This article was inspired by Why Liberation is Not a Search, it is a Surrender
Learn how surrendering can allow us to experience joys that we never knew existed.
For most people, life is described using verbs such as seeking, striving, and searching. We depict our lives as a struggle, where we fight against despair and disaster and seek out joy and freedom.
But would you believe me if I told you that your take on life is completely incorrect, and that your search for peace, happiness, and liberation can be attained by simply surrendering instead of resisting?
The Ultimate Surrender
The word surrender is subconsciously associated with negativity such as failure, defeat, and even weakness. But in reality, the act of surrendering takes a great deal of bravery, strength, and determination, even more so than fighting.
Because nothing takes more courage than surrendering our fears, mistaken beliefs, biases, judgments, and preconceptions. Surrendering is the ultimate act of challenging and questioning everything we have learned and acquired.
The simplicity behind the act of surrendering may seem incredibly ridiculous and maybe it even is. But we possess a natural inclination or tendency to fight and resist. Whether this is a biological response, our social conditioning or even a bit of both, our habit of resisting often becomes a hindrance when we actually attempt to simply surrender.
I am certain that whenever you tried, you’ve realized that you can’t just change people without their consent. You can’t force someone to look through your perspectives or even hear your thoughts, unless they first open up and, as a result of that, become more receptive than usual.
On the flip side, you would probably agree that you can always change yourself. You can also change the outcome of some events by avoiding obvious mistakes.
So humor me for a minute and think of anything in your life that you can genuinely change by simply surrendering.
Can you differentiate between the things that lie within your power and those that are completely out of your hands?
External factors, people and events are significantly more difficult to oversee and contain. However, feelings, judgments, perceptions and decisions, which are all internal, are more in the realm of change.
Pursuit of Happiness and the Biggest Resistance in our Lives
We have been taught that the premise of life is to search for joy. This is one of the primary drivers of our actions.
We travel the world, get degrees, earn money, get married, and start businesses, all in the hope of an elusive dream of happiness.
We do all of this in the hope of acquiring joy instead of simply surrendering, instead of accepting our reality and finding joy in the present moment, for that present moment is more joyous than any dream we can chase. Hence, we deliberately perpetuate a cycle of misery.
Happiness is a feeling. It is not something that can be pursued, but rather enjoyed. If we are still intent on chasing it, it simply moves forward, because essentially we can only chase things that we don’t have.
The chase creates anxiety and frustration as it was never designed to end.
Happiness, on the other hand, is a feeling and it is omnipresent. It is when we relax that we start to experience this emotion.
If you wish to change your life in order to perpetually experience joy, you must learn to surrender the notion that happiness is something that must be pursed. We all have an unconscious habit of fantasizing about the future and dwelling in possibilities and dreams, imagining what could have been rather than soaking up the tranquility, beauty, and joy that is ever present in the present moment.
If you want to implement the idea of surrendering, then try to focus on the now, the present, and live in it, bask in its glory and tranquility, for when you will experience it, you will realize its perpetual nature.
Trying to live in the moment doesn’t mean doing stupid things and justify them, it means notice every little detail and nuance that is present in your present.
Yes, I agree your life might not be perfect without you telling me, but then again, whose life is perfect?
Certainly not mine. Despite our lives being imperfect and far from our perceived perfection, we can re-condition ourselves to get the most out of life in its imperfect state. The beautiful thing about beauty is that is can be found in the darkest of places.
So, how are we supposed to undo the years of conditioning? Well, in such cases, there is never an absolute way, which everyone is supposed to follow.
As far as I am concerned, I allow my body to become more receptive in its senses, all five of them. Meaning, whatever I am, I will do my utmost to get the most out of it, by anchoring myself in the present moment.
You can also achieve this by tuning your senses and enhancing everything you are experiencing. Enhance what you taste, what you touch, what you hear, what you smell, what you see, and focus on these sensations as they will open a whole new realm of pleasures for you.
Make sure you do it wholeheartedly and turn it into a habit.
Try this method and surrender yourself to the pleasures that await you in the present. Whatever you experience, whatever you see or hear or feel, come back to us and share it with us.
Everyone, including I, would find nothing more joyous than to hear about your experiences.
This article was inspired by Why Liberation is Not a Search, it is a Surrender, which was written Aletheia Luna. She is the co-founder, editor and author of popular spiritual website LonerWolf.com. As a transformational mentor and holistic writer, she has helped to guide thousands of people throughout the world on their paths of self-acceptance and wholeness. You can follow her work and private updates on Facebook.
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