The Power of Wonder: Why Surrendering Is the Last Step to Reclaiming Your Authentic Self

We've arrived! It's finally here...

the much awaited last step to creating a life you absolutely adore and is aligned with your authentic self: Wonder.

More specifically, the last step is to drop into the feeling of Wonder by surrendering the ego and the efforting.

It's about being in awe of the larger cosmic Universe––that you are a small part of a divine whole that wants you to live your most aligned and magical life. 

It's about taking that playfulness, trust in yourself, magic you've made space for, and your power... and allowing the idea and more importantly the feeling and knowing that you are not alone here.

A mentor of mine, Tara-Nicholle Kirke calls this "pronoia"––the belief that the Universe is conspiring to bless you.

And you have that support even when (and especially when) it doesn't feel that way.

But I get it.

There's a lot wrong with the world and especially humanity right now. It can feel at times impossible to trust that things will work out––that they're trying to work out for you when you align with your true calling and authentic self. 

And so when we're trying to create the life we don't need a vacation from, we often do the opposite of this last step.

We hold on tight. 

We plan and scheme, and dream and vision... willing it all to happen. 

We try to control the outcome. 

But here's the cheeky thing about this personal and spiritual development work––in the end, we need to surrender for it all to work. 

True growth requires both action and rest in equal measure. 

Let's take gardening as a powerful metaphor to ground this idea: 

Imagine, you plant a seed. 

You give the seed fertile soil, water, and sunshine. 

Every day, you continue to nurture that seed with more water and sunshine. 

And sure, you can add more nitrogen to the soil, maybe move the location of the pot the seed is planted in for different light exposure... but at a certain point, you need to surrender to nature.

Life takes over.

And all you can do in that moment is give it space and trust that seed is growing beneath the soil. Eventually, a leafy sprout appears, and you can bask in the wonder that is growth.  

Yet... when it comes to our own personal and spiritual development, we often think we can skip the part where we surrender to the unknown.

Or even if we're not entirely sure we can avoid that discomfort, we do our very best to avoid it, push it down, and ignore it. 

And that often leads to burnout. 

We think more work = more resources. And sometimes that's true (your employer would certainly want you to think so).

But when it comes to personal and spiritual growth, we're much more like plants than ideas. 

Think about it. 

When was the last time you wanted something to happen for you, and you put in a ton of work, and then when you finally surrendered, it actually came through?

To craft a magical life that's aligned with your authentic self, you need ALL of these...

1. Playful experimenting to see what clicks
2. Choosing to trust yourself above all else
3. Making space for magic to unfold around you
4. Taking powerful, aligned action (you create your reality!)
5. Surrendering to the wonder of life that's working to support you

As you dance through each of these 5 steps, there's an ebb and flow of action and rest. And whether or not you see it now, you've felt it, haven't you. 

So here's your prompt for this week: 

1. Pick a goal, any goal.  
• E.g. Practice regular self-care. 
2. Look at each of the 5 stages we've explored over the past couple months: play, trust, magic, power, and wonder. 
3. Write down 1 action and/or mindset shift for each phase as it relates to your goal. 
• E.g. Play: how can I make self-care more fun? or Magic: what do I need to move around in my schedule to make more space for myself to enjoy self-care?
4. Check in with yourself. How do you feel energetically looking at that 5-step path forward? Does it feel doable? Like a permission slip? Motivating?

Then feel free to share your explorations with your friends - and me! Send me an email at [email protected] and I'll cheer you on :) 

with love, 

Emily