About the Art of Surrender:

A Letter to My Nursing Soul Sisters (and Brothers), Everywhere:

My Beloved Sister,

I could hear the pain in your voice and feel the utter fatigue and exhaustion in your energy, and that deeply concerns me. You are pushing yourself far beyond the limits that your body and mind can tolerate. It is time to Surrender. What I mean by that is, you need to gather all the concerns you have for your family, your patients, your coworkers, and loved ones; and rather than trying to do it all yourself as you see fit, gather all of those concerns, all of the anxiety, all of the pain and confusion, and without conditions, offer it all to your own Higher Power;  God, Allah, Jesus, Mohammad, Divine Mother, Christ or whomever it is that you call upon when your Spirit needs Wisdom, Counsel, Relief, Peace and Unconditional Loving Support. Offer it all to Him/Her, as God knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. He/She knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our karmas that we came here in this lifetime to deal with, He/She knows the highest and best path we must tread in order for all of that stuff to be worked out. 

Yet, we still feel the necessity to carry the whole bag of boulders on our own shoulders. 

I have found that this simply does not work, and by taking the whole bag onto our own shoulders, thinking that we have to know all the answers, leaves no room for Mystery and Miracles. Sometimes, in order for us to really learn a lesson, we need to be fully in it; to experience it in all it's messy totality, to be immersed in it completely. Only then can we really understand, and make corrections. This is true for all of us. We have certain things that we came here to master, but we can not master them until we totally understand them. Sometimes we have to let our patients, our coworkers, our children and our loved ones find out for themselves as they experience the lessons of life. Our skills as a nurse or clinician are indeed limited, no matter how much education & training we may have.  We are often humbled by a situation where it seems that there is nothing more we can do, and we are left feeling helpless and impotent, or, in our discomfort, we either push our own, limited agenda on someone, or we can let go of our limited and sometimes dysfunctional ways of communicating and surrender to the simplicity and comfort of "Beingness". 

Often, the greatest gift we can offer someone is the gift of our presence, in a loving and supportive way.  In Social Work lingo, this is called "using yourself as an instrument".  Our Spiritual Heart is the subtle version of our physical heart, and it is found in the chest region, called the Fourth Chakra, or energy center.  When we are aware of this spiritual energy that radiates from the Heart Chakra, we can consciously utilize it by radiating it outward with our breath and our thoughts.  It has enormous power, if you work on strengthening it through daily meditation. This is when the simple gift of presence, along with the energy of love that emanates from using the Self as an instrument of Peace and Love is so important, and it is often completely underutilized.   By the simple gift of your presence & awareness, you are supercharging the space you are in with peace and acceptance of what is, & you stand beside those patients and loved ones as a Luminous Guide, a Lamp of Wisdom and and most importantly an Incarnation of Unconditional Love. That is your gift to them. Nothing else is necessary. You are their Greatest Gift, and you have within you the capacity to do it with more Love and Wisdom than you ever realized you had within you. 

 You are Precious. Yet, you need to learn how to surrender the bag of boulders that you constantly have hanging over your shoulders, dragging you down, and possibly killing you with it's weight. Because ultimately, God is their True parent, and God is our True Parent. By learning how to surrender and offer the control back to Him/Her, we are acknowledging that God knows better than we do, what needs to be done, and at the right time, in the right way, and in the proper doses.  Surrender does not mean that you are letting go of your concerns for your patients, your friends, colleagues and loved ones; in fact, it is quite the opposite. By giving the control back to the Divine, you are releasing the weight of all the frustration, pain, grief, agony, resentment, fear and confusion to a Higher Power who can take it all into The Divine Heart, with the Strong Intention and Belief that God has the Immense Love and Power to Transmute and Transform even the most hopeless of situations, no matter what the outcome may be.  I try to Practice Surrender in every moment of every day, and the comfort, peace and stillness it brings me is beyond words, and Magical & Miraculous things happen because of it.  When I forget, and I go back into worry and control mode, chaos comes crashing in again.  Just Let Go, Sister. Offer that Huge Bag of Boulders to God, Unconditionally. Trust and Faith are your Companions now.

As much as we'd like to think that we have the power to change what needs to be changed, heal what needs to be healed, support what needs to be supported, and wave our magic wand so that all will be well with the world, we simply don't have that power. The only one we have power over is ourselves. Really, after all these years of being a Mother-to-all, what I have finally realized is that our power comes from LOVE alone. It is the Power of Your Love that works to Heal and to Caress, to Comfort and to Console, to allow someone to be who they are, make mistakes and to also learn from their mistakes by taking responsibility for them and learning from them. Each of us has both gifts and challenges that we bring with us when we incarnate into this world. Some of us have more gifts than challenges, and vice versa. You are one of those Precious and Powerful Souls that comes here with an amazing amount of Gifts that you offer freely to the world. You are an Amazing and Beautiful incarnation of the Divinity. Everyone you touch is changed in some special way, just by being near you. There is no need for you to carry everything on your own shoulders; that just makes everything more difficult and brings you down in the process. Think of God as being a Super-Computer that carries all knowledge and wisdom within itself, in addition to being the Cosmic Generator of Love. Why would you want to carry around a heavy bag of everyone's problems and sorrows when you have access to the Cosmic Super Computer that has the ability to see all, to know all and to solve all manner of problems in a way that we simply can't?  Beloved Sister, Let Go and Let God! Deepen your Faith in in whatever you consider to be your "Higher Power", and Trust that It is there to find the most creative solutions to all problems if you would just let go and give them over,  with Consummate Faith and Trust. If you don't, then I fear that we will loose you to a heart attack or stroke, because you have carried this heavy load for so long. Please consider what I am trying to say, and know that I am saying this out of my deep Respect and Love for you. The world needs you, Sweet One. You are so Precious, and you came here to complete the Dharma (Responsibility) of carrying on an Ancient Lineage, a Sisterhood of Healing. This is your Gift to the world. Do not doubt yourself or entertain fears that are not based in reality. Cultivate your faith in yourself and in your intimate connection to Divinity, in whatever form that takes for you.  Leave the bag of boulders behind and move ahead in faith and trust that God will not only carry it for you, God will transform and transmute it all in the proper way.  Oh, and the Mystery and Miracles I spoke of earlier, well, when we are in the sacred space, even the most confusing of issues can have perfect answers that get whispered into your ear, out of the blue, simply because you were connected to your Higher Power, and you were Listening. 

 Please know that you make a great difference in the life of all the people you serve  and care for, and whether or not you hear that appreciation, the Universe sees it and recognizes each and every act of Kindness, Love, Patience, Empathy, Support, Wisdom, Skill & Competence, Compassion and Respect that you offer to others.  You are Precious, Sweet Sister/Brother. I honor your work as a Healer, and I am always here for you, whenever you need me.

With Love & Peace,

Sanatani Maa

P.S.:  For all you beautiful Male Nurses out there, please forgive me, Brothers, for using "She".  You are precious, caring and wonderful "Instruments", and we are so Blessed to share this journey together.