This is the story of how I learned the power of letting go in situations we’re tempted to scramble, and what it really looks like to surrender to reality and allow what’s happening …
Years ago I went to a massage therapist who was highly recommended by a good friend. “You’ll love her,” Lanaiya told me. “She’s amazing.”
And this therapist was different. She didn’t just do regular massage – she read energy patterns and saw things in your aura – the sort of stuff you wouldn’t expect from a regular masseuse. It was intriguing.
But I did question her accuracy when she told me I needed to learn how to allow.
Excuse me?
Clearly she doesn’t know who she’s talking to.
I am the Good Vibe Coach. I am a manifesting maven. I know all about allowing. Don’t tell me I need to be better at the surrender. I know all about that. I study law of attraction; I go to workshops; I even teach this stuff to others! This is what I do.
But fine. She can say what she wants. I’m not going to be rude.
So the session’s over, I’m her last appointment of the day, and we walk out to the parking lot together.
That’s when I asked her something about herself that prompted her to share this story:
Just a few weeks ago she’d been working for a real estate company as an in-house masseuse. It was an okay gig with regular money and regular hours. Highly stressed clientele, but it kept her employed.
Until the day it didn’t. The market had turned, money was tight, and they let her go.
No notice.
No severance.
No client list. No network. No backup plan.
And to top it off she had no savings and no rent money. (No rent money! Yikes, the former financial planner in me was alarmed to hear that part!)
She had no answers, no solutions, no ideas.
And her response to this development was to think, “Wow, something really good must be getting ready to happen.”
(Really? That’s what you thought? You know what I’d be thinking? Holy sh*t, I better get a job!)
But she didn’t think that.
She didn’t scramble. She didn’t stress. She didn’t plot or strategize or try to figure it out.
She allowed it.
In fact, she says she “surrendered into it.” Like falling back into a “soft, warm, puffy cloud,” she trusted she’d be safe.
Because something this big doesn’t happen unless something really good is coming, she told me.
“Alrighty then,” I thought. “You’re crazy. You need to get this handled.”
And then she tells me what unfolded next …
That weekend she got invited to a party by a friend.
She had nothing else to do, so she went.
(Really? Nothing else to do?! Like updating a resume, or spreading the word that you’re looking for work? Or maybe asking mom and dad for a loan? I think you’ve got plenty of other stuff to do besides have a few drinks, girl!)
But no, she had nothing else to do, so she went to the party.
It turns out her friend threw this party in her honor.
This friend wanted to introduce her to all her other friends who she knew would love to experience the gifts of this body-energy-worker.
So my massage therapist gave a little sample to a couple girls right there at the party, and they loved it! They couldn’t get enough! Everyone wanted a turn with her!
They started booking her for private sessions.
And then they raved about her to friends and family. And she got booked some more.
Indeed, I realized, that’s how I found out about her. Lanaiya raved, said I absolutely must go. And there I was. Not just buying a session for myself, but I also bought a couple extra sessions for my folks to see her.
So not only does she find the money for next month’s rent as a result of these sessions she’s doing, but she also raised her entire income level, upgraded her clientele, created her own schedule, and enjoyed her work vastly more because now she had clients she could do this cool energy dance with. (The real estate agents hadn’t been into it so much.)
Okay.
That’s when I understood she was practicing this allowing thing at a whole different level than I was. That’s what allowing looks like. That’s what surrendering makes possible.
And she did it in the real world, under real financial pressure.
I’d just been schooled.
So whenever it feels like things are in dire straits and something absolutely must manifest in a hurry, hers is the story I remind myself to get back in my right manifesting mind.
“Something really good must be getting ready to happen.”
And it will, as long as I don’t resist and I don’t scramble. Just surrender to it all – and accept all party invites. 😉