There's a strange contradiction at the heart of creating the life that we want to live. On one hand, we're told to get really clear. What do you want? Set the intention. Make the decision. Take action. Create the vision. And I believe in all of that. But then there comes a point when creating the life that you want almost requires the complete opposite.

Hi, I'm Nicki Kuurman, and welcome to the Practical Mystic Podcast, where universal wisdom meets modern life. One of the pieces of manifestation is this idea of surrender, that we have to loosen our grip on what it is we're trying to get because the thing that we're trying to get is being dictated by our mind of how it has to show up.

And I think this is where abundance gets really interesting because there's a difference between intention [00:01:00] and control. Intention says, "This is what I desire, and this is what I'm choosing, and this is what I'm available for." And it opens up the idea of what it is that we want to create. Control says, "This is exactly how it has to happen by this date, in this way, through this person, and with this outcome."

And I know which one I'm very good at. I'm very good at the controlling. And not to say we don't need to be specific with our intention because the universe loves a clear direction. But sometimes we need to be able to release our control of how it shows up for us in order to let the magic in, in order to show up in our highest good the best way forward, because often it's beyond your wildest imaginings.

I've spent a lot of my life wanting to know where something is going before I completely trust it. I like a plan, and if I'm going to put [00:02:00] my heart and soul into something, some part of me would really like a guarantee on the outcome. Wouldn't we all? But life doesn't really work like that, does it? When I look back at some of the most important things that have happened in my life, I couldn't have planned the route to them.

There were conversations I couldn't have predicted, people I didn't know I was going to meet, things that didn't work out that redirected me somewhere else. Ideas that seemed to come from nowhere. Moments where something just felt right before I could explain it. And sometimes I think we've become so attached to the route that we have decided that there's no other outcome.

And I'll give you an example of how I started studying kinesiology. I was going to study naturopathy. I had been thinking about studying naturopathy for many, many years. In fact, I was so ready to start studying naturopathy, I had teed up a friend to study it with me, and we were ready to enrol in the course. [00:03:00]

And just before Christmas, I had met a kinesiologist at a party, and she was saying to me what she does and how kinesiology works. And I went, "Oh, that's really interesting. My naturopath does those same similar things like muscle testing and understanding how the body was working in the energetic flow."

And so, I was like, "Oh, maybe my naturopath is actually doing some kinesiology, and I just didn't know that it had a name." So, I got really, really curious about this idea of kinesiology. And then Christmas came and we went overseas, and I just sort of let it all go. Go to enrol in the course come February, and my friend has got all the details for me.

She says, "All you have to do is log in and apply." So, I go to sit down at the computer and I think, "Oh, I better rush to Aldi quickly before they close to get some milk and bread." And I rush up to the shops and as I'm in the queue, [00:04:00] there's a man in front of me telling the woman in front of him all about kinesiology and what it is.

I was like, "Oh, that's so interesting." I remembered back to the conversation I'd had with this other person before Christmas. Didn't think anything of it. Got my milk and bread, came home, go to log on to start the naturopathy course, and a pop-up window comes up saying, "Have you thought about studying kinesiology?"

And my heart just stopped. It was like, huh, maybe this is a sign. And all of a sudden, all my intention of going back to school, learning a new modality, sinking my teeth into it, completely changed course. I had never had a full kinesiology balance when I started studying. Within two weeks, I was enrolled at a completely different school to the naturopathy one.

In fact, they don't even offer kinesiology, so who knows where that pop-up window comes from. But I [00:05:00] went to an open day, I got really excited about it, I enrolled, and I started within two weeks Now the intention was still the same. I still wanted to study, I still wanted a change in career, but the modality completely shifted.

How that showed up for me completely shifted. I could not have made that up. There was such synchronicity in all of the little moments, in all of the uh-ahs, and it was like a bunch of dominoes went brrp, and here I was in this whole new reality that I couldn't have dreamt of. Maybe this was the possibility that was even so much greater for me than studying naturopathy, and I truly believe I was put on this path to follow my spiritual gifts and to develop my healing and Reiki in a way that was even more free to explore those things, rather than narrowing [00:06:00] down into naturopathy.

So lately I've been thinking a lot about this difference between intention and control, because surrender doesn't mean to have no desire. It doesn't mean sitting on the couch waiting for the universe to deliver a new house, a million dollars and a bottle of champagne to your front door. Although universe, if you're listening...

We still participate, we still make choices, we take action, we have conversations, we send the email, we create the thing, we say yes, we say no, we follow the nudge. We do all of these things, and perhaps we don't know h- have to know exactly where each one is going to lead, because every decision is a portal into a new version of your reality.

Intention gives us the direction. Control demands certainty, and if there's one thing, I'm certain of in this life, it's that certainty cannot be certain. There are always [00:07:00] so many variables. Perhaps abundance needs a little space between those two things.

I think we need to leave room for life because if I say that I believe in intuition, if I believe in synchronicity- If I believe we're energetic beings, if I believe in source, in the universe, in something bigger than the, my mind trying to organize on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon, then surely I also have to believe the possibility that I don't know every available route to get what I want.

I don't know how it's going to show up. That's the mystical part of our life, is that we're allowing the mystery to show us, to lead us, for our soul to have a say and go, "Yes, yes, yes, that. I want that thing." And allow it to [00:08:00] show up in the highest possible form There are things I know because I have researched them, and there are things I've, I know because I have experienced them, and then there's just things that I know.

