By Adam Guzman- Poole
His body was collapsed on the couch in the living room with his skinny fingers crushed into his face. A tattered light green blanket cloaked over his head while his eyes faintly escaped the shadows.
“Come on” I coaxed, waving him over, “It’s time to get to work!” But the 12-year boy I was there to homeschool that day stared back at me with a hollow glare. His attention was mostly fixated on the radio that droned off in the background playing favorite pop tunes.
“Come on man! We got too, and besides, I know you love this stuff. It will be fun! Trust me!”
The lesson plan for today was to write a screenplay, create a hero, make a world, and tell an epic story, something most 12 years tend to like. However since today’s lesson was cradled in the context of school, he wrote it off as uncool.
But since he had to do the work, he grudgingly shook his head and pulled himself from the couch, and slowly stomped over to the desk. Placing both elbows on the table he sank his head into his hands.
“So we can tell any story you want. What do you want it to be about?” I exclaimed enthusiastically.
He answered me with a silent stair so defiant it’s as if he was trying to explode my head with telekinesis.
“Look man, this is actually a really awesome thing you get to do! Honestly, I know you’ll love it, but you just gotta work with me here for a bit.”
His eyes softened slightly, letting me know there was a little opening, I took it and began to patiently work through the exercise asking him various questions to spark his imagination.
Stubbornly, he answered them one by one.
At first simply by saying “I don’t know..”
But patiently I persisted. And little by little the answers grew longer.
Soon his blurts turned into sentences with fragments of characters and storylines.
Then after a little more coaxing, paragraphs swam through the air, then suddenly the spirit of inspiration took hold of him and we journeyed together into through a mystical world of magic.
Then sparks of joy illuminated through his eyes and before we knew it, an hour and a half had passed marking the end of our lesson. But that’s not all, the following day he stayed glued to his pages furiously typing away for two hours with little to no supervision. And as the weeks went by, the manuscript continued to grow, and after 24 pages, he ended the first episode of the growing saga.
As I look back at it all, I find it fascinating to see what emerged from something this young man so reluctantly wanted to do.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but that boy was illustrating a fundamental principle of life,
and mirroring to me the magic that can unfold when we are willing to surrender to what Life is offering us and give it a wholehearted “Yes!”
Around the time this boy was being so resistant to the gift Life was presenting him, I was doing the exact same thing with what Life was asking of me.
Over the past couple of months, through a series of signs, synchronicities, and deep self-reflection, it became so clear that the Spirit of Life was asking me to work on developing a holistic healing center to help individuals struggling with mental health challenges. However, while the vision was beautiful and so needed for this world, at the time, it was not what I planned to be doing, and frankly, not what I wanted to be doing either.
But deep inside, I knew it was what was being asked of me, and I had to. So I accepted the task, but just like that little boy, I did so grudgingly and dragged my heels into the ground huffing and hawing every step of the way. Asking God, “Are you sure this is what you want me to do?” I knew the answer, but I still didn’t fully accept it.
But thankfully, like I was with that little boy, Life was patient and gentle with me and coaxed me little by little to surrender, to trust, to let go of what I thought I wanted, and make space for something so much more than I could have ever possibly imagined on my own.
Much of our culture is so focused on doing what we want to do. We place so much pride and prestige on making things happen. We are supposed to be “Masters of our Destiny!” But so often what we think we want, are just subconscious fantasies that have been programmed into us from the media to follow a very specific script.
For boomers, the script was to have two kids with a big house and a white picket fence. For millennials, it’s to be an entrepreneur, be seen, to change the world, to have time and financial freedom, to follow our dreams! Etc, etc, etc…However, we often forget that many of these so-called dreams are not ours in the first place and have been highly influenced by our consumer-driven culture.
After studying scriptures and looking to saints, sages, and great individuals, I have seen that they follow a different formula. Instead of trying to make their lives into something, these wise ones listened to what Life was asking of them and surrendered to the task as a Sacred Duty to fulfill.
In a story with Mother Teresa, a priest came to her in great distress because his advisor transferred his current post of working in a rehabilitation center for addicts to a post where he would work in a school in a small community in the middle of India.
Upset by this sudden change and feeling that he would be better suited in his current position, he sought Mother Teresa to see if she could convince his advisor to let him keep his current post. But rather than siding with him, she said “Where is your faith? Trust brother. You must be obedient, you must trust what God wants to make of your life.” And of course, once the brother wholeheartedly accepted his post, he was met with joy beyond his imaginings.
I think it’s important to note that Life does not give us what we want, but it does give us what we need. It often throws us curveballs. While we might not like them, the truth is, they are the medicine we need to grow.
While we can fight the current of Life with our own personal wants, if we pay attention, there is something so much bigger seeking to move through us.
And there is magic when we get out of the way and let ourselves be instruments of that Limitless force of the Universe!
In the Bhagavad Gita, which can be likened to the Hindu Bible, it speaks about casting aside all our egoic wants, and instead to let our only desire to be of service to God, or in other words, Service to Life’s tasks. Now Mahatma Gandhi, a devout student of the Gita, used it as an instruction manual to guide his life. Knowing this, I wonder how much of his life was actually contrived by him and how much was guided.
This was a man of duty not dreams. His desire to start the first non-violent resistance in South Africa was not something he wanted to do but was spurred by being kicked off of a train for the color of his skin. While it would have been easy for him to continue with his simple life as a lawyer, instead, he surrendered to the challenge Life was presenting him, and the rest, as they say, was history. This mentality of accepting Life’s tasks enforced everything he did. His whole life was a constant state of surrender to that larger force. And when we look at what was able to accomplish, we begin to see just how powerful it is to give up our wants and get out of the way so that we can be used by Life.
You see, when we give up our wants, and instead listen to what Life is asking of us, we make space for something beyond our wildest dreams to emerge. Just like that little boy, if we turn towards the challenge with openness, the Spirit of inspiration will take us and allow free-flowing energy to create something beautiful.
I can speak for myself and say that since I have fully surrendered to Life’s task, amazing things have, and continue to unfold. Scincericites and magic follow me wherever I go. Doors open daily. There have been no shortages of challenges, but I awake every morning with a deep sense of gratitude and devotion, knowing full well that I am in alignment with Life’s greater purpose. All I had to do was give up my wants and surrender to Life.
You see, Life is always calling forth our greatness. But the question is, can we see it? Or are we so focused on our tiny wants we don’t see what’s being asked of us right now?
Are we so focused on getting somewhere, that we fail to see what’s right here?
Wherever we are in life at this moment, I pray that we all can surrender our small desires so we can make way for something greater to move through us. Because the truth is, just like the story above with that little boy, Life is calling to us and saying
“Come on! I know you will love this stuff!”
When it does, there are 3 ways we can respond.
- We can ignore the call and follow our own small wants. But if we do, will be just like that boy, thinking that our pop music is the coolest thing in the world, and in the end, we will be missing out on something so beautiful.
- Will can accept our task grudgingly and suffer every step of the way. And we will limit the energy from fully moving through.
Or
3. We can completely surrender and let Life’s Greatness move through us.
The choice is ours.
I pray we will continue to choose wisely.
With love and care,
Adam Guzman-Poole
PS:
What has Life been asking from you these days?
How can you surrender more?
What is your duty?
***
About Adam:
Adam Guzman-Poole is a spiritual consoler, coach, and meditation teacher.
He’s is a multicultural man with indigenous roots to Venezuela, and has
spent over 10 years studying with elders both in North and South America.
His mission is to empower and inspire individuals and communities to connect with the sacred and let it lead their lives.