Surrender...and the art of transformation

Have you ever seen someone learn to ride a bike?  They're very shaky at first because they are trying to consciously balance their body.  And then they fall over!  Quite simply, they are trying too hard.  They don’t trust their body to find its own centre.

Life is much like that: we keep getting in our own way because we believe we need to control everything to assure our desired outcome.  Quite the opposite is true.  We need to let go more.  If we can trust, if we can surrender, we open our lives up to the possibility of a greater power whooshing in and aligning all things for the highest good.

So do we become passive, I hear you ask?  On the contrary!  I believe that the secret is to do what we wish to do for the joy of doing it.  And then to release.  To surrender.  To hand over control of the outcome to a far wiser, deeper knowing than our conscious minds are capable of.

If we plant a garden, all the fretting and worrying will not speed up the growth of the plants.  They move to the sound of an altogether more subtle drum beat.  Shouting at the ground won't make them grow faster!

I'm still learning to apply this principle in my own life.  But I like the relief it brings.  If I believe I have responsibility for all outcomes, there's a subtle arrogance in that!  It denies others their autonomy, it denies the planet its natural flow.

What's true of nature is true of humans.  We do not control the growth of a sapling oak any more than we control the outcome of our greatest actions.  But we can point our actions in the direction of our dreams and undertake those actions with joy.  The outcome is beyond our control and the more readily we surrender, the more space we leave for the divine to work its magic on our behalf.