Rev. Russ this Wednesday Evening -- What If We Truly Surrendered?

What if I truly surrendered? This is a question I often ask myself. But, to what am I surrendering?

Spirit. The Self within. That part of me that is the core of who I am when I take away all my agendas and fears and expectations and beliefs and opinions.

Psychologist Richard Schwartz defines the Self as that eternal part of us that is wise, and that embodies the following qualities:

Compassion, Courage, Clarity, Calm, Creativity, Curiosity, Connectedness, Confidence

Additionally, there are five P words that describe the Self:

Presence, Perspective, Playfulness, Persistence, Patience

Knowing this, the question for me then becomes, what might happen if I were to surrender fully into these qualities of my wise Self? Believe it or not, the answer can sometimes be frightening.

You see, I have parts of my mind that like to keep me safe, as we all do, and they sometimes don't find these qualities of Self to be safe. Sometimes when we grow up, our natural compassion comes out in a situation, and we are punished for it because another. person in that situation may themselves feel as though that compassion is unsafe. Our mind builds defenses to keep these qualities at bay, because our safety comes first. This can happen for any of these qualities.

Tonight in our Wednesday Evening Service, I will be speaking about my own experience with surrender, and how making a spiritual practice out of surrender has helped me to grow more fully into the eight C and five Ps of the Self.

I look forward to you joining me at 7pm in the Social Hall!

-Russ

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