A nudge, a feeling, a conversation that arrives at exactly the right moment, or an idea that just won't leave me alone. Something keeps coming into my awareness, and I often call that intuition. You could call it synchronicity. You can call it source. But really, it is life showing us the way. And if there's anything that I've learned over the last few years, is that life will always show us the highest possible path when we allow it.

Control can only work with what we already know. It takes all the current information that we currently [00:09:00] have and says, "Okay, based on this, here are the possible outcomes." And so, we're going through the filing cabinet of our experiences. We look at others and we go, "Oh, I want some of that," and here are the possible outcomes, but they are already from our mind's known reality.

But what about the things we don't know yet? The person we haven't met, the opportunity we haven't heard about, the version of ourselves that we're yet to become. All the possibilities that we cannot possibly see from where we are standing in this moment now with only our knowledge. If abundance is expansion, then surely there has to be room for something beyond what we can currently imagine, and I love that I also find it mildly terrifying because now we're in the wobble.

Now we're in the liminal space of the unknown. [00:10:00] I know what I want, and I have to surrender exactly knowing how it's going to show up. I've noticed in my own life recently, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I want my life to look like. Where do I want to live? What do I want my business to become?

How much do I want to work? What do I want to create? What I want more of? And I can very quickly start trying to solve the whole thing, making lists, checking them off. "Okay, if I need to do this, then this will happen," et cetera. And suddenly, I find myself twenty steps down the road of something that doesn't even exist yet.

And what I'm beginning to realize is that perhaps that I don't need to know or extract that form yet, because I'm only predicting that from my old known reality. And what I am experiencing, and what I'm getting clearer [00:11:00] about wanting more experience of, is spaciousness and freedom and beauty and creativity and connection and adventure, and I want to feel alive in my own life.

I don't just want to be surviving it anymore. I always think about those choose your own adventure books when I was a kid. It's like, oh, I always wanted to read every single different outcome Because what else is possible? It's my job to keep my heart open. It's my job to keep being curious and allowing the magic in.

And the next steps when they appear, it is then my job to take action. And surrender isn't being passive. I think surrender sometimes gets thought of like, "Oh, just let go. Don't bother manifesting. Don't bother trying to set intentions or plans," because that's just simply [00:12:00] giving your power away to what it is that you want.

I do believe that you have to have a practical part to this where you are taking action because when you take a step towards your dream, the universe meets that action If you're just sitting on the couch doing nothing but thinking about it, then there's no way for the energy to move and to come toward you because it's too stagnant.

For me, surrender is actually a very active state of consciously holding the feeling of what I want and releasing the how I'm going to get it. I know what I am choosing to feel. I'm willing to participate in creating it, and I'm willing to release my insistence that I already know how it's going to happen.

And it's completely different and sometimes very challenging. But it's agency, its personal power, it's discernment [00:13:00] And it's also trust. Over the past couple of weeks, we've been exploring abundance as so much more than just money. What actually makes your life feel rich? We've talked about receiving, and now I think there's another piece.

 Can I leave room for life to give me something I didn't even know I was asking for? Because receiving isn't being able to accept the thing you want. Receiving might also be recognizing that what you want is so much bigger than what you are aware of wanting. Just like with the kinesiology story, I knew I wanted to change careers.

I could never have imagined where kinesiology has taken me in my life. And this is where I find ritual comforting and also really important in solidifying what it is that you desire. And [00:14:00] having a useful tool like a mist spray. Here's one I prepared earlier. This is my abundance mist. Because it grounds me into the desire and the feeling.

Because when we take a moment to do a ritual where we pause, we breathe, we come back into alignment with our true soul self, we let God in, it naturally shifts our frequency and our vibration, and the oils and the essences that are in the mist align you to these new frequencies of abundance.

How can I receive more than I can possibly know from my mind? We have to release the mind, and that's why it's so important to realign your energy over and over again, especially when you're feeling wobbly. Coming back into your heart space, grounding your energy, [00:15:00] and allowing what is meant for you to come in.

One of the intentions that I use with the abundance spray is, today I receive. Today I receive, and I notice what shows up. Is it a, someone buying me a coffee? Is it somebody letting me in in the traffic? What am I receiving?

So, when you're working with the abundance mist, I want you to hold it to your heart so you're feeling the energy coming into your field, into the electromagnetic field around you.

Spray the mist. Take a deep breath. Come back into your body. Let yourself remember what you are choosing.

Today, I receive I'm willing to participate in creating all that it is that I desire [00:16:00]

And I allow for whatever the universe has in store for me to also arise. Keep breathing. K- keep creating space in your body and around your body Just allowing the energy for the mystery of life to come in and settle in your heart and show you the truest way forward. Abundance isn't only believing that more is possible.

It's trusting that you don't have to know every step to get there. You can have a desire, you can set an intention, you can take a step, but you also have to leave room for the mystery. Just for today, let life meet you. Maybe your work is simply to choose, participate, and listen, [00:17:00] and remain available for the art of surprise.

Thank you for joining me on this podcast. Please like, subscribe and follow on your preferred platform, and please share this podcast with anyone you feel could benefit from a little more abundance in their life. Thank you for being with me. Bye for now.