Thursday, 28 September 2017

The Surrender Experiment - Book Summary & Review



The Surrender Experiment
Michael A. Singer

Michael A. Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, in this wonderful book tells the story of what happened when, after a spiritual awakening, he decided to simply let life takes its course. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life’s perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.

How much pointless “noise” goes through your head on a daily basis? What if you could mute it? The world is just too loud, and we are caught up in stress, weighed down by conventional ideas about how we should live our lives.

Did you ever consider simply surrendering to life? If not, you should! Life might just surprise you.

Quieting the mind is one of the main goals of spiritual practice. You know that awkward feeling when you’re talking with someone and you suddenly run out of things to say? Well, don’t worry – times like these present us with the opportunity to begin your spiritual awakening.
These situations offer a perfect moment for us to observe our anxious mind. Instead of getting embarrassed at the situation, we should observe our thoughts to see how we might continue the conversation. We should realize that anxious mind and our consciousness are two separate things, as the latter can observe the former.

One way to avoid getting distracted by the constant chatter of our mind is to practice meditation. Zen meditation involves sitting in a quiet spot, with focus on our breathing, and repeating the sound "Mu" in our head. It quietens the mind and leads to an experience of complete silence.

Surrendering to the flow of life calms the mind. We see grim looking sky, and our mood becomes grim too. But, why does this happens? Your resistance can take the blame here, because worrying against things you can’t change – like the weather – leads to that anxious mind chatter.


So what makes us think in this nervous or irritated way? The answer lies in our personal preferences. Our resistance often agitates us, as we frenetically try to find excuses and constantly trying to come to the best decision. To quieten our mind, we should allow the flow of life to take charge. We need to accept the challenges and opportunities life presents us with.

Service is nobler than solitude. Surrendering to service, rather than resisting other people’s requests, led the author from being a hermit to becoming a teacher and spiritual leader. Surrendering to challenges and change can lead us to unexpected places.

Following the flow of life can help build a successful business. People often assign meditation and spirituality to those who want to abandon the material world. But the spiritual principles can be just as life-changing to a business person as to a spiritual guru or a monk.
In fact, living in line with his spiritual principles was what led the author to his first business. Surrendering to life, author took all the chances and opportunities to open his successful carpentry business, Built with Love.

From carpentry to software, life knows what it wants you to do. When the author first saw a plastic keyboard attached to a 12-inch TV screen with a sign reading TRS-80-COMPUTER, he could barely comprehend what he was looking at. However, he had a gut feeling that it would be useful to him, so he followed his instinct, bought the machine.
Life once again coaxed him in a new direction. Instantly fascinated with his TRS-80 computer, the author began experimenting with programming. Doing this was like meditation to him and soon he created a computerized accounting system for his carpentry business, which led to another successful software business for him.

If you surrender to the flow of life, the right people and opportunities will often show up. Along with suitable opportunities, life also gives us the gift of association with great people, enabling us to be  successful.

Continued surrendering to life can result in extreme success. The truth is, experiencing massive success often means accepting that you’ll need to work very hard to maintain it.

Surrendering to life also means accepting extreme adversity. When life gets tough, learning to surrender and accept is essential to keeping your sanity. During hard times, it’s vital to remember that accepting adversity doesn’t mean giving up. It can also mean fighting back.
Ruchika Verma

Reviews

"A lone voice in the modern wilderness calling for surrender instead of striving, Singer shows how surrendering to life does not mean giving up our dreams."  
Shawn Achor 

“Only the rarest of books has the power to clearly explain the difference between a human being and a human doing, and why that distinction is so important. The Surrender Experiment is such a book. Inspiring, authentic, and intensely compelling.”
Dean Radin


“Michael Singer writes a beautiful, touching memoir on the amazing power of surrender in his life. With courage, spunk, and thoughtfulness, he has reached beyond the status quo to dare to trust life and surrender to its ultimate perfection.” 
Judith Orloff



You can purchase this wonderful book from Amazon






No comments:

Post a Comment

Mudita - An Alternative to Envy

Mudita When we are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram we often feel envy looking at other people’s success or golden mome...