Book SummaryThe Surrender Experiment, by Michael A. Singer

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Surrender Experiment

In The Surrender Experiment, Michael A. Singer describes his 40-year journey from hippie college kid to CEO of a billion-dollar corporation—and attributes it all to saying yes to what life offered. Published in 2015, this book follows Singer’s #1 New York Times best seller, The Untethered Soul (2007), which explores spiritual methods for freeing the mind from limiting thoughts, emotions, and energy.

Michael “Mickey” Singer is an American spiritual teacher, motivational speaker, and author who founded the meditation and yoga center, [Temple of the...

The Surrender Experiment Summary The Principle of Surrender

Singer shows us what can happen when you let life, or the “universe,” do what it wants to do rather than you trying to make it do what you want. This is what he calls “surrender.” He explains that the universe is imbued with an intelligence that’s far beyond the limits of human understanding. Life has been evolving for billions of years. From the smallest embryonic cells to the vast planetary systems, the forces of life do exactly what they’re meant to do without our intervention. So, Singer reasons, it’s pretty presumptuous of us to think we should know what life should be doing and try to control it. He asks us to instead consider trusting that life knows exactly what’s supposed to happen and allowing it to naturally unfold.

Singer clarifies that surrendering doesn’t mean “dropping out” or being ambivalent about life, but rather it means fully diving into the flow of life. It also doesn’t mean giving up your free will—surrendering means aligning your will with the greater will of the universe. For example, if you’re presented with an...

The Surrender Experiment Summary The Catalyst: Awareness of the Monkey Mind

Before Singer had his insights about surrendering to the flow of the universe, he was a typical college student whose annoying inner voice led him to meditation.

His surrender story begins in Gainesville, Florida in 1970. He describes his younger self as a “hippie” who was less than serious about his education and for some time lived in a Volkswagen van. He didn’t have a clear vision for his life and felt aimless at times. But a single event set his life on a whole new trajectory that he’s remained on to this day. This was an otherwise unremarkable experience, and yet it had a profound and permanent effect on his life.

During a conversation with his brother-in-law, an awkward silence caused Singer to mentally search for conversational topics to fill the lull. He then noticed that he was doing that in his mind, and found himself reflecting on his own thought process. This was the first time he’d ever consciously observed his own internal monologue, and he became fascinated with exploring that further. After that conversation, Singer began to regularly and consciously observe his own thoughts and to reflect on the distinction between his unconscious mental chatter and the part...

The Surrender Experiment Summary The Experiment in Action: Surrendering to the Flow

Now that Singer had made the commitment to surrender, how would it actually play out in his life? In this section, we’ll discuss some of the major lessons he learned during this 40-year practice. We’ll describe some of the specific life circumstances to which Singer surrendered and show how each resulted in expanded opportunities and growth.

Trust the Universe

One of Singer’s first chances to practice surrender came in the form of a teaching opportunity. Through a series of decisions to say yes when his mind was saying no, he would learn that the universe knew better than him what was meant for his life.

When Singer became fully immersed in his meditation practice, he lost interest in pursuing his graduate degree and decided not to finish it. But when his professors urged him to continue, he applied his method for surrender by discarding his preference (not wanting to continue school) and finishing his degree. This led to a colleague asking him to teach classes at a local community college. He didn’t want to teach; he just wanted to be alone on his land, lost in meditation. So again he was tempted to say no. But he reminded himself it wasn’t about what he wanted.**...

Shortform Exercise: Practice Surrendering

Singer says the first step in practicing surrender is to set aside your personal preferences, which can be challenging when making decisions. Think through your own process of decision-making and consider whether it would be beneficial to set your preferences aside in the future.

Describe a recent experience when someone asked you to do something and you said no. Why did you decide to say no instead of yes?