I used to be a thief.
It's true.
I used to be a thief.
I found myself taking possession of something that didn't belong to me.
What didn't belong to me?
The belief that I was a failure.
The belief that I wasn't worthy of love or success.
The belief that a nobody from nowhere could make nothing out of something.
I took possession of these things that others held for me,
That others believed about me,
But it didn't belong to me.
So that made me a thief.
That can be said about most people,
Right?
People take on things that don't belong to them all the time.
Guilt and shame and defeat.
People take possession of these feelings,
These beliefs all the time.
And when we become possessed by our possessions,
We leave behind our pure selves,
Our higher selves,
Our true essence.
It was through the power of surrender that I learned how to let go of these possessions,
Stop being a thief,
Let go of the possessions,
And begin to see myself as an expression,
An expression of God,
An expression of love and joy and passion,
An expression of truth,
Resilience and compassion.
This is who I am.
This is who you are.
Letting go isn't about giving up.
It's about giving in.
Giving into what you think about yourself,
What other people think about you,
What other people impress on you.
Giving into being wrong.
Giving into being right.
The last lesson my spiritual teacher,
Maria Castello,
Taught me before she transitioned was for me to always remember to empty my cup.
Meaning right when I believe I have it all figured out,
That I have all the answers,
All the solutions,
I need to empty my cup.
She would say,
Stephanie,
You are a seeker of knowledge.
You are a seeker of solutions.
You are a seeker.
And so right when you think you know it and you got it,
Empty your cup.
Tio solo puedo y anar una cobabacía.
This is what she would say,
Meaning God can only fill an empty cup.
So that's really what surrendering is.
Surrendering is emptying your cup.
So take a minute and reflect and meditate and think about what is in your cup.
Maybe you already know something about a relationship.
Maybe you've already written off your boss and in this job.
Whatever is filled in that cup,
What others have said about you,
Your past,
Things that you believe about the world around you and your reality.
Maybe it's time to empty that cup.
And when we empty the cup,
Depending on your perspective,
You could look at it as a ending.
Some people look at surrendering as an ending.
Some look at surrendering as a beginning.
But I look at it as both an end and a beginning.
And when you empty that cup,
It allows you to be in receptivity and to be ready to receive whatever source energy is ready to provide.
Emptying your cup can be scary because we don't know what it's gonna be filled with.
But this is the thing.
You are not what is in the cup.
You are the cup.
You are the cup.
You are truth.
You are the cup.
You are resilience.
You are the cup.
You are compassion.
And you are asking it to be filled with new ideas,
With new information,
With new knowingness.
Fill that cup with what brings you joy,
What brings you peace.
Wanting to explore and open up to another dimension of yourself,
To open up a new version of expression of yourself.
This is what it means to really empty our cup,
To really surrender.
So I ask you again,
What is your cup filled with?
