that, in reality, I am not. I’m just working.. this moment.. this hour.. today.. tonight… and it’s ok.

I am also moving toward a surrender regarding where I live. For almost 20 years I have lived in Florida. My family is in Pennsylvania and I am slowing allowing thoughts of moving back there enter my mind… this week with “surrender” on my mind I’ve been just allowing the thoughts and feelings to wash over me. I guess I’ll see where that topic goes in the coming weeks and months.

So, for the point count I guess I have earned 300. I’m wondering what next week’s card will be…..

@RACHEL – Good for you for seeing that you can pick your battles. Some things (many things that don’t involve life or death situations or health issues) are just NOT as big of a deal as we tend to make them out to be. And it gets us way wound up and stressed out pretending that they are. It sounds like you’re finding a great balance with your daughters and their violin and eye practices.

@CHRISTI – Sounds like a big week for you for sure. Lots of opportunities to surrender around some pretty big topics in your life like your relationship and where you live. Good for you with just doing the thing in front of you with the work you were doing. That seems to be how you made it through. And also nice to see that you’re not actually working all the time. It seems/feels like that sometimes maybe, but the truth is you’re only working when you are.

I posted the new topic for this week up and sent you an email about it. I’m looking forward to this one because when I think about it now it feels light and easy. I really like light and easy. :-)

Mona…. yeah, one of my friends said all I do is work. I heard that and it felt really heavy… so I asked if it was true.

And it wasn’t. I ate dinner with Joe every night last week. So I wasn’t working then.

I ran or exercised every morning last week, so it wasn’t then.

I ran at the park 2 days last week after work, so it wasn’t then.

I took at least 2 baths… so it definately wasn’t then.

I filled out paperwork for my mother so she can get married again in the Catholic church and had a conference call with my brother and sister about it – so it wasn’t then.

Yesterday I went shooting and played “cowboy” for 5 hours, so it wasn’t then.

And this morning I rode BOTH my horses and enjoyed being in the country with them, so I wasn’t working then either!!! :)

and I am pretty sure I slept at least 5 hours every night. So, Nope…. I was working when I was… and I sure wasn’t when i wasn’t. :)

WOW, I really surrendered this week.
I surrendered to my ex boyfriend telling me he had a new girlfriend.
I surrendered to him telling me he didn’t want to have contact with me anymore and haven’t called him even though I’ve wanted to.
I ‘ve surrendered to not knowing what’s right for me in the bigger picture other than it’s not to be with him.
I surrendered to my dad offering me alot of money and then telling me I had to pick him or my mum if I wanted to get it and chose to stay in my truth.
I surrendered to the feelings that came up about the end of this relationship with out trying to move away from them or change them.
I also surrendered to the fact that there’s nothing missing in my life riight now and it looks how it’s meant to although that ones a ittle harder to surrender too constantly.
pipx