Up: [[Accept Reality]] Created: 2023-10-14 ### What Surrender Is - A way of trusting the unknown - The choice to not fight or attempt to control circumstances or emotions. That’s resistance to reality. - Letting go or letting be - Trusting that everything happens for a reason and has its own timing - Releasing past mistakes rather than fearing or regretting - It’s at the heart of all spiritual paths - Entering the moment and experiencing it fully as it is > [!Orbit] Debbie Ford > 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. > [!Orbit] Amy Johnson > Surrender literally means to stop fighting. Stop fighting with yourself. Stop fighting the universe and the natural flow of things. Stop resisting and pushing against reality. ### What Surrender is Not - It’s not done with my mind - It’s not the same thing as deciding to be comfortable with what is - It is not a strategy. It is the absence of strategies. It comes when I have no idea what to do but know I can’t keep doing what I’ve always done. - It’s not hanging on, however surreptitiously, to the belief that I can somehow manage a situation or control the outcome. - It’s not the same thing as submission. Alison Crosthwait in her [Youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zc7vXzzF8) about the difference says that surrender is energy gain, while submission is energy loss. Note: Her videos are pretty wacky. I don’t need them. > [!Orbit] Nancy Colier in [psychology today article](https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/inviting-monkey-tea/201605/when-its-time-let-go-control-and-surrender#:~:text=As%20much%20as%20we%20are,had%20set%20out%20to%20achieve.) > The moment of surrender itself is easy; it happens when it’s ready. Control falls away and takes us with it. It’s the path to surrender that’s excruciating. But what’s amazing is that when surrender does arrive, it’s accompanied by a great sense of ease, relief, and peace. It’s not like the situation remarkably gets better or easier, but we feel better and more easeful when we know in our bones that we cannot fix or figure it out, when we know that it’s truly not up to us, and we simply can’t. In this moment of surrender or grateful defeat, there’s clarity.