Surrender A Sloppy Practice
You might be letting go in the moment, but are you allowing for what’s next? How we find ourselves stagnant in surrender.
It’s become a common buzzword. You hear people talk about surrendering almost as much as you hear them talking about the universe being a source of their problems or solutions.
So, what are all these people surrendering?
In the practice of meditation there are a few ways to look at surrender. First, there’s “offering up.” This is akin to placing something on the altar of your consciousness and might even involve all of your possessions in addition to your thoughts around a specific issue. Second, there’s “letting go.” This is the sensation of release – releasing the ways you might be controlling an outcome, your expectations, fears, and judgments. And third, there’s “giving in.” This conjures the image of a person lying supine, all muscles relaxed and no longer seeking or fighting for an outcome.
Surrender is Step One
If we’re in a constant state of surrender, or our go-to is to give it all up when things become difficult, we’re probably not grounded in a space of allowing for what needs to show up.
Little discussed in pseudo-spiritual lingo is the act of allowing, which is the necessary counterpart to surrender. In meditation, surrender practiced haphazardly can mean you are constantly pushing energy away from you. We surrender in the hopes of finding a solution – and by that very definition we are now seeking beyond ourselves, not surrendering. We’ll find ourselves, again, in the very same mental state we just surrendered.
Be Still, Be Gravity
When we offer something up or give in, the idea is that we surrender any identification with our current situation or expectations in order to allow for what needs or wants to show up.
This means staying rooted in where you are and opening up your energy to the possibilities in the world around you. Surrender is not an energetic rejection of your current behavior or situation – it’s a laying down of arms so that opportunity, creativity, love and a shift in perspective may show up.
Once we surrender, we must listen. We must find the sweet stillness that surrender makes possible. We get to see what effortlessly wants to flow to us, what wants to rush in.
What do parents tell their children should they get lost in a store or amusement park? Stay right where you are. Don’t move. I will find you.
Check out more on this topic from one of my favorite metaphysical authors.
