The Surrender Experiment

Ive found myself in this position noticeably several times in life, where I think Im suppose to do something, or that something should go a certain way, but when it comes down to it, that result doesnt happen and I find myself disappointed. Since I had set expectations for an event outside of my control, I had set myself to feel this way. Not setting expectations is how I see the surrender experiment, in that you live in the moment, give into whats going on around you, and can let yourself be surprised with what ever the result is. For me, one time in particular was working with a group traveling to another country. Each traveler needed a visa and it was coming close to the travel date and we still didnt have the visas. I began to stress out, what will I do? What should I do? But then my mentality shifted, and I started to ask myself, what role do I play in this? I have no control over government paper work or visa processes, and therefore have no influence over the outcome. I surrendered to the powers that be, and instead took it day by day. We were one week from our planned travels and finally the visas arrived. Yes it would have been terrible if we had to alter the trip due to the visas, but how can we control that? I was incredibly happy when we did get the visas, but I feel I saved myself a lot of stress by not spending time worrying about it, and that for me is surrendering. I love the feeling of harmonizing with the natural forces that be. I find its important to wake up to them, as most of the time we are unaware or avoid them to some degree while we busy ourselves with life and work etc. When I take the chance to slow down, to step back, to reconnect with myself, to feel where I am, I suddenly remember oh yeah we are all just in this river called life and we can choose to enjoy that process or fight with all our might without changing the outcome. My favorite practice to reconnect is feel the bottoms of my feet, in socks or shoes or bare, and that really helps to ground me and make me feel aware of who I am and where I am mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.