As my swollen baby belly grows rounder by the day and my maternity leave comes closer, I hear the word "surrender" popping up in many of my conversations with friends and clients.

As I approach birth, I am forced to look at my relationship with surrendering. I'm letting go of my business; letting go of my ideal birth plan; letting go of how I would like to experience this summer with my newborn. That's a lot to let go of!

At the same time, I am embracing the fact that surrender does not really mean "to give up." It means to quit fighting or pushing, and simply accept things as they come. It's a willingness to fully experience where I am in the NOW. And it's a time-tested strategy for deeper peace of mind.

In a recent team coaching session, Cheryl and I were helping our client construct her keynote speech on Life Transitions. We talked about the concept of surrendering our way through life's changes (such as divorce, loss, looking after elderly parents, a career change, starting a business, having a baby, etc.).

It reminded me that Type A overachievers tend to push our way through major transitions - and, as natural as it may feel to do so, it might not serve us best.

The benefits of surrendering are too numerous to count... decreased stress and frustration, increased productivity, increased creativity, more time, new skills, new experiences, faster healing, improved self-acceptance, better sleep and more.

And it's only after one has truly accepted "what is" that the opportunity for something new can arise. True, deep surrender supports transformation, growth, and healing.

In a recent coaching session, a client shared that after 16 months of trying to become pregnant, they finally succeeded - only to lose the baby after three months gestation. As an ambitious corporate professional, she felt deeply conflicted between her need to power through her work, and her need to grieve this loss. Her soul was crying out, and she eventually accepted that only by surrendering to the pain could she truly move ahead. (I hear that advice works for birth, too.)

For many of us, when we go through life's transitions, we tend to deny what we are experiencing. We push it away, trying to avoid going through it.  Unfortunately, that only makes the transition last longer.

Are you going through a transition?

Does it feel like you are swimming upstream, or forcing your way through?

If the struggle is exhausting you, it's time to consider the alternative - surrender. Let go of your ideas about how things "should" be. You just might find something far greater than anything you could or would come up with yourself.

Put yourself in the middle of the stream, and allow the current to take you where it may. A whole new world awaits - one you would have missed had you continued to swim with all your might.

As Lao-tzu once said, "If you want to be given everything, give up everything."

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I'll be "otherwise occupied" for the next two months or so, but I look forward to connecting with you again when I return in the fall. Until then, keep reaching for your definition of "having it all"... you can be sure I am!

Coaching you to achieve your definition of "having it all,"