LIFE CHANGING Surrender Technique - How to Surrender to the Moment
53Eckhart Tolle discusses this at great length in the power of now, but I thought I would offer my spin on things. Sometimes hearing the same idea in different ways can shift a new perspective which is all that is needed for progress or for someone to truly understand.
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I believe after many years of practice, I finally understand what surrender means. I have been practicing a form of surrender since discovering stoic philosophy - sometime around 2011/2012. I first read the Power of Now in 2015. A colleague had recommended it to me after hearing I was into meditation and we discussed some of our particular progresses with meditative practice. He was the first human I spoke to directly about my meditative experience and I am so grateful for him sharing this book with me.
At the time, I listened to the entire book in audiobook format - and it mesmerized me. I found a cognitive understanding was there of Eckhart’s words but what I didn’t realize at the time was that it isn’t enough to understand the concept. You have to develop a practice. A sadhana, is what it is referred to in the east. A practice of spirituality, of remembering that you are not one with your psyche. This can be done at all moments of the day, but can also take the form of meditation, yoga, or prayer. It is most effectively done during times of discomfort or stress. During times of conflict within, or conflict without. However, it can be effective in positive or pleasurable moments as well.
Years later, I had a major kundalini awakening. I saw the oneness and was in a state of bliss. I understood finally what the enlightened were talking about. What the ascended masters have been showing us. After a while, I lost this blissed out state. This peaceful serenity. In an effort to desperately recover it, I began consuming all spiritual knowledge I could find. I knew the state existed within me, and there was nothing external I needed, but I also knew the power of hearing a particular set of words. A particular sentence or thought that causes the entire perspective to shift. This is what I was searching for.
Long story short, to surrender is to release resistance to the current moment. The now. It is to understand that if the moment is uncomfortable, you must enter a state of surrendered action. You must understand that this moment was not a pleasurable moment, but that you may take action to adjust your activity, thought, etc to effect change which will improve the next moment. Simultaneously, it is to understand that not all moments are uncomfortable in a way that you can take action to resolve. Sometimes, taking action can not have an effect. Sometimes, taking no action is the best way to affect change. Sometimes, the only way to affect change is to change your own perspective on the moment. If you do one of these things, in each moment, forever, you will change your brains default responses. This takes time. This takes patience.
Eventually, you will develop serenity and harmony with the moment, at all moments. Events will occur to test your presence. You must view these events with the same patience you’ve viewed every moment that has passed. The trick to being present in the moment during a period of emotional turbulence is to allow the turbulence to come. Do not resist it. Surrender to it, and watch it, but don’t identify with it. It is not you. It is your ego.
Noticing this in your day to day life is enough. Developing a practice of yoga, mindfulness, and meditation will also increase the rate at which you can shed the autonomous programming or subroutines in your brain. It will give you more space between a stimulus and your reaction to adjust your response in thinking, or response in action accordingly.
If you want to know more, I really do recommend reading the Power of Now. Eckhart does a fantastic job of explaining it. Much better than what I have done here.
Thanks for watching!