This is the first winter in a while that I've spent in a 4 season climate & I'm just now feeling the percolating of fresh energy and growth below the surface when Spring is on the way. Can you feel it brewing? Hello March!
As I reflect on 2025 and the couple years prior, it's eye opening to see how much has shifted. Not only did I hop coasts and return back east after almost a decade on the west coast, but every area of life has required a major dose of surrender. I know I'm not alone in this!
Funny enough, in the midest of change about a year ago, my soul nudged me to return to the woods of Alachua, Florida, where I spent time on the grounds of The Temple of the Universe. The story of how this temple was built is shared in one of my favorite books, The Surrender Experiment. The woods and hiking trails were a comfort & support as I navigated next steps. Nature has always been my favorite dose of medicine. The trees are in constant surrender, yet remain steady.
Surrender is a concept we hear about more frequently these days, but living a life of true surrender takes courage, faith and trust. We're all students of life, living in one big surrender experiment. It's become clear now more than ever, that whatever surrender phase you're currently moving through, we're being asked to look within and navigate life with our own internal compass: to trust our own hearts over the external noise. So how do we actually do this, especially considering the very noisy world we live in today? Here are a few practices that have supported me:
Meditation: This term gets tossed around often, but the real benefits come with consistency. Good news! A study was done & resutls showed that a single 13 minute meditation session for 8 weeks measureabley improves memory and focus.
Where focus goes, energy flows: The biggest flex we have these days is where we place our focus. If you're feeling stress or anxiety, try removing your attention from mainstream media, and focusing on how you can improve your life by abosrbing positive information you find interesting. Any topic works! If you want to go deeper into the topic of surrender check out the book The Surrender Experiment. I also enjoyed The Untethered Soul.
Journaling: This is one of my most used tools to help process emotion, information, move forward, and even a practice that I use to pray. One excersice you can try is to simply write everything you're feeling without censoring yourself. When complete, shred the papers to release energy. If you're drawn to prayer, write a morning prayer blessing your day. It can take five minutes and there are no rules: Simply write from the heart and ask for divine support.