Sweet Surrender

Sweet Surrender

by Linda Heron Wind, Ph.D.

For many, the word surrender means failure, and, in one sense, it is - a failure of the small self to control and change the direction and purpose of your soul path. From a place of greater awareness, surrender is the doorway to true living. The mind balks at surrender where the heart moves into its sweetness with ease. Whether we are surrendering our old patterns like weapons used to fight with our souls, or surrendering to the highest potential possible for us in our lives, it feels like dismantling a dam that has kept the waters from reaching the fertile and creative lands within. Let's explore this magical state called surrender.

One of the first issues that kept surrender at bay within me was the question of who was I surrendering to. Surrender is not giving up but giving over, but to what or who? Many difficult experiences have led me to see that I am surrendering the will of my lower self to my higher self. A good metaphor for this is imagining that I am trying to drive a car but I have only a very small spot that I can see through on the windshield, I do not have the map, and I don't know where I am going. I focus very intently through that one small opening trying to figure it all out. The result is feeling very stressed, anxious, depressed, etc. When I realize that I actually have a chauffeur who knows where we are going and has a map (and is an excellent driver I might add), I move to the place of surrender and turn over the wheel and controls. Then I can just enjoy the scenery and trust what comes.

Trusting that there is someone driving who has a plan is, of course, no small feat. It took me lots of experiences where I could compare what happened when I tried to drive with what happened when my higher self was driving, for me to begin to trust. Now it is so much easier to know that the thing I have the most control over is my inner environment. Once I have learned to control that, perhaps I will have earned my drivers license. To try to drive my outer life before I can navigate the inner roads is silly at best.

Surrender is one of the most important parts of my inner environment that I can control. I can fight or surrender. Believe me, I have had many inner battles where I thought I won only to find that what I was fighting for was not what I expected it to be. My mind will sometimes get arrogant and believe that it knows how things should be for me to be happy, and then it fights for it with my higher self who knows so much more. My higher self does not like to fight so it doesn't resist much when my mind and lower self go to battle with it. It is as if it says, "Ok, have it your way and see what happens. It's not a good idea from my perspective, but I will be waiting when you see through the illusion that is tempting you." I love my higher self's patience and willingness to let me have my own uncomfortable experiences.

Over the years, I have become more likely to listen, less likely to fight, and happy to surrender to the guidance of my higher self. My mind can be ok with not knowing, and free of expectations and attachments to things going a certain way. Sweet surrender is a state of presence that allows me to align with my higher self. It reminds me of an old John Denver song -

"Sweet, sweet surrender; live life without care; like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air." So surrender those old control patterns that end up in the ditch, and let your chauffeur drive awhile.

Surrender calls up
To be open to what comes
To greet it with love

Surrender into
The flowing waters of trust
Arms of the Divine

If you have comments on these articles or ideas for future topics, call Linda Heron Wind at (585) 924-5620 or send e-mail to LHWind@aol.com.

Page last modified September 4, 2006 by RMC