Surrendering: Learning to accept, let go and embrace new opportunities for growth

Just this morning, I listened to a Franciscan friar speaking about the topic of surrender, "the thing that provides the greatest strength in the spiritual life" (you can watch video here). And I couldn't agree more with his thoughts.

The act of surrendering a situation, problem, or vice can have transformative effects in our lives.

Here are just three reasons why surrendering can help us experience life more fully:

1) It provides an avenue of acceptance

So many times, we seek to control everything that happens in our lives. We have certain expectations about how each stage of our lives should "look like". And this can make us rigid and dismissive to new opportunities.

This is not to say we should not create goals and have aspirations to look and work forwards to. On the contrary, we should definitely have them.

But you must understand that it is only OUR actions that we can control.

The way people react to your dreams, the natural disasters the might bring chaos to your life, the unexpected situations that might derail you - these are not under our control.

Those are obstacles that we must learn not to sweat about, but rather to accept and move on or let go.

2) It frees us from negativity

Surrendering also allows us to get rid of the negativity that might come from keeping something for too long.

Where do you want to spend your mental energy in and for how long?

Thoughts can have a powerful impact in our lives. As such, if we are able to let go of those thoughts that bring us doubt, anger, anxiety, and many other scary feelings, we make room for bigger and better ideas or energies.

Don't be stuck in a rut. Accept what is out of your reach and move forward with a positive and renewed action plan.

3) It expands our perception of the world

Let's be honest here - when something terrible in our lives happens that completely rattles our daily living (like the death of a loved one, getting laid off, a divorce, etc.), how many of us suddenly find ourselves seeing life from outside of the bubble we were living?

In other words, how many times does a situation move you away from where you were to a whole new way of living?

I think the final stage of surrendering and accepting is the realization of whole new opportunities and sights - of getting outside of that rigidity and dismissive mindset.

Because of your decision to surrender and let go of negativity, you allow yourself to be open to new ideas. Your listening skills sharpen and your mind becomes more malleable.

You learn to step outside of yourself - of your expectations - and embrace the thought that there is a bigger world out there that might know maybe just a little more about what might be best for you.

What do you think? What is your experience with surrender? Acceptance? Letting go? Leave a comment down below - I would love to hear from you.

"God, I give you permission to take what I'm not strong enough to give"

Trust the process. Live the commitment.