Summary:
The Astonishing Power of Surrender:
- Surrender is the most powerful act of the will you will ever choose.
- The only way to achieve your greatest potential is to surrender your attachments, your fears, and your self-centered life so you have room for the abundance you were created for.
- Let go of your little lollipop life and connect with the amazing that awaits those who release their walls of self-protection.
“When you surrender your will, you are saying, “Even though things are not exactly how I’d like them to be, I will face my reality. I’ll look it directly in the eye and allow it to be here.” Surrender and serenity are synonymous; you can’t experience one without the other. So if it’s serenity you’re searching for, it’s close by. All you have to do is resign as General Manager of the Universe. Choose to trust that there is a greater plan for you and that if you surrender, it will be unfolded in time. Surrender is a gift that you can give yourself. It’s an act of faith. It’s saying that even though I can’t see where this river is flowing, I trust it will take me in the right direction.” – Debbie Ford
There’s a place set aside just for you, somewhere in heaven, a table overlooking a beautiful meadow in a lovely coffee shop, where you’re going to glimpse what was possible in your life, all the amazing experiences that awaited, had you simply believed. It’s probably true.
This scares me. Not that there might be some great unveiling at some point, but that I will not accept all the goodness and wonder and passion set aside for me, because I was too caught up in myself, walking in fear instead of love, self-protection instead of self-expression. The fear is that I won’t surrender my little lollipop when the whole candy store is offered.
There is, and this I know to be true, a few things in this life that only you can achieve, really great things, that no one else in the entire world can achieve, express, and share with the world, things that will change people’s lives, and it can only be achieved one way. The way of surrender.
The problem is that we see the world not as it is, but as we are. In our limited worlds we only have glimpses of what’s possible, slivers of success.
What happens is that we try to control what we cannot control, what we’re not meant to control, and in this we lose our strength and passion. We lose ourselves.
As a professional athlete, my dream was to be a superstar and I obsessed about the possibility. What I didn’t realize is that the most extraordinary experiences were only possible if I gave up my limited strength for a greater one.
Think of it this way: what if you completely let go of how you compared and what the world thought of you… what if you had total freedom to be your true self with no limits? This is the way of surrender. The great martial artist knows this. It’s to be like water, adapting to each moment, not trying to change the moment. The great performer knows that all things are working for her good, everything is here to teach us and help us.
“Perhaps we’ll never know how far the path can go, how much a human being can truly achieve, until we realize that the ultimate reward is not a gold medal but the path itself. – George Leonard, Mastery
Our culture is so obsessed with achievement (because of our deepest human need to be loved and accepted) that we get caught up in results in circumstances, what we want but cannot control, that we lose out on what’s possible if we simply believed–and surrendered the outcome. To be all we can be, we must be willing to look our worst, or as George Leonard says, “To be a learner, you’ve got to be willing to be a fool.” It’s the #1 goal of Inner Excellence students, to learn and grow… to get better every day, to face any emotion, to be willing to look completely foolish.
How to surrender
1. Realize that the higher your goals are, the farther you’ll fall when you fail. If you’re not willing to fail in a big way in front of a lot of people–and be unfairly judged for it–then you may want to set your goals lower. If you, like a lot of my clients, want to compete against and beat the best in the world, then you need to be willing to fail, so you can have the freedom to swing freely, to swing and miss, to put your whole heart into it. You can’t put your whole heart into something if part of you is holding back because you’re afraid of failure.
2. Ask yourself if you’re willing to face any feeling, to have any emotion, as painful as it may be.
3. Clarify what’s most important to you (what you value most)–how you want to live and feel and the type of person you want to become, so you can have the courage to fail greatly.
4. Love your opponent. Or your co-worker or boss. Love is fearless. Selfless is fearless. When you walk in love you have the most choices, the most resources and the most courage. This doesn’t mean you’re soft, in fact it’s the opposite. Perfect love has strict boundaries because it sees the farthest, has the most expanded vision and knows what’s possible when you believe. And surrender.
Let me know how it goes!
love Jim
PS.
To those of you who took a moment to give an Amazon review, thank you so much! If you haven’t, would you mind taking 5 seconds to click on this link and give it your star rating, or if you have 55 seconds, give it a written review as well. Thank you!
PPS.
Update on my life: I leave for St. Louis tomorrow to lead an Inner Excellence boot camp, and while I’m there I’ll look at a potential bus/motor coach to purchase and live in. On Sept. 9 I fly to Vancouver, BC (first time in Canada in a year and a half!) to lead an Inner Excellence boot camp/retreat with a very special group, the TWU women’s volleyball team.