It's Easter Sunday, the mythology of the Rise after the long dark is upon us. Death gives way to Rebirth.
The cycle of life is always moving and morphing and we're here, along for the ride, ever learning and evolving and become more and more of who we are. The flecks of gold hidden within the darkness, we get to bring to the light, more of our soul's shine being revealed with each cycle of death and rebirth.
In a body/energy work session this past week I was having a conversation with a client about her intention of trying to let go of expectations for how her life was "supposed to" unfold, and the prayer of being in the energy of surprise and awe and surrender.
It reminded me of this beautiful quote by John O'Donohue: “I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”
It's one of my favorite quotes, and one I sit with a lot. What does it mean to live like a river flows? How can I meet life with awe and surprise and curiosity rather than expectation and a plan, and disappointment when it doesn't go my way? How can I flow with life knowing there's going to be inevitable ebbs and flows, inevitable deaths and rebirths, inevitable challenges and elations?
It's a lot easier to meet life with surprise and awe when things feel good and are going as hoped.
I spent the first part of this week fully surrendering myself at Breitenbush Hotsprings for 2 nights. It was a gift to myself after the closure of this round of the Golden Stone Immersion.
Our cohort gathered together for the weekend in celebration and ceremony. It was the first time we'd met in person after gathering online weekly for 6 months, and it was such a special and powerful weekend (Congrats to the Grads!! You all are AMAZING and such a force of medicine for the world!!!). And I wanted to honor myself and have a nervous system reset afterwards so I had set myself up with my hot springs retreat.
I came home so relaxed, recharged and full of excitement to get my latest Rosemary Podcast episode edited and ready for you today.
And then, I woke up Friday to my computer not working. I needed to take it in for repairs (still unclear if I'll have to buy a new one). With nothing backed up, and no computer to use, all of my expectations of editing my podcast went out the window... And all the countless other things I felt behind on and needed to get to... And all my expectations about how much money I have in the bank to pay my taxes went out the window... A new computer wasn't part of my "plan."
And I found myself fighting life. Fighting against the current of where the river of my life is taking me. Meeting it with disappointment and frustration rather than surprise and curiosity.
So I did my best to lean into a prayer of surrender, a prayer of "teach me River, how to surrender expectation. How to surrender into the flow of my life, and all the unexpected and not so welcome surprises with awe and curiosity and wonder." As if watching a Great Story unfold with all its challenges and beauties.
Sunbathing on Friday, trying to surrender ideas of how things were supposed to be
This is something we're all getting a lesson in as the world stage unfolds in ways that are antithesis to what we'd imagined, what we'd hoped, what we'd want for our human and more-than-human family. It's so heartbreakingly painful sometimes to know there's not a lot we can do in the moment to stop things we find abhorrent and unsettling.
How can we hold both the grief and anger and disappointment, while also leaning into wonder and curiosity and awe?
How can we let surprise be a given as we're constantly gifted the unexpected in this life?
And how can we move more easefully into the acceptance of things that are hard so we have the capacity to meet what's here, what's true, with clear action rather than being swept into a side-eddy of battling against what-is?
Whenever I ask myself these questions I find myself reaching for the same truths and answers over and over again. Bring it to the plants. Bring it to Earth. Bring it to these wise ones who have no expectation other than being present to the truth of what is.
The plants are the ones who have continuously been leaders for me in how to be with climate change, with the raging fires, with life when it feels impossibly frustrating that it's NOT going how I think it should be going.
What and who do you turn to in times like these? When you want to surrender into the unfolding of life?
When you want to loosen control and expectation and flow more fluidly with the wild, tumultuous, and heart-breakingly beautiful life we've been given?
Hit reply, I'd love to hear from you.
Come Hang Out with The Plants
The Next Plant Wisdom Circle is Friday. We'll be sitting with one of my greatest teachers, Pacific Dogwood. She's been one of my most steadfast allies for the last 15 years, and one I always turn to when I need uplifting remembrance of my inner authority, to lighten my heart, and remember the ethereal, expansive, and liminal nature of reality.
I taught this course for the first time last year, and it was so so rich. I'm stoked to deep dive with the plant people again!
This is for folks longing for deeper relationships with the plants, wanting to feel confident calling on the support of the plants for mystical and spiritual guidance, and wanting to weave the medicine of the plants into their daily lives more fully.
If you're feeling unsure in how to really trust in your intuitive capacity to communicate with plants, this course will deepen trust in yourself, and the consciousness of the plants.
