Growing personally and
spiritually through acceptance and surrender
One of the most useful concepts to grow spiritually and
becoming happier is the method of acceptance and surrender.
I have personally found this method to be perhaps the most
workable and useful in retaining my poise and staying happier
as I go through life. Partly because of my upbringing no doubt,
I have had a life–long habit of being very self critical and
judgmental. I have the habit of criticizing and feeling bad
about myself for every little thing that happened to me –
internally or externally. I tried to reason my way out of this
habit but it did not work – the habit is still with me. I also
feel guilty many times during the day when I am caught up with
my memories of times when I behaved badly.
For anybody in this situation, or anybody who feel
negatively about himself or the situation in which he finds
himself the proper attitude is that of acceptance and
surrender. Surrender to the thoughts and feelings which arise
in you. If you are feeling bad about yourself, or your
relationships, or your work or anything about your
life–situation welcome and accept that feeling. Surrender to
it, perhaps it was what was meant to happen at this time. Watch
the feeling with as much detachment as you can. It will pass as
it must; all things in this world are impermanent.
In the classic spiritual bestseller – The Power of Now –
Eckhart Tolle advises us to treat whatever negative feeling
that arises in your mind as a message saying, “Attention – Here
and Now. Wake up – Get out of your mind – be present”.
Surrender does not mean resignation to your life situation.
If you are stuck in the mud you don’t say “I resign myself to
being stuck in the mud” and do nothing about it. If you have
lost your job, if you find yourself trapped in a bad
relationship or in any situation that you find intolerable then
obviously you must do something about it. We all need to plan
and work to change certain aspects of our lives. I am not
telling you to blame your fate or destiny for everything that
happens and do nothing about it.
What I am asking you to do is to practice acceptance and
surrender to everything, which is happening to you – internally
and externally at this instant in your life. If you are trapped
in the morning rush during your daily long commute to work,
then accept whatever is happening – inside and outside – at
that instant. Surrender to your feelings of freedom, irritation
and frustration. Don’t repress those feelings – accept them,
surrender to them.
Surrender to the long life of cars or the crowd in the bus
or local train. Accept your present situation – at that instant
– fully and without reservation. This should not prevent you
from changing what can and needs to be changed. Perhaps you can
get another job, or shift to another branch of your company
closer to your home. Perhaps you can take the bus to your
office instead of driving yourself. You can make use or your
daily commute by reading a newspaper or a book or doing some
work. Change what can be changed, surrender to what is
happening at this instant – the one thing that you cannot
change.
For a more detailed discussion on the concept of acceptance
and surrender please refer the classic bestseller
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, available at Amazon.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful
to you.
If you have any comments or questions, please visit
The Eastern Philosophy Blog and post them. I visit the blog
daily and promise to reply as quickly as I can.
Stay tuned for more articles in this continuing series.
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