Monday Mindset
Timely Reminder #5 - You can only do what you can do. The rest is surrender.
Hi, friend.
Welcome to this week’s Monday Mindset.
I’m so glad you’re here.
Settle in for a quick reflection, mindful question, and a
practice of self-connection.
Most of the people I know are going through some sort of transition. Or upheaval. Or challenge. Life right now is not easy, but that’s not what life is about anyhow.
The good stuff isn’t reserved for the moments of ease. It’s found mixed in with heartbreak, breakdowns, and uncertainties. I can’t tell you what your good stuff is. For me, it’s the moments of connection that remind me I’m not alone.
Like Bo’s wet nose nudging my leg, bringing me out of my mental spiral and back into the moment.
Or the casual conversation with someone at the dog park, grocery store, or library.
Or time spent with the people I love doing mundane things.
Or watching the flowers pop more each day.
Honestly, the good stuff is often not the exciting things. Those are great, but what really gets me through are the things within reach at any moment. A phone call, a kind comment, or a walk through the neighborhood. Letting the tenderness linger when I feel it.
I’m circling back, for the umpteenth time, to trusting that life is never just one experience. It is always a mix.
I often find myself vacillating between the need for action (I have to make this happen), and trusting that what is for me won’t miss me.
I know it’s not one or the other. It’s both. Plus a whole lot of other factors at play. Still, I don’t stay rooted in that place of peace and acceptance. I need the reminder that, yes, I can work my butt off, but I still need to open my palms and surrender what I can’t control.
Here’s stone of remembrance I’m holding in my palm today. Perhaps it’s one you can can put in your pocket and take out when you need it too.
You can only do what you can do. The rest is surrender.
It might not feel like we have done enough at the end of the day. But we are not workhorses. We are human. (And horses also deserve rest, right?)
Life feels like a great experiment, and perhaps it is. It’s important to ground in our values and to get our priorities straight, yes. That can help us feel connected to purpose. And also, we need permission and play and rest.
Will you join me in doing what we can, and then surrendering what we can’t?
This includes more than what we do. It is also the time it takes.
What if, instead of guilting ourselves for what didn’t get done, we embraced our limitations and humanity and let ourselves actually enjoy the living, too?
What is in your control today (or this week)?
What can you surrender?
Consider what enough looks like today/tomorrow/this week/this month. We often overestimate what we can get done in a day (no, just me?). Lower the bar. When you miss the mark, can you give yourself grace to start again tomorrow?
{Pay attention to when you want to overwork or when you feel like your worth is tied to your output.}
Show up in the ways you can and let yourself off the hook with the rest, trusting that what you can’t control is an invitation to surrender rather than an indictment against you.
Consider what surrender could look like as you go about your day. Is it physically opening your palms from a clenched fist as a signal to your mind and heart?
{Think about what you might gain when you do what you can and intentionally let go of the responsibility of what you cannot.}
This is a practice, my friend. So, let it be that—learning curve, circling back, and all.
See you here next week. Or, if you’re a paid subscriber, see you even sooner ;-D
~Sara
Love this 😊