How do we learn how to surrender to our life, just as it is?
Here I am in 2016 looking at what I would like to create for myself this year. I have done a few vision boards in the attempt to explore what I want in my life, while trying to surrender to what it is. This hasn’t been a particularly easy exercise for me, asking the universe for what I want, while being really content with what IS.
I think that most of our suffering comes from wanting things in our life that we don’t have or wanting the people in our lives to show up differently than they are. Let’s first look at people showing up in ways that we don’t like and want to change.
How can we surrender to people being exactly the way they are, keeping an open heart to them, while still setting boundaries?
An example of this might be having a friend that is consistently late. One way to deal with this is to surrender to the fact that this is her behavior and she can choose to work on it or not, rather than attempting to make her change, and at the same time, effectively creating a boundary around it. A good boundary might look like letting her know that being late triggers you and explain to her why that is. Then let her know that you will do one of two things regarding the situation. Either she must be on time or you will stop going out with her. Or, you can accept her lateness so long as you do not become resentful. That’s pretty tough!
The part of us that is looking at surrendering to people’s behavior doesn’t mean we let people walk all over us. It means we don’t take it personally or we set a boundary. How about wanting things in our life that we don’t have, such as more money, a relationship or a closer relationship, a new car, or perhaps a different job? How do we let the universe know that these are things we would like in our life and still surrender to our life just as it is?
The suffering comes when we want something so badly that, without it, we are miserable. However, we can be open to creating the things we want in our lives while still being totally content with the life we have created up until this point.
This is the key, opening up to co-create with the universe and loving life as it is!
A good morning practice might be:
“I surrender to everything in my life being exactly the way it is.
I am grateful for everything in my life”
At night, check in with yourself to see if you were suffering about something you didn’t have or wanting someone to be some way they weren’t. Life is about acceptance of what is, while still co-creating with the universe.
