Resistance → Acceptance

“SURRENDERED ACTION”

These words came to mind while I was contemplating the difference between being adrift and surrendering. In conversation with a client, I was sure there was a stark contrast, something like this:

Adrift is laid back in a canoe, no oar in the water, letting the current take you wherever it wants.
Surrender is oar at the ready, but decisively going with the current, because it’s the appropriate way forward.

Then I wrote the words on paper, looked at them, and contemplated some more.

surrendered = to resign favour, privilege; to yield power.
action = a driving, acting, moving force; produced by the will.

It struck me as paradoxical. A contradictory coupling if there ever was one. And yet, it still sat so solidly as a good indicator of what I was trying to convey.

Surrendered action: moving from resistance to acceptance.

In the context of tattooing & initiation

Surrendered action might look like:

• Choosing to get tattooed not to prove something, or because you want a specific outcome, but to mark a shift already unfolding. Acknowledging that it will take shape as you go.

• or said differently; Letting the form emerge rather than forcing a shape.

If you’ve been reading my Q&A posts, the next one explores being adrift, and the value of anchoring in meaning...

Another paradox (or contradiction) that often shows up in tattooing for the initiate to wrestle with:

Are they anchored in the form – the “what,” the physical aspect of the tattoo?
Or are they anchored in the meaning – the “why,” the metaphysical dimension?

Because, if you’re anchored in the form, the meaning can shift beneath you.
However, if you’re anchored in the meaning, the form can simply become.

Thanks for reading – and for sharing your thoughts in response.
MN