I have long thought of the human experience as being defined by what happens when 3D, tangible, Earth reality interfaces with the Divine. We are all living out various combinations of these two aspects. Most of us are pretty connected to (if not dominated by) the physical world, meanwhile having varying degrees of connection to, and consciousness of, the spirit.
Something that has stood out for a while in my work with individual clients is this: The more spiritually conscious you become, the more you begin to prioritize where and how you focus, the more your energy shifts from the external world to the internal world.
In other words, the things you feel a healthy obligation to do for your life to go right become more about your interior condition.
This can be a stressful and confusing transition for people because the “real” world is awfully persuasive. Things just don’t take care of themselves, right? And usually people feel like they don’t have a lot of extra time to spend on something as abstract and mysterious as their inner lives. It’s more of a luxury.
Until it isn’t.
Eventually there comes a point on your path where you begin to understand the profound effect your Spirit has on how every part of your life unfolds. With this awareness comes the demand that you deliberately involve it to an increasingly greater degree. And this point of view is in direct conflict with the one that says, “But if I don’t organize and schedule my life, monitor my kids, create and execute my career plan, and make sure all the other little details of my life are handled, there will be chaos!”
Again, this argument is very persuasive, seeming rational, reasonable, and responsible. I would argue, however, that it’s a little like an athlete saying “I can’t afford to exercise, pay attention to my diet, practice with my teammates, or study the game plan. I’m too busy focusing on the game!”
Being in shape, having the support of the team, and the guidance of a skilled coach greatly enhances your performance and the results of the game. By insisting on trying to control your life, you are also consigning yourself to having to figure it all out and do everything by yourself. In addition, insisting on this approach in the face of your Spirit’s desire to participate almost always results in the ever-diminishing effectiveness of your efforts in the “real” world.
In this case “surrender” doesn’t mean not working hard; it means changing your idea of what the work is. It doesn’t mean giving up; it means giving up trying to tightly manage both the results and how they are achieved. Remember: our attachment to (the illusion of) control can show up as the need to dominate the process, but it can also be a desperate attempt to just keep up and stave off entropy.
Next time, we will take a closer look at what working on your inner life can look like and see some examples of results.
This is the kind of Spiritual terrain I help my clients navigate. If your Spirit is prompting you to have a conversation like this one, I encourage you to get in touch with me.