Surrender and Thrive: Spiritual Insights for Personal Growth, Part Two
EP. 11
In this episode of the Mae B Mindful Podcast, host Hannah Mae continues the deep dive into the concept of surrender. Building on the discussion from the previous episode, Hannah explores the importance of surrender, its benefits, and the blocks that make it seem elusive. She shares personal insights and experiences, illustrating how letting go of control can lead to profound transformation and growth. Through practical examples, such as childbirth and creative processes, Hannah highlights how surrender can shift our perception and allow for a more harmonious flow of life.
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Episode Transcript:
Hello, this is the Mae B Mindful Podcast, and I am your host, Hannah Mae. I am a mother of six, a conscious birth instructor and educator, a spiritual growth facilitator, and a certified hypnotist. This podcast is about inspiring hope, expanding awareness and consciousness, and revolutionizing the way we live and experience our lives. You can expect thought-provoking episodes each week, spanning a range of topics drawn from both my journey of transformation and healing and my work with others. I hope you find this podcast informative, refreshing, illuminating, and instrumental in your own soul's evolution and growth. Let's jump right in.
Hello, everybody! Welcome back to the Mae B Mindful Podcast. I am your host, Hannah Mae. This week is part two of the surrender discussion we opened and began to unpack. This week, I really wanted to dive deeper into some of those concepts, exploring the benefits, why it's important, and the things that might block us or make surrender feel elusive and sometimes inaccessible. Whether we're just not understanding how to take that action, since it is often an internal action, and we're so used to affecting change through doing and thinking that we feel we have to exert our will to make a change—just do more. When really, surrender is about doing less. While there are some correlating actions that will follow and align with that, it's really not about adding anything new; it's about letting go and letting go of control because that, of course, is the opposite of surrender.
So, what makes surrender important? What is it costing you not to do it? What blocks and impediments might be preventing you from doing it? I'll share a bit about my experience and journey with this ongoing evolutionary process. With anything we practice and give our attention to, we continue to grow and evolve our understanding. My hope is that I will leave this conversation with more awareness and some inspiration along the way, and I hope it inspires a new facet of understanding that you may already have, allowing you to integrate it into your life for better results. Because let's face it, we all have something, and even once we think we've mastered it in one area of our life, I know for me, it still shows up somewhere.
There's always somewhere that I'm not letting go. So, it is an allowing, a softening, an accepting, and a trusting. After all, as we discussed a little bit in the first episode, you can't really surrender unless there’s something else you trust. We're not designed to not have a solution. It would be ridiculous to expect yourself to put down what you believe is a solution under the illusion of control and then expect to have no safety net. We are these vessels. St. Catherine of Siena, in her conversations with God, used beautiful metaphors, one of which is about the climb, the endurance required, and the vessel of the heart—how nothing can remain empty. We are designed to be filled. We are light beings, and light is the only thing that can truly nourish and bring more vibrancy to something that already is light.
The downside of trying to take things into our own hands without surrender and change through control is that we create struggle and resistance, magnifying the problem and creating more problems. Along the way, we clutter up and add false solutions that block us and our intuition. We're all intuitive beings to some degree, some more sensitive or gifted in certain areas than others. But the point is whether you can move into the flow of life, moving with ease and doing this dance with the energy that meets you in your current circumstances. Often, you can't control these circumstances, and if you try, you might not be acting in accordance with who you truly want to be, missing the peace and synchronicity life offers when we move into a different place with it.
Regardless of the area of your life, this applies to each and every circumstance and situation you encounter. The degree of conflict experienced in these exchanges with life will determine our state of being and feelings, directly correlating to the degree of acceptance, flow, and surrender we have. This doesn't mean, as I said in the first episode, that we lay down our weapons and let life steamroll us. It means we stop operating from an unaware and unconscious place, becoming open and clear to receive direction on the right action, allowing a different experience.
This shift can dramatically alter our experience with the very same circumstances we once fought and had a negative experience with. On the flip side, we can have the exact opposite experience. I'll share some experiences and examples of that later in the episode.
Before I get too distracted and off-topic, let me underpin this a bit. We know control is an illusion, right? We know that. But it doesn't mean we won't try to control things, especially if it seems to be working to some degree. Usually, the pain of something has to outweigh the benefit of operating under the illusion of control. When that happens, we're challenged, and as uncomfortable and dysfunctional as it feels, it's actually an incredible gift because it pushes us into new action.
To get a totally different result, we have to take a totally different action. Practically speaking, this makes sense, but while simple, it can be disconcerting because it means facing our fear. Fear often upholds basic human instincts that feel threatened, but it’s usually not what we think it is. If there's a block or breakdown in what happens if we let go or jump, it can feel like jumping off a cliff. The question is, will you be caught? Do you trust that you will be caught?
I align with the belief that surrender is the doorway to the Divine, accessing the Divine, and aligning with the Divine will. My will aligns with the Divine will, which wants what's best for me, even if it looks different on the surface. Everyone is at a different place with this journey, and being able to identify and clear the blocks, obstacles, fears, and beliefs preventing us from taking action is crucial for bridging the gap from control to letting go, to actually surrendering and pressing into something new.
This doesn't happen magically; we usually come into trust through new awareness, curiosity, and understanding. For example, with childbirth, to trust the natural process, we must understand and learn about it, reconditioning societal and cultural views to soften into a new experience. My early introduction to the concept of surrender through 12-step programs pushed me into this path, and while it was uncomfortable, it helped me shift and become receptive to doing and seeing things differently.
I love a good formula, and once I understood the formula for success through surrender, even with small, seemingly monumental things, I began to see magical results without overexertion and frustration. This experience built a new pattern, and while I once viewed surrender as an occasional tool, I now understand it as a state of being.
Through a series of challenging events, I learned that surrender is not just an event but a state of being, and although it involved a long, dark night of the soul, it built endurance, understanding, and conditioning that brought desired results. Prayers are answered in ways that most benefit us, and the last segment of my surrender period taught me that surrender is a state of being, not an occasional tool.
Life is a climb, and while we get reprieves, challenges build our endurance. The spiritual path is like a good yoga practice; it takes physical endurance and strength, but the practice of surrender continues to grow and expand, offering no ceiling or bottom. It's an ever-expanding concept that we can always deepen and expand into, as long as we are willing.
Surrender is like a muscle burn in yoga. Pressing into the stillness of a pose creates growth and strength, and while uncomfortable, it passes and makes you stronger. This practice of surrender, while spiritual, builds spiritual endurance and strength.
Surrender used to be an event for me, but now I see it as a process and a state of being. Through challenging life events, I was invited into surrender, experiencing a long dark night of the soul that built endurance and understanding. Although I did not enjoy it, it brought results I had long desired, answering prayers in ways that most benefited me.
Understanding the formula for success through surrender in small things led to magical results without overexertion and frustration. My experience built a new pattern, and I now understand surrender as a state of being rather than an occasional tool.
Surrender and control cannot coexist. Once we understand the dynamics and things that get in the way, we can bridge the gap, moving into a new dimension of existence and experiencing life differently. This is incredible, and I look forward to continuing this conversation.
Please stay tuned for announcements about offerings and classes on this subject. I love you guys. Until next time, bye.
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