From Setback to Hope: How to Surrender to the Universe

Today, I have a personally vulnerable post for you.  It’s about how to surrender to the universe, and how to let go even as you continue to nurture that new possibility inside your heart. 

Surrender is an elusive yet critical topic within spirituality and intentional living.   Without it, it’s so easy to go off course each time you’re disappointed. But the longer you stay on the spiritual journey, the clearer it becomes that letting go of control actually allows you to live the life you want.

I want to share an example of surrender from my own life, how I was able to pivot from a major disappointment.  I hope you read to the end and find out that this is not a story about giving up, but one about letting energy flow to return to my truth.  

When Things Don’t Happen the Way You Want

My Journey with Energy Medicine

If you’ve read my bio and my story, you might already know that one big reason for my pursuing energy healing is the health of my son.  Now almost 7 years old, his body has had severe food allergies to wheat, dairy, and sesame ever since he could eat solid foods.  

We’ve had to inject epinephrine into his little body so many times in the past.  Some of it was when we were still trying to figure it out.  The rest of the time, it was accidental ingestion.   

Two years ago, he had the most severe allergic reaction to something he ate at the ice cream shop.   We’d eaten there many, many times safely, but they had a new flavor that day.  You get bored eating the same thing every time, while your sister enjoys a cornucopia of flavors and textures.

Well, he enjoyed this new gluten-free and vegan ice cream very much.  But soon after he finished, he proceeded to have an anaphylactic reaction right there at the shop bench.   

It was the worst we’d ever seen.  In the end, we had to give him two rounds of epi injections to calm his angry body.

We are amazingly lucky that we have access to life-saving drugs.  But watching your child’s tiny body go through something like that really hurts your soul.  (My husband and I cried that night, holding each other, after we got back from the emergency room and our son was asleep in his bed.)

That’s when I decided to make his healing my priority.  I’ve been a mama bear ever since, and nothing will ever stop me.

Our Healing Journey So Far

Pretty immediately, I worked with my Reiki teacher and shaman to find a way forward.  If this surprises you, I’d like to note that Western medicine has NO cure for food allergies like his.  

In addition, I’d experienced so much personal healing, some of it physical, through working with energy.   So I knew the power of energy medicine and the existence of seemingly impossible healings.  

My teacher told me that I needed to look at the air quality of my home.  Maybe mold, she said, and it was hindering my son’s healing process.  

I hired a professional mold and air quality testing service.  We found out that, indeed, we had terrible air.  We didn’t have mold, but our over-insulated home could not breathe properly to bring in clean air and let out the old.  

My son had been starting to show asthma symptoms, so this was a big find.  

We installed an energy recovery ventilator (ERV), which brings in clean air and exhausts dirty air without losing temperature.  (If you listen to it, it sounds like the house is really breathing!)

We replaced our gas stove with an induction one.  No more runaway CO2s!  

We cleaned, as much as possible, the grills of our baseboard heaters, removing many years’ worth of dust, pet hair, and random stuff.  (I have no idea why I didn’t do it sooner.)

I hired a naturopath to test what was going on in my son’s systems.  We found extremely high levels of pesticides (including glyphosate and arsenic), several strains of mold, metals, and an imbalanced microbiome.  

I think I made smoothies every morning for about six months, to give my son a cocktail of about a dozen supplements.  I now clean fruits and vegetables differently, and cook rice very differently.   

I’ve also been giving him energy healing regularly since June 2024.  

It started with coherence healings via Dr. Joe Dispenza, which is a heart- and love-based energy healing technique, every day for about five months.  I gave him Reiki sessions, and since I learned Pranic Healing in February 2025, its asthma and allergy protocols about twice a week.   

Health Improvements

All of these helped improve his overall health.    

He breathes much better, although he still uses a little bit of a steroid-based inhaler regularly.  He simply has not had a bad allergy reaction since May 2024, although that’s also because we’ve been vigilantly avoiding the triggers.  His digestive system is healthy and in balance (he used to have random diarrhea all the time).

So I am incredibly grateful that he’s doing better.  My nervous system is much happier these days, and I do not take that for granted.  

BUT.  

A Setback?

Yesterday, I took my son to his annual allergy test at the doctor’s office.  

I’d secretly hoped to see some improvements in his reactions.  

The skin prick test for allergies exposes your skin to the trigger and measures if and how angry it gets.   At the end of 15 minutes of exposure, a nurse measures the width of swelling and redness around the trigger compared with controls of nothing and a histamine.  

Now, this is one of the few times when I’ll put my child on a screen.  He was watching DuckTales on the iPad while I kept my eyes on his back, where the testing was.  

Between giggling at the screen and looking up at me, he quickly complained of itchiness and wanting to scratch his back.  I could see the spots getting bigger and redder as I blew air on them, telling me that his body still really, really did not like wheat, dairy, and sesame.  

I’m not gonna lie, my heart sank.  

Every time he complained, I wished I could trade places with him.  I felt guilty for bringing him there.  

When 15 minutes ended, the nurse cleaned the spots with alcohol and gave him some antihistamine.  My son soon felt totally better.    

But my gut?  It was mush all through the appointment, discussing the results with the doctor, settling insurance, and driving him to school so he could finish his day.  

Ego Takes Control

At the back of my mind were questions about energy healing and my ability as a healer.  I’ve spent SO MUCH TIME trying to learn new techniques, channel energy, and actually do the healings in the past two years.  

Why was this not moving?  Just a little bit of positive momentum would have done wonders for my spirit.  

