Spiritual Guide | Inspirational Speaker | Lorraine Cohen

Surrender has definitely been one of my themes this year. I can speak quite a bit on the concept of surrender – “Let go and let God. The present is perfect. You are exactly where you are meant to be…trust, breathe, all is well….”

Embracing and embodying surrender is a whole different reality.

I’ve often used the metaphor of when you first learn how to swim it is not unusual to also be taught how to float. You lean back with your arms stretched and allow the water to hold you up – like a buoy.

The first few times you learn how to float can be scary; to trust the water to keep you from sinking and when you actually let go, it’s quite a pleasant experience of “going with the flow and feeling supported”.

Surrender does not come easily.  Surrender isn’t about giving up rather, it is about giving in. And what we are really asked to surrender is the struggle and resistance we create to push against life; to push against the people and situations we don’t like and want.

Surrender invites us to look at what we are giving energy to that either connects or separates us for Source.

The last three years have stretched me so far out of my comfort zones and taken me into deeper places within myself than I ever could have imagined.  I recall people I admire say, “You have to be willing to lose everything  to have everything.”

Ooooh…. gulp!

If I really let go of EVERYTHING, my home, my friends, my work, my challenges and pain… my whole life and surrender it all…then what?

I understand that in theory and in practice and I realize that I don’t know how to completely let go and TRUST God to take care of me.

In a conversation this morning with a dear friend I shared my dance with surrender. As some fear kicked in I said to her, “If I let go of everything, that doesn’t mean that I have to actually lose everything, right?”  She chuckled at how I was trying to negotiate my surrender. That’s what the mind does in order to maintain control.

Resistance is futile.

Struggle is a choice.

You either float or sink.

That’s what I am learning this year…how to surrender with Grace. I know how to surrender in struggle and it is exhausting. I still feel my mind trying to maintain control because it feels at risk and threatened by some of the challenges I am walking through.

In the same space, I feel an inner strength that comes through my connection with God that assures me that all is well.  That’s the duality we are all experiencing that is feeding the struggle between our mind and our soul.

With this historical shift of consciousness we are experiencing and witnessing on the planet, energy and time has accelerated. Our mind and body can’t keep up with the speed of how fast things are moving!

Fears are running high for so many people. It’s a habit to grab onto people and things in an effort to feel   some control when you are experiencing upheaval in your life.

We’re being pushed out of our comfort zones to “wake up” and remember who we are. And to live in ways that is natural for us as spiritual beings and feels unnatural as human beings.

If you feel like a stranger in a strange land learning a new language, you are…. in many ways. And you may also feel a sense of “coming home” as you shed some of the illusions and fears that have governed your life for so long

Do you feel it?

I believe that the most important relationship in life is the one we have with God, whoever that is for you, to powerfully weather the inner storms of waking up and surrendering all that is no longer serving us in becoming the next and highest version of who we are being called to be.

Daily spiritual practices, strong self-care regimes, the inner transformation work, and having a strong network of support all contribute to being a welcoming place inside to walk through those dark narrow places of surrender with grace and courage.

Communing with your wise SELF will help you navigate through the noise in your head. Take time to engage in conversation with your personal Divine as if you were speaking to your dearest friend who loves you and wants you to be happy. Committing to develop your relationship with God is critical in mastering surrender and living an Awakened life.

Surrender is a natural way of being in an Awakened state. Struggle is a natural way of being in an unconscious state.

How do you want to live?

Remember the Serenity prayer?

God, grant the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference

Surrender is part of serenity and walking in Grace!

Your transformational steps:

1. Notice where you are experiencing struggle in your life. What are you holding onto that you know in your heart you need to let go of and surrender?

2. What beliefs, fears, behaviors keep you engaged in resisting surrender?

3. How much is really true?

4. What do you need to surrender to shift from struggle into grace?

5. What is one step you will commit to surrender and let go?

Here is one step you can take now! My life altering 4-week program, Pathways to Awakening: Journey into Courage and POWER will  guide you in learning the art of surrender and it begins July 10!

