“Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.”
– Eckhart Tolle
Last year I surrendered to happiness. In the past I allowed myself to feel happiness, but only to a certain point. Once happiness hung around for too long I sabotaged the feeling by worrying about how something bad would happen to take it away. I used to look over my shoulder, for the invisible something to appear. And to prove myself right, something did show up – usually in the form of my own negative thoughts.
I believed control was a good thing. A way to be certain life turned out the way I wanted. I confused surrender with weakness and resistance with power. I can see now that the more I held on and tried to direct the way I, and others, and the world behaved, the more unhappy I became.
Acceptance of things as they were helped to melt away my need to control life and instead let me live life to the fullest. I no longer limit my level of happiness, or look over my shoulder. Instead, I embrace every second of happiness that comes my way.
Happiness truly is an inside job. There’s nothing outside of our thoughts that can take our happiness away. By surrendering to happiness all sorts of other things came bundled in the deal; more love, a deeper sense of contentment, the gift of receiving, inner peace, more laughter, relaxed muscles, simplicity, balance, and gratitude. All things worth surrendering for.
