This month’s theme really hits home for many of us as we find it difficult to surrender and let go of our fears, our thoughts, our emotions and our control. So often, we are ruled by these; allowing ourselves to surrender and to honour the emotions that arise is no easy feat.
When we allow fear to rule our thoughts and emotions, we inevitably become stuck in a past self and experience past thoughts, patterns and feelings. Have you ever stopped to think about what the root cause of these feelings and fears is? How your thoughts define you, your moods, your perspectives, your life balance? And why do we feel the need to have control over everything and others? Enabling yourself to surrender to the moment and the emotions tied to the present or the actual outcome instead of the potential requires you to have trust and acceptance in yourself and the universe.
Neuroscientist, Dr Joe Dispenza’s life work is centered around demystifying the mystical so that people have all the tools within their reach to make measurable changes in their life. He explains, “The people who stop and change fear into an elevated emotion, despite anxiety and the body’s resistance, will tell you they too were afraid about stepping into the unknown, but their passion for their vision was greater than their fear. They will also tell you the effort was worth the reward of what they found on the other side - liberation, freedom, wholeness and more self-love”.
Putting the daily work and rituals in place for ourselves is crucial and enables more compassion, balance and trust. Though sadly, it is also something that is easily pushed aside or neglected as we live our fast-paced lives in our material world. This is where daily rituals become important; like giving time in your day to meditate, to be present with loved ones, to practice forgiveness and gratitude and to check in on your boundaries so that you are able to keep your cup and energy topped up. Without these check-ins, your life balance can become easily unbalanced.
We touch on this later in the month, but something that is extremely dear to us at the Soul Sanctuary and a traditional element of the yogic tradition is living a Ayurvedic lifestyle. Ayurvedic philosophy centres around maintaining health through close attention to balance in one's life through right thinking, diet, lifestyle and use of herbs.
Everyone is unique and fascinating. Our bodies, our mind, our feelings, our thoughts, our personalities, our perspectives, our expressions are all different and this makes us totally and utterly unique.
A balanced life looks different to everyone. Your version of balance could be completely different to your partner’s, friends’, parents’, colleagues', but the main goal is to bring equilibrium to your life amongst the many things you juggle every day, in your physical, mental and emotional form.
To do this, we need to allow ourselves to surrender and to loosen our need of control. To really step back from trying to control every outcome and to control people, to control our life and our future. Allow yourself to trust and surrender to the universe. Believe that everything is unfolding exactly as it's meant to be.
"Yoga is a dance between control and surrender
Between the pushing and letting go
And when to push, and when to let go becomes part of the creative process"
Joel Kramer
