Many struggle with the idea of surrendering. What does it mean to surrender? Why should I surrender? How can I be myself if I surrender?
Spirituality
Basic Understanding
On a physical and mental level of understanding, we connect surrender with defeat, giving up, or failing. It is no secret that we face challenges and difficult times in our lives that cause resistance. Time and time again, we hear testimonials of people who hate their 9 to 5 and decided to remove themselves from the situation, whether it be to find a new job, resign, start a new business, refine their skills, or go back to school to pursue a different path. The unspoken reality is that they had to surrender before they could experience change. True surrender occurs on the spiritual level.
Since the fall of man, we toggle with resistance. We face the challenge of releasing resistance to hide from our present presence. To surrender is to give up what we resist.
It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it. Nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action. Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place where you can experience the flow of life is the Now, so to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. It is to relinquish inner resistance to what is.
°°°
Surrender is a purely inner phenomenon. It does not mean that on the outer level you cannot take action and change the situation. In fact, it is not the overall situation that you need to accept when you surrender, but just the tiny segment called the Now.
Spiritual Entrepreneurship
A spiritual entrepreneur practices surrendering. The practice is to learn to live in the Now, the present. When we get negative thoughts, we interfere and release those thoughts. When we start to create negative scenarios in our heads, we quickly recognize that those scenarios that we create are usually inaccurate and unjustified.
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Ways to Practice Surrendering
Go to the spiritual level to release negativity. The mental level will keep you in this state of despair. If you find yourself projecting resistance like, ‘I don’t want to go to work’ or ‘I don’t want to deal with those people’ or ‘I hate my job,’ you are resisting the moment to see what can be done presently and with focus.
Ask ‘What is’. When we surrender to what is, we open the floodgates to gratification more fulfilling than any material win ever acquired. When you take action on ‘what is,’ you create the scenario of constant fulfillment.
Interrupt your negative thoughts. When you get a negative thought in your head, be rude and interrupt the thought. For example, “I hate when… I can’t believe that….” interrupt the thought and say, “Present!” or “Now!” The fact is those previous thoughts no longer serve you, and you choose to be present with your thoughts. Practice this and see how your life will settle in peace.
References
Tolle, E. (1997). The Power of Now (pp. 205-206). Namaste Publishing
Author’s Note
I began writing at a very young age as a way to communicate the things I did not have the courage to say out loud. Today, I write to say the things that cannot be silent. My deepest thoughts and solutions come from solitude, silence, and writing. I wrote in the compilation Ignite Possibilities at a time when I was not sure where all of my possibilities came from. I had big dreams with limited resources (or so I thought). Thank goodness, I was right to have big dreams and wrong about having limited resources. Little did I know, I had everything I needed. I started both Elite Acuity LLC and this newsletter because I wanted everyone to understand that all abundance and possibilities are within.
Ashley Patterson
Ignite Possibilities
