The Beauty and Power of Surrender

Have you ever found that the more you try to control something the less control you seem to have? Or perhaps you've heard the saying, "You'll never find it if you're looking for it." How about that time you tried really hard to do something and it totally bombed, but then, that other time, when you didn't try at all, it was a raving success? There's something almost mystical about the nature of the universe when it comes to our desire to create our ideal outcome.

Instinctively, we think that when we want something, the best way to get it is by pursuing it tenaciously. Although the value of hard work can't be denied, there is some other force at work when we adjust our approach ever so slightly.

So, what exactly does it mean to surrender?

Ultimately, it means to stop worrying about whether you're going to reach your ideal outcome or not and instead just live as if you knew for certain it was going to happen (and when I say "live as if you knew for certain," I essentially mean live without worry that it won't happen).

Now, this is not to be confused with the ideology that, by simply living as if you have it now, what you want will literally manifest into your life out of thin air. No; there is actually a method to the madness, here.

You see, by consciously making a decision to surrender your worry, you are, in turn, taking a large part of your focus that was initially dwelling on the outcome that was not desired, and have now instead shifted your focus solely and completely on reaching your desired outcome.

There are a few benefits to this change in thinking. First of all, by no longer worrying, you have replaced two opposing emotions (one of success and one of failure), with just one—success. The wonderful thing about success is that it tends to breed more success. When you feel successful, you live successfully. Basically, this means you have an attitude of success that directly influences your thoughts, feelings, and actions—and your actions are what ultimately design and shape your life. Another benefit is that your focus is now entirely on reaching your ideal outcome, which means you will be more motivated, ambitious, and decisive in taking the steps to help you get there, because you've removed the biggest obstacle from your path: your fear of not getting there.

Your worry is just one of many things that can be surrendered. When you realize that you have the power to consciously not allow self-defeating emotions to overtake you, then you can truly begin to gain a level of control over your life that you may have not previously realized you had. It's funny how, in order to gain this control, you had to first surrender.

When you surrender your fear of an undesired outcome, you leave only room for your ideal outcome to flourish. When you surrender your anger, you find a level of peace that cannot be achieved otherwise. When you surrender control, you find that things no longer have the power to control you which, in essence, gives you more control over your feelings and ultimately your life.

Now, let's be clear that simply changing your thinking doesn't grant you immunity from the hardships of life and the things that happen to you. There will also be people, circumstances, and events that are beyond your control and that will not always align with your desired outcome, regardless of your conscious thoughts and feelings. This is just a fact of life. However, it does not change another fact of life, which is this: when you surrender the outcome, you pave the way for your desired outcome to manifest through your thoughts, feelings, and actions.

In my personal experience, I've found that the more I strive to reach my ideal outcome, the more I'm met with often baffling resistance. On the other hand, when I've either consciously or unconsciously surrendered the outcome and instead focused on the heart of the matter and what I felt positively about, it seemed results and success followed almost effortlessly.

Perhaps there is some mysterious force at work here. Certainly, the universe is big enough for plenty of possibilities. Regardless of whether we are working with a force greater than ourselves or this is ultimately a self-help technique to improve our productivity and performance, good things happen when we surrender that which we do not want. By doing so, we then get closer to reaching our desired outcome. That is both the beauty and power of surrender.