Merely Human?

A few years back a friend remarked to me after a particularly rough day "I feel human today." I laughed and amusedly asked "Don't you normally feel human?" She replied "No, usually I feel like a dragon!" I remember at the time feeling a bit confused and wondering what I normally feel like, what I would like to feel like and what it might be like if I felt different.

For those on a spiritual path you are undoubtedly familiar with the concept of surrender. The concept is very simply about letting go of your ego and ideas of control and relinquishing either to yourself or a higher power. That higher power might differ depending on your beliefs but is essentially still the same - putting your path in the hands of the divine. Surrendering to yourself can be more about letting go of attachments, desire or need depending on which philosophy you subscribe to. Feeling like a dragon is rather contrary to this concept of surrender.

The whole point in surrendering is to relinquish the idea of control or superior power that our ego wants to impose upon the world and your life in order to ease the path of living as a human. Now, a certain amount of ego is both natural and healthy but quite often in modern living some succumb to an over inflated ego. The over inflated ego has a tendency to drive you to a number of potentially self-sabotaging behaviors including believing you are more important, more in control, smarter or more clever than you really are. Some signs that can indicated an over inflated ego are excessive competitiveness, defensiveness, seeking excessive recognition, showcasing behaviors, taking disagreements overly personal, compulsive need to be ahead, believing you are "better" than others, and dismissing others as "irrelevant".

So how do ego and surrender go together and what does this have to do with dragons? Quite simply, the sense of being a dragon, or for some a sense of "righteousness" or even divinity, can be a manifestation of ego. It can get in the way of honest expression, deeper success and loving connections. When you surrender this part to yourself or to a higher power you begin to admit your mortality and your realistic position in the world.

Ego drives you to achieve but when it drives to hard it can actually hinder you. By surrendering you begin to notice the amazing synchronicities and opportunities that occur around you every day. Don't confuse surrendering with "giving up" where you simply stop attempting anything. Surrendering is more about allowing in the possibilities that you might not see when you are seeking instead to control.

The act of surrender can often be more challenging than the idea. The easiest way is to simply begin to notice where you hold control. Do you seek to control the actions, thoughts or ideas of those around you? Do you attempt to create opportunity so aggressively that you turn others away? Or do you simply fail to allow for the possibility that you will receive exactly that which you need exactly when you need it?

Feeling like a dragon might bring you the illusion of control but does it really bring success? What would happen if you allowed yourself to feel merely human? What might happen when you stopped trying, stopped resisting and started receiving? Would your life change for the better if you let the universe guide it?

Your might not know the answer…but your ego might think it does!