Surrender Pose

Many of the images you see on this site are of what I call a Surrender Pose. It is also the Pessimists Beware logo. So what is a Surrender Pose and what does it have to do with Optimism?

One of the central messages of Pessimists Beware is the balance between creating the life you love (personal responsibility, being in action) and listening to life, to those things you can not control (surrender or trust). To open yourself to the gifts life gives you, even when they do not look like gifts. The Surrender Pose is a visual image of that. I hope that it inspires and supports you as it has me.

I am a visual person and wanted an image of what Pessimist Beware looked like. One night an image from the movie the Black Stallion (the one with Ricky Schroder as a young boy, about 25 years ago) came to mind. The scene after the ocean liner he was on, sunk and he and the stallion were the only two survivors on a deserted island. The boy tries to ride the stallion and is repeatedly thrown from the horse. Eventually he is successful and he streches out his arms wide, closes his eyes and just surrenders to the horse, pounding down the beach. It is a beautiful moment.

That night I tried that body posture on. It was a difficult, uncomfortable and unnatural feeling. But I practiced. I started doing Surrender Poses all the time. Whenever I needed to be reminded of the power of my dreams, the power of surrendering to life, going with the flow not against it, I did a Surrender Pose. I started taking photos of Surrender Poses when I traveled and at meaningful events.

Now my friends and family are doing Surrender Poses all the time and I invite you to do the same. I am collecting 1,000 Surrender Poses this year. My vision is to create an image of a Surrender Pose made up of many Surrender Poses. So please try on the posture of surrender and send me your photos to gabrielle@pessimistsbeware.com

One of the central messages of Pessimists Beware is the balance between creating the life you love (personal responsibility, being in action) and listening to life, to those things you can not control (surrender or trust). To open yourself to the gifts life gives you, even when they do not look like gifts. The Surrender Pose is a visual image of that. I hope that it inspires and supports you as it has me.