Money and fear are the two most powerfull motivators or deflators today. Are you yearning to be liberated from pain, struggle, and fear? Are you ready to live your most vital, abundant, soul fulfilling life with the POWER of Courage and Grace to guide you? Join me to learn how to transform your inner foundation into strength, insecurity to confidence, and fear to courage. Experience Divinely created healing meditations and energy activations to release the past and open your heart - two critical factors in creating a joyfull, abundant “awake” life.

When you experience this new kind of POWER and courage, you will be propelled into an infinitely beautiful and inspiring future.   Take advantage of the early tuition through July 5. If you are ready to turn fear into an ally and live from passion and purpose, reserve your seat NOW and let your spirit fly. Learn more

Love and blessings,

Lorraine

In my 25+ years I have coached and counseling thousands of people all over world, fear continues to be the #1 roadblock to people’s ability to succeed and thrive.

When fear  takes dominion over your thoughts and emotions, life feels scary, heavy and hard. You become separated from your True Self and God’s love and Grace.

People continually ask me how to get rid of their fear which is NOT the way to live in this new energy and move into higher states of consciousness. Resisting fear or any uncomfortable feeling and thought will keep those feelings and thoughts alive and strong in your life. What you resist, persists. You cannot “think” yourself out of feeling fear to shift into real sustained courage.  Until you begin to work with fear differently, fear will control your life.

One of the first steps is to be open to see fear as a guide rather than an enemy.

Here are 9 ways to receive gifts from fear:

1. We scare ourselves all the time. When no apparent danger is evident, our minds conjure up stories that we believe to be true. What ifs, worse case scenarios, anticipated outcomes that rarely ever happen unless we are intent in creating them! Ask yourself, “In this moment, what is the truth?”

2. When feeling fear, our thoughts are focused on the future. When feeling pain, we are recreating the past. We are not living in the present which is the only place that is NOW. Knowing “where” you are living through your attention invites you to come back into the present moment and choose where to place your attention and intention.

3. Emotions such as anger cover up fear. Why? We feel more powerfull in our anger than we do in our fear. Other emotions include depression, hurt, grief, and blame. Having the willingness and courage to go beneath the surface of anger allows you to experience deeper healing and transformation.

4. We sabotage ourselves when we feel frightened. Procrastination, rationalizations, avoidance, tolerating things, making excuses, being controlling, becoming aggressive or submissive… are some examples of how fear misdirects us from our dreams and desires.

When fears emerge through self-sabotage, that can be a signal that your inner child is desperate for some attention and comfort. Take some to go within and be a loving presence to that part of you in need.

5. Fear can be a motivator or a barrier. Fear can ignite action or become a roadblock when facing change.  Imagine instead of withdrawing in fear, you took a deep breath and decided to GO FOR IT! And if the fears are strong, that is a sign that you are on the verge of an important shift!

The strength of the fear and resistance is a vibrational match for the wonderful gift that is waiting for you on the other side of that roadblock. That’s the Law of Polarity. You came into this life with EVERYTHING you need to succeed and thrive.

6. Fears are transformed by love and faith. We can learn to rewrite the tapes we play in our minds so that the messages we tell ourselves feed us rather than deplete us. Love and fear cannot coexist in the same space.

Rather than resisting your fears, imagine loving them instead. Love your fears for the ways they serve you to grow through experience and self-reflection and bring you “home” to who you really are.

7. Fear has a positive value. If we were completely fearless and lacked caution, we might place ourselves in harm’s way, make rash decisions that have dire consequences, or make decisions we deeply regret.

Instead of looking at how you can get “rid” of your fears or condemn them, consider all the ways your fears help you.

8. Fear is a sign that we are separated from our spiritual connection. Unless there is evidence of immediate danger or circumstances that validate a fear response, our fears are activated by our subconscious beliefs and fueled by the mind.

Realizing this separation is an invitation to reconnect with the God of your understand and to deepen that relationship.

9. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is about following your heart in spite of what your mind and feelings are telling you; being willing to take those leaps of faith to follow your Divine urges. Faith is feeling trust before the evidence shows up and having the courage to do whatever it takes “in fear”.

Your soul would never ask you to do anything that would deliberately harm you or put you in the path of danger. Why would it?

Money and fear are the two most powerfull motivators or deflators today.  Living a joyfull and abundant life is within your grasp if you are willing to courageously liberate yourself from fears, doubts, and not “enoughness” to know your value, claim your Divine power and live your purpose NOW!

