The Power of Surrender
Medicine for the Soul
This week I am in Brussels, Belgium to lead a workshop with an organization and a masterclass for leaders and coaches. In different ways, both are focusing on Transformational Presence approaches for navigating the complexities and uncertainties of our times. In between, I’m invited to join the Transformational Presence Global Leaders who I have mentored so closely over the last several years for a three-day retreat.
Although my schedule is tight, I didn’t want to miss being with you. And as I quickly looked through my Ideas folder to choose this week’s topic, I came right away to Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem “The Medicine of Surrender.” My heart immediately stirred. I have been waiting for the right moment to share this poem with you, and it feels like that moment is now.
What draws me to this poem is Rosemerry Trommer’s delightfully candid way of talking about the profound power of “surrender”. Her poem makes me laugh even as it takes me to a deeper truth. In her funny, quirky ironic way, she cuts to the heart of what surrender is in its highest form. In the end, she calls it the only real medicine there is to help us be whole.
Many of us have been taught that surrender means giving up, admitting defeat, and perhaps even feeling shame that we weren’t good enough or strong enough or smart enough or…
Yet in its highest form, surrender is not about giving up. It’s about giving over to something bigger than you—a bigger vision, a greater potential, a greater good, a sense of divine guidance or direction—something that you know deep in the heart of your being is the right thing, even if your life might never be the same again once you give over.
Actually, the “giving over” part is only just the beginning of a pro-active co-creative process. Whatever it is that is pushing you to surrender—that is so insistent, so tenaciously persistent, so unrelenting—is most likely asking you to say Yes to creating something new. Something that may involve some risk. In fact, it might feel like a really big risk. Because it’s probably asking you to stretch how you think about who you are, about how you show up, about what you think you need or want, about who you could be, about what you could do. In some way, it’s asking you to say Yes to becoming a co-creative partner with a greater potential that is emerging both from within the situation at hand and from within you. And it’s asking you to be pro-active—to sense the calling of the moment, to sense what wants to happen in service of a greater potential, and to sense your next steps on the path to realizing that potential. And then to act.
And so, here we go with Rosemerry Trommer’s poem, “The Medicine of Surrender.”
The Medicine of Surrender
comes with no spoonful of sugar.
No promises, no back up plans,
no returns, no insurance.
The medicine of surrender
never tastes the way you expect,
never tastes the same next time,
seldom has the hoped for effect.
And if there were some part of you
that thought it might not be affected,
that thought it might hold back,
that part is most likely the first part
to be flooded with the relentless
truth of what is. Oh surrender.
The surest medicine that exists.
There are infinite side effects.
Wonder. Freedom. Rawness.
It’s like opening the dictionary
to the word heaven. Or obliteration.
And knowing it’s the same thing.
It’s like playing spin the bottle with life,
and you French kiss whatever you get.
It’s the only remedy that can help you
be whole. The only real medicine there is.—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Every time I read this poem, I savor the lines more. Right now, I’m loving how she playfully equates heaven with obliteration. The idea that to truly give yourself over to heaven means that some belief or perception you have held onto just might be shattered. Playing spin the bottle with life, and you French kiss whatever you get. Accepting what comes, sensing what the moment is asking you for, and going for it.
Surrender. Co-Creation. Partnering with Life.
It’s the only remedy that can help you
be whole. The only real medicine there is.
Resources:
Masterclass with Alan in Brussels, Belgium—October 18th
FREE Live 20-minute Meditations with Alan on Zoom—6 Mondays, October 28th - December 2nd
Alan leads a half-hour contemplative worship service, “Touching the Sacred Within” at First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, in Newburyport, Massachusetts at 8 am the first Sunday of the month. All are welcome.
Thank you for this! Learning to “give over” instead of “give up” is ver powerful medicine, indeed. And I loved the picture — perfect!
Thank you, Alan! Not giving up, but giving over - such a powerful way to frame it. My inspiration for the week!