Not only that, I’m writing a blog about energy healing and at least trying to spread hope for other mothers.  But what do I really know?  Maybe I needed to close this down.  Change direction.  Find something safer.  

All these voices were like air bubbles in a pot of boiling water, coming up for air and pushing outward for release.  

But then, there were also these voices, albeit in a much softer tone:

You don’t know everything there is to know.  There is a reason for this.

So, are you going to give up now?  What’s the alternative, stop trying?  

But you KNOW that miracles happen.  There must be a way for him, too.

And he IS doing better, and that counts!

So for a while, I listened to all this chatter in my head.  

Then at some point, I realized that all my angry voices were from my ego—hello, Solar Plexus!—trying to protect me from more disappointments and feeling like a fool and a failure.  

The ego wants to be in control.  It gets really loud when it feels threatened.  

Which means that those angry voices were not my truths.

My truth and my intention continue to be that I will do everything possible to help my son heal.   

And if that takes a lifetime, even if a complete healing does not occur, I choose the life of hope and possibility rather than resignation and apathy.  

Then, just like that, the boiling inside stopped.  My gut returned to normal, and I even felt a new excitement to continue on my path.  

Because there’s still so much for me to figure out.  I’m still a baby when it comes to Pranic Healing, which is a more clinical energy healing modality than Reiki.  And if that doesn’t work, I’ll try other things.  

Gratitude Fills In

Having let go of the negative thoughts, something else filled in.      

We are SO INCREDIBLY lucky that my son can thrive as long as we successfully avoid these foods.  He is an amazing little boy with the sweetest disposition.  We call him “Cuddle Puddle” in our house because he is the family expert at cuddling.     

I know that there are plenty of parents out there with more dire situations, and I send them light and SO MUCH love, from the whole of my heart.  Because I know what it feels like to fear for your child’s wellbeing but not be able to protect them, to help them.  

Would I be able to surrender to the Universe so easily if our situation were worse?  

I honestly don’t know.  But I’d like to think so.  It might take much, much longer than it did yesterday.  But I would choose to live in hope and trust, and faith in the flow of the Universe, as long as I can.  

How to Surrender to the Universe

As you can see, the act of surrender helped me turn my energy around 100%, so I can move past a difficult situation and live my truth rather than the lies of my ego.  

You don’t have to like what happened.  But you can accept that it is so, for now, and reach for a peaceful space.

Staying in energetic resistance keeps you stuck.  It makes it harder for energy to move.  The practice of surrendering softens your energy and lets it flow so good things can come to you.  

In some ways, it’s very simple.  You don’t let setbacks keep you down.  You acknowledge what happened and all the feelings associated with it, but you simply let them pass without holding on.  

Ultimately, the journey of how to surrender to the universe is about acceptance.

Pretend that you’re an Olympic athlete who doesn’t let disappointments distract you from keeping your eye on that medal.  And you must keep your eye squarely on the medal if you want to win.  

The Art of Surrender

One of the biggest resources in the art of surrender is Michael Singer.  And it is an art.  

Singer is the author of Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender and other books.  He also has the excellent Michael Singer Podcast, which always helps me gain perspective whenever I feel off.  

To Singer, surrender is a spiritual practice of complete non-resistance.  He follows the Universe’s plan to fulfil his soul purpose rather than what his ego mind would have devised.  His entire life is lived through the intention of letting life happen, to say yes to things that may not make sense to him at first. 

Ultimately, he finds that there is always a reason why something is in his personal experience.   As he stays in a state of surrender, the Universe, in turn, constantly allows him the best expression of himself.   

I highly recommend all of Singer’s books and his podcast.  But meanwhile, here are some words for your consideration the next time you find yourself in need of surrender.

• There is always a reason for everything that happens.  It may not be clear now, but the Universal plan is 100% conspiring for your highest good.   Trust in the Universe, or God, and let go.  

• It’s okay that you don’t know all the reasons why.  But there is a Divine plan to all this.  

• Feel all of your feelings, even the lower ones.  You don’t have to like what happened, and you’re allowed to grieve for what didn’t.  Breathe with your feelings and observe.  Have compassion for yourself and be soft; we can only release these feelings by feeling them.

• If something is particularly triggering for you, ask yourself: Is this voice coming from my ego (Solar Plexus) or my heart (Heart Chakra)?  Choose to listen to your heart, which is the source of your true essence.  Try to come back to the present moment and invite love, peace, and hope.  

• Be patient with yourself if you don’t reach the surrendered state right away.  You may have to let go in stages, and this is perfect.  Each time you soften, you loosen the grip a little more.  

• If your surrender is particularly heavy, seek support from your friends, family, counselor, community, and/or spirit guides.  Allow yourself to receive love and energy to get through the hard times.

Final Thoughts: Choose Trust, Again and Again

Surrender, I’m learning, is not a single moment or achievement—it’s a choice we make again and again when life doesn’t unfold the way we hoped.  It’s the quiet decision to stay open instead of closing down, to trust even when clarity is missing, and to keep moving forward without hardening our hearts.

For me, surrender means releasing my need for immediate proof, control, or validation.  I’ve already started working with my mentors on the next step and for different ways to help heal my son.  I feel excited to expand further and renewed in my commitment.

If you’re reading this while carrying your own disappointment, fear, or heartbreak, know this: you are always being supported.  You don’t have to understand why something is happening to trust that you are not being abandoned.

Staying on course doesn’t mean the path is smooth—it means you keep choosing truth over ego, softness over resistance, and hope over resignation.

And sometimes, that is the bravest form of surrender there is. This post was all about how to surrender to the universe.