Sweet Surrender
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Reflections on Sweet Surrender: Tis the Season

December 2, 2012

Today’s Sweet Surrender service acknowledged the Season of Winter, which includes the power of the Winter Solstice to help us see the light within through even the darkest transitions, the potential of growth through Stillness and the purpose of reflecting on the past, being in the present and projecting the future.  

We remembered that life is composed of multiple cycles and seasons, which exist not only to sustain life on this planet, in this hemisphere, in this region, but also to serve as living examples of ways in which we, as humans, can sustain ourselves.  By aligning with and drawing upon the energy and attributes of any given cycle or season, we can help ourselves to act in accordance with our values, virtues and personal vows in order to honor our own sense of self worth and fulfillment.

The role of memory is essential to the Creative Life Process of living and learning as we cannot balance our thoughts and actions if we do not engage in a practice of reflection.  Reflection requires that we take the time to renew our connection to the Source within the Source of Oneself in order to recall, remember, and recognize the cycles we have completed, are in or are entering. 

Before technology replaced our minds as memory drives, we used and relied upon memory much more frequently, intentionally and actively than we do now. Cultures with oral traditions produced masters of memory to preserve their culture’s wisdom, medicine, practical knowledge and histories. The Winter, by imposing stillness and closeness on the people, provided an optimal time to practice the faculty of remembering the stories, lessons, legends and events from the past that would be retold and relived through imagination, and which were responsible for shaping and sustaining the collective consciousness of past, present and future generations. 

Aboriginal cultures, who directly felt the physical impact of seasonal changes, were very mindful of them and aligned their daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities with these changes.  Our health, physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally, is still intertwined with the seasons although our modern media/consumer driven culture does not help us to remember this.  In addition to reflecting on what has already come to be, we can use this time to reflect on what's coming into being.  The fertile stillness of Winter enhances our mental receptivity to visions, intuitions and dreams of what could be. 

So, using the potential of the Winter Season we grew through the stillness discovering our human form through our senses as if for the first time.  Then, applying the power of the Winter Solstice as a celestial turning point, we aligned our own energies and focus to sit at the center of ourselves, in reverie of the year past and projecting visions of ourselves into the year ahead.  Looking back, looking within and looking ahead helps us to see our way through the transitions occurring in our own lives no matter what the season!

Once again, the wisdom harvested from this Sweet Surrender was most abundant. Each participant walked away feeling replenished and reconnected to their own Source and more acutely aware of where they've been, where they are and where they want to be.

In this way, we witnessed one another perceiving our own growth...

...moving from a past of 
"unraveling, exploring and discovering to a present of re-identifying, readjusting and rooting to a future of being rooted, grounded and home." 

...from a past of  
"making life work, keeping the box together, overflowing beyond capacity and breaking apart to a present of letting go and letting God teach the way to recreate and trust intuitively in order to loosen the mind and find myself to a future of being in tune with my highest self, creating a new life that is beautiful and allows for the edges to still be undefined for expansion." 

...from a past of 
"uncertainty, confusion, lacking trust and mental clarity to a present of discovery, openness, and acceptance of new ideas, to a future of being at peace with myself, enabled to hear God's voice on a regular basis and receive the spiritual connection I feel."

...from a past of 
"more or less doing what I liked and feeling connected to the people I worked with to a  

 present of feeling unvalued, disconnected and unfulfilled in my career to a future of  

 changing my situation and finding fulfillment again."

...from a past of

"divesting my energies towards the progress and profits of other people's projects to a present of placing my visions at the center of my efforts and producing my own projects to a future of spiritual alignment and personal fulfillment that leads to self mastery, earning substantial income, and gaining credibility from the pursuit of my own projects."