Book Review — “The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection” — Michael A. Singer
Spirituality is meant to bring about harmony and peace. But the diversity of our philosophies, beliefs, concepts, and views about the soul often leads to confusion. With lessons on how to put aside conflicting beliefs, let go of worries, and transform misdirected desires; Singer provides a road map to a new way of living not in the moment, but to exist in a state of perpetual happiness.
Hello everyone! My name is Daniel Mangena. I’m a public speaker, life-coach, entrepreneur, podcast host and much more besides. A huge part of my journey to success has been making sure that I read regularly. I want to share some of the books with you that have really spoken to me and helped me get to where I am now.
I really love my work with people, helping them to discover their dream (whatever it may be) and then giving them the tools and the structure to move towards it inexorably. It’s what gets me up in the morning and I am so proud of the results that my clients, groups and even complete strangers who’ve just happened upon my podcast/blog have had in their lives.
A huge part of the process is helping people to set purposeful intentions. It’s vital that we understand our intentions and get really specific about them. Only then can we direct ourselves accurately at moving towards and achieving them.
What can often seem incongruous with this method of teaching, is the idea of surrender. How can we be so laser-guided and focussed, yet at the same time be open to the idea of surrendering to the universe and processes outside of our control?
I think people are often surprised when I encourage them to let go and trust in the universe to deliver for them, but we must do this. As three-demential beings we can only exist physically in one space and time, so how can we have control over the rest of it?!
In fact; my discovery of “The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection” — by Michael A. Singer was itself proof of the need for surrender. It had been recommended to me to read another of his books (“The Untethered Soul”) but in my ineptitude, I wound up accidentally purchasing and reading this instead.
Now I have since read “The Untethered Soul” and I must say that the quality of the writing (or Ghost-writing) has certainly improved between the two books. But nevertheless, Singer is a fascinatingly ‘human’ narrator. Speaking on his own journey of discovery, he really gets to the heart of his own humanity.
What this offers “The Surrender Experiment” in particular, is a beautiful testimony for us to understand how we too can trust in the flow of life and see where it takes us. Singer documents his transition from the world of academia, into the corporate world — while maintaining his spirituality and connection to the flow of life.
It’s really fascinating to see how he made that transition, keeping connected to the principals of surrender, and the incredible things that unfolded for him as a result.
As an aside: Singer also does a series on YouTube that I would highly recommend. Especially to those of you who struggle to find the time to read books these days. He has a wonderfully calming yet enticing quality about him, that really draws you in. Go check it out!
So I can sometimes, in my work, give the impression that I am not exactly down with the “woo-woo” or indeed; the practice of surrender. I think this is because I ground everything in reality and always bring practices back to a tangible, real result-driven place.
The fact is though: I’m all about surrendering to life and the universe!
Something I’m very big on is trusting in the abundance of the universe and the need to get out of its way. The key difference is that I also teach about the need for clear intention setting as well. We need to do the work of laying out very clear instructions first, before surrendering to the process of whatever you’ve asked for showing up for you.
So while Singer could be thought of on the face of it as not inviting us to look on the process of surrender with intentionality; he very much does, it’s just that it is a macro-intention. Singer has given himself the very clear intention of surrendering to the process of life, to go wherever god/the universe told him to go and witness the various outcomes with love and expansion in his heart.
The hugely inspiring message to me in all that was that things truly do work out when we surrender and trust in the process of life. Indeed it is when we seek always to control and understand the mechanisms by which something is to come to us, that we wind up missing all that is coming to us and not getting what we want.
There’s a bible verse that I’d like to share with you, that I think really sums up Singer’s sentiment in the book beautifully:
“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest,
And even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” — Psalms 65:11
I share that only because I think it really gets what we’re talking about here. At our level of consciousness, we are really limited to how much of the macrocosmic ‘playing field’ we can see. We can only see that which is in front of us and around us.
When we surrender, what we’re actually doing is allowing that aspect of ourselves that has access to a ‘zoomed-out’ perspective on everything to guide us. When we’re engaged with our higher-self like that, even the hard paths can over-flow with abundance. With that perspective we can see that difficult times are happening for us, so that we can grow and expand in ways that set us up for greater reward down the line.
So by surrounding (or “crowning”) the year with a bountiful harvest — we are accepting that there is abundance outside of our immediate awareness, and surrendering to its presence. Thereby we are giving ourselves the assurance that the hard times are just part of the broader picture, helping us to grow and expand.
I invite you to check out “The Surrender Experiment”. I found it to be a very easy read, but one that really filled me with intrigue. It spoke to me at a time when I most needed encouragement in precisely this area, and I wouldn’t have the same relationship to what I do without it.
It inspired me so much that, back in 2018, I actually did my own surrender experiment where I just sat with life and allowed it to dictate my movements. I didn’t know where I was going to go, how I was going to get there or what I would do to feed myself. The results were incredible and largely why I live where I live now (Cabo, Mexico).
I would encourage you to do the same, regardless of where you are in your life. I did mine in a particularly transitional period with no guarantee of where my next meal was coming from or how I would afford things. Singer did his surrender experiment having already become a billionaire. It really doesn’t matter!
Go check out “The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection” and also search for Michael Singer on youtube. Till next time everyone, keep dreaming with your eyes open!
