Dearest Seekers,
Happy Friday!
And here we go again—another week in the trenches. Another seven days we won’t live again. Another new moon hanging in the sky. Another day, another dollar. Another week of handling the unthinkable things happening on this planet — and yet, my friends, another blessed day to appreciate the outrageous gift of being alive.
Me? I’m just over here trying to let go of all of it. The chaos, the control, the grasping. And I confess, landing back in America (particularly our wounded Los Angeles) is not exactly a walk in the park, especially compared to those enveloping British ones I marched about in daily…
Anyway, over the last few months, two very tuned-in spiritual teachers have been delivering the exact same message to me at the exact same time. Not just whispering either - yelling. About the art, and dare I say, the ease, of L E T T I N G G O.
(deep breath)
The truth is, on holiday or on retreat, it’s easy to feel holier than thou. There’s very little resistance. But bringing that state into daily reality? That’s where the real work begins.
And yet…I think I’m actually beginning to get it.
Not all at once—but little by little. One teeth-clenching moment at a time, my jaw is releasing. I’m here. I’m present. Everything is fine. (Ha!) At least until my mind chirps: But how can I stretch this present moment thing out a bit longer?
Well, I’ve been practicing.
One guide says, “You’re doing too much. Hand it over to your team. Stop working yourself to the bone—let your spiritual guides take the helm.” Let it go.
The other says something like this: “The only thing you should even attempt to control are the bones in your own body—your reactions, neuroses, thoughts, behaviors. Stay. In. Your. Lane, girl. Don’t try to control someone else’s driving while you’re crashing into the median.”
Oof.
I’ve painted surrender a hundred times, maybe hoping the act itself would hit the “self-abnegation” switch. (It did not.) Apparently, you can’t will surrender into existence through aesthetic osmosis. But I’ll still do it anyway. :)
So what finally made the penny drop?
Yes, the double-whammy of spiritual messages from both sides. But more than that, it was this:
I finally felt how, energetically, the desperate grip of control repels what you want. Its gnarly, clenched-up frequency creates torque in the field. It distorts. It delays. It demands—and so everything retreats further. I feel I’m also watching it play out in real time politically. The last grasp and all that…
Because the resistance and control, keeps the very thing you long for pinging away from you.
Worry works the same way.
One of the books that continues to school me in this?
The Surrender Experiment. By Michael A. Singer.
And then there’s also the channeler Bashar, who reminds us:
“Everything that comes to you, whatever it is that's coming to you, is exactly perfect for what it is. Use it, stay in the positive state and use it. It wouldn't be there if there wasn't a reason for it. You need to trust the way reality works. You need to trust the mechanism. You need to trust the structure. Just go with the flow, relax. Because if you know that no matter what happens, it's always going to benefit you, what do you care what happens?" -Bashar
Right.
Now back to the breath.
Back to presence.
Back to releasing my grip.
Again and again.
Come surrender with me Monday July 28 —on Zoom at 5pm PDT or in person at the studio in santa Monica at 7.30pm. I’m opening the windows up SUPER WIDE so we can send all those white flags out into the burning hot sun.
I love you. Keep going.
Emma
“No matter who we are, life is going to put us through the changes we need to go through. The question is: Are we willing to use this force for our transformation? I saw that even very intense situations don’t have to leave psychological scars, if we are willing to process our changes at a deeper level.”
Michael Singer
All of these iceberg paintings were made by me back in the day on the topic of ‘surrender’
