Letting Life In (Part 1: Surrender)

By Summer Bacon

There are two keys to becoming a trance medium: surrender and vulnerability.

Yikes!

Most people would rather keep up the fight than surrender. And, in our society we have developed countless ways to remain invulnerable: locked doors, closed minds, television broadcasts that reinforce that we should fear one another.

Surrender, as it pertains to mediumship, is about surrendering to the other perspectives, whether you believe them or not. Dr. Peebles speaks to people from all walks of life, from all around the world, on a variety of topics (some of which I am not even familiar with). If I happen to overhear him speaking to someone I have never met, and he says, "When you were a child and were visited by extraterrestrials..." I have to surrender and allow for those words to come through. I could step into a place of fear and resistance thinking, "I don't even know this person! Extraterrestrials? What if Dr. Peebles is wrong?"

That's simply a thought that I cannot entertain, or I will block information from coming through.

In my early days of channeling, I surrendered to hundreds of different spirits who spoke through me. This was part of my initiation and training to ultimately channel Dr. Peebles. I channeled a dog (yup, a dog), a tree (yup, a tree), and countless dearly departed loved ones who used my entire body to express themselves. If someone's Mom fiddled with her jewelry when she was alive on earth, then she would fiddle with her jewelry (that no one could see) as she spoke through me.

I remember channeling a young man's friend who had died from a drug overdose. The spirit who came through was very tall and lanky. As soon as he emerged through me, I felt my body slump back on the couch, my legs stretching out, as he casually took my arms and put my hands behind my head. Leaning back, this male spirit proceeded to eye my client's wife. I immediately knew that this spirit had been attracted to her when he was on the earth. Now, how weird is that? I was very much aware of the manipulations of my body in these cases, and I was rather embarrassed at times to have to surrender to these manipulations, such as in this case. But, if I hadn't surrendered I would have blocked the magic. The spirit spoke to his friend, and began to described his death from the drug overdose. Now, mind you, I did not know anything about who would come through me that day. I always told people not to tell me who they wanted to speak to, so that I would be completely in the dark about what would unfold. If I had known in advance, I would have had massive expectations of what would or should occur.

In this case, my client was transformed by the experience. You see, when he had walked into my house he told me in no uncertain terms that he was a complete and utter skeptic, and wanted me to know that he didn't care if the session didn't go well, because he expected it wouldn't. He said he was only doing the session because his wife had encouraged him. By the end of the sixty minute conversation with his friend, I can assure you that he was no longer a skeptic. In fact, he was practically dancing as he scooped me up in a grateful bear hug on his way out the door. He told me that his friend who had come through had every attribute that he'd had on earth; body language, eyeing his wife, and speaking of things that the two buddies had shared together. I never saw that client again, but I don't doubt he was forever changed in a positive way.

So, how does surrender translate into everyday life? In life we are daily challenged by other perspectives, and some of these can lead to hot-headed debates. However, if you can learn to listen to the other perspectives and say in your heart, "That's true, too," you just might find that you will learn a lot about the world, and about what makes people tick. For example, when you hear someone saying to you, "You never listen to me!" and you react angrily, "Yes I do! I always listen to you!" well, then, you really aren't listening to them, are you? Hear their words, and try not to translate it from your perspective, but rather hear it from theirs. Let them into you, and into your heart so that you can understand them.

They say, "You never listen to me!"

You might think, "Yes, I do. I listen to you all of the time, you so-and-so! How dare you!" but then you drop into your heart space and respond, "Really? I'm sorry. What is it that I am not hearing?"

What just happened is you've surrendered to their perspective and have shown interest in learning more about who they are. You've acknowledged them, and that acknowledgement feels like love to them.

Certainly, you might know in your heart that you listen to them all of the time, or at least try to, but what they are saying is that they don't feel as if they are being heard. For them, their perspective is true, as much as your perspective is true for you, and they are simply asking for acknowledgement.

Rather than resisting life and trying to coerce or change people to thinking as you do, fall in love with the differences and learn from them. In an extreme case of surrendering to the other perspective, a dear friend of mine was asleep when a man broke into her house in the middle of the night. He came into her bedroom, and she woke up with him laying next to her. She had such a loving heart, and as her two boys slept in the other rooms, instead of going into fear, she calmly looked at the man and asked him what he was doing there. His intention was to rape her. She calmly stated, "Okay, but first would you like a cup of coffee?" He was completely caught off guard. She spoke to his heart, and to his true need which was to be nurtured. They went downstairs and she made him some breakfast, and they talked about life, and she truly listened to him. Eventually she had convinced him that raping her was not the best idea, and he left. She did call the police afterward, and he was eventually arrested and sent to jail. But, to listen to this beautiful woman tell her story was magnificent. I could tell she held no animosity or anger towards him, but only truly felt love.

If you are interested in contacting or channeling spirit, your success will depend upon your willingness to surrender to the other perspectives. The question is, can you surrender to your own? Are you willing to speak your truth, with compassion? Or, do you hide yourself, your thoughts, and your perspectives away from the world, for fear that you will not be understood? Think about this: if you hide yourself from the world, you WILL be misunderstood, because you haven't given the world a chance to get to know who you really are! If you allow for yourself to truly surface, will some people raise their eyebrows? Yes. Might you lose some friends? Yes. But what is really happening is you will be hearing and receiving the honest echo from life around you. You will quickly find out who your true friends are, and you will open a pathway for an even deeper relationship with life around you; kind of like that big bear hug that I received from my client. :)

And, what do you suppose is required in the process of surrendering? Vulnerability. (More on that topic later.)

This article came about this morning at 5:00am because I surrendered to what was in my heart when I awakened today. I got my cup of coffee, and sat down at my computer, and wrote what was on my mind.

This is just Part One of a journey into surrender and vulnerability. I'll be writing more on these topics in future newsletters. I believe that if you study these two things, you will find yourself living a more joyful and peaceful life, even when there seems to be chaos around you. You will be bringing more love into the equation of life, and love is what the journey is all about on this school called planet earth.

"Relax, release, surrender."
--Dr. Peebles through Summer Bacon