Have you ever been so committed to getting your own way that you were totally willing to force yourself into someone else’s life?
I’ll bet you quickly found it a mixed proposition. We all have visions and dreams that seem to require things go a certain way, such as finding your own true love… for example. As we grow up, we see another principle at work.
When You Need To Be in Control
Control is essential in many vital skills, such as driving a car where you must focus straight ahead and wrap your hands around the wheel. To lose control could mean an accident.
This is also true in many competitive sports, such as basketball, where losing control of the ball can give the game to the opposing team.
Even in intimate relationships, it is important in certain circumstances where you feel upset NOT to erupt and explode, or carry on a scene, let alone get violent. During such times, it is appropriate to take a few deep breaths and go for a long walk.
Control versus Surrender
Control has its limits. You will eventually realize that there are times when the most appropriate thing to do is simply nothing, to let go, to stop asserting yourself, to allow other people and unforeseen circumstances to just BE.
Richard Rohr, a brilliant Francisco teacher who focuses on helping his students actually live their faith, rather than simply talk about it, puts it this way:
Learning that you are not in control situates you correctly in the universe. You know you are being guided, and your reliance on that guidance is precisely what allows your journey to happen.
Rohr goes on to explain:
The needed virtues in the first half of life are quite rightly about self-control; in the second half they are about giving up control…Initiation rites attempted to give a young man the essential life messages early, even before he was fully ready to hear them.
Such rites universally tried to prepare a young man for what I call the great defeat, the necessary recognition that you are not really running the show, and any attempt to run it will ruin it. The intense self-will of the autonomous ego must eventually be disillusioned with itself.
Father Rohr makes the case that control is indispensable in our early years to function effectively in society. However, as we grow older, life will present us challenges that seem beyond our control, such as a downturn in the stock market, or losing our job or loved one.
In these situations, you learn how to go with the flow or else (if you can’t let go of control) you can lose your mind.
You realize (with time and experience) that you can only become better at managing yourself during events that you have no control over. In other words, you learn how to surrender and continuously steer (your situation) in the better direction. In the meantime, you trust the process…
In tribal societies, young warriors in their adolescent years were taken out in the vast wilderness for days on end without anything to fall back on. If they were successful, they might triumphantly return with a deer that they had hunted. Young indigenous people were weaned from the womb, and stark naked, sought the help of the Great Spirit.
Surrendering to Your Inner Power
Many of us are fond of Hollywood blockbusters, such as the current X-Men series. Few of us, however, can forget the original Star Wars movie, where Luke Skywalker is under the apprenticeship of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Luke is given a lightsaber and asked to strike a rapidly moving ball. To make things interesting, his teacher puts a helmet over Luke with no slits for the eyes. He advises, “Follow the Force, Luke. Let go of your conscious self, and rely on instinct.” Here, “Force” is an unseen inner power that transcends ordinary human capabilities.
Luke Skywalker learns that mastery goes beyond any rigid idea of control.
Also, violence is more a sign of weakness than of strength. All good samurai use violence only as a last resort. Judo and Tai Chi are martial arts that use an attacker’s movements against himself simply to neutralize the aggressor. To slaughter someone is totally inelegant!
Mastery Means Knowing When to Surrender
Control is simply one element of mastery. It is vital to know when to use it, and when to withdraw. In outright war, surrender is usually seen as defeat. However, surrender can be seen in an entirely different way:
Surrendering to the divine Flow is not about giving up, giving in, capitulating, becoming a puppet, being naïve, being irresponsible, or stopping all planning and thinking. Surrender is about a peaceful inner opening that keeps the conduit of living water flowing. It is a quiet willingness to trust that you really are a beloved son or a beloved daughter… See full post here…
True surrender is not defeat. It is recognizing Higher Power at work in our lives to give us something even better than that for which we hoped.
Let’s say that you aspire to be a multimillionaire to maximize your choices and ensure future security. You might find that you are living the lifestyle of a millionaire and all your needs are being met with little regard to your bank account. Was it the amount of dollars in your account you really wanted, or rather what they bring?
How to Let Go and Open Up to Whole New Possibilities
You can tap into guidance and direction from the Universe any time you want. Here are several ways to get started:
PLAY
One of the best ways to surrender and let go is to have fun in the process. Stop trying to BEAT yourself, other people or “the system,” and just start enjoying the game (for what it is), and going with the flow… while in it.
MEDITATE
Profound relaxation has a way of opening us up. You can do this by sitting quietly, closing your eyes, taking several deep breaths and silently repeating a sacred word. Whatever thoughts come up, just let them come up. You then gently go back to your mantra.
PRAY
For those of faith, it may be easiest simply to close your eyes and commune with God. We need only think of Jesus Christ’s ultimate prayer, “Not my will, but yours be done.” Often you may find that the Higher Will IS your true will, allowing for a major breakthrough in the way you experience life.
Do you have a difficult time in letting go of control...? Share your thoughts in the comments area below.
When Surrender Is True Power appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.
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