Would you like to know how to turn fear into an ally to live  your most vital, abundant, soul fulfilling life with the POWER of Grace to guide you?

Great news!

Then join me for “ Pathways To Awakening”, a four week journey into Courage and POWER beginning July 10. Experience soul guided healing journeys and energy activations to release the past and open your heart - two critical factors in creating a joyfull, abundant life that is aligned with your spiritual path. Click here to learn more and take advantage of the early tuition thru July 5!

Imagine who you might be…what you might do …if you felt more courageous and confident to take those next steps to follow the yearnings of your heart.

Imagine how your life will change when you stand more firmly in your POWER and start consciously creating the life you want without hesitation and doubt.

I first began to consciously “wake up” after my mother’s death in the early 1980′s. I say consciously because I have always had some psychic and intuitive abilities (as we all do) and when my mother died I found myself delving more deeply into my own spiritual journey to make sense of her death at such a young age of 65.

Deeply painful experiences, catastrophic events, near-death experiences, and illnesses are often catalysts for introspective and spiritual questioning. I could never have imagined that my desire to understand and make peace with my mother’s death would become the doorway to my own awakening that has continued to evolve for over 20 years.

In my wildest imagination, I could not have foreseen how dramatically my life would change and how different a person I would become. Over the years I have felt inner nudges to do some things that felt scary to me as I danced with resistance and courage. The phrase, “You never get what you can’t handle” has been a source of comfort when feeling stretched to my limits of endurance and knowing the experience is not yet over. Whew!

I have often wondered, “If I knew then what I know now, would I have continued on my path or hit the ground running?” Honestly, I don’t know how to answer that question. I’m grateful that my insights and nudges have come in glimpses rather than seeing the whole picture, which could have been very overwhelming. Even now, I am sure I am only seeing and sensing pieces of my soul’s/God’s intentions for my life.

When I was beginning my spiritual journey, I was drawn into metaphysical studies that included healing with energy, crystals, and color. My teacher viewed us all as healers. Not me. It was all very interesting and I was enjoying the learning experiences of playing with energy. Call myself a healer? No way.

I resisted the whole idea. I was working on 5th Avenue in NY in sales and my spiritual path did not include actually DOING what I was learning with others! Oh please! I saw my spiritual studies as my personal experience for my own growth…nothing more.

What I did not consider was:

1. My perceptions, judgments, beliefs about healers were negative and very dramatic based on things I read, heard about, saw in movies. .  I sure wasn’t going to be one of those! How could I shift my picture of a healer to something that was more positive?

2. What was really being asked of me? What would I have to DO?

3. Who was I being called to be and what did that mean?

4. How would others view me? What would they think about me?

5. How would I see myself?

6. How would my life change if I said YES to embrace my healing abilities?

7. What would I gain? What might I have to give up?

I had an opportunity to help a mutual friend who was dying of AIDs when AIDs first came to national attention. By the time I saw him, he was very ill. I invited him back to my house and did some healing with him. When he left he said he felt a little better and thanked me for my support. Several weeks later he died. I remember how good it felt to offer healing to him (wishing I could cure him!) and the feeling of gratitude that whatever I had done was helpful to him.

The inner nudging to embrace the healer within me began to press upon my heart, creating a painful and restless feeling. It’s like having a pebble in your shoe, a constant poking relentlessly yelling to be acknowledged.

How long could I continue to resist and deny what was asking to be owned and expressed?

On my way home one night, standing in the subway at 69th & 3rd Ave., I finally surrendered to owning my inner healer. I was immediately filled with overwhelming joy as if my soul was dancing with glee. I will never forget that feeling of happiness when I said YES to be true to who I AM!

How about you?

• What are you denying and resisting about your SELF?
• How persistent are your inner nudges?
• What are your beliefs, judgments, perceptions about whatever you are resisting?
• Is it possible that what you believe is false or skewed?
• What’s the real truth?

Consider all the questions in this article to gain clarity about what is true for you. I have found that ignoring the calling of your spirit only creates more discomfort and pain. If anything, the voice gets louder until you either listen or do things to numb out

Are you listening?

Blessings,

Lorraine
www.isayyesnow.com