More on Surrender

My son put a question on his Facebook page today: "What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?" I wanted to write back "Don't expect your children to make you happy." But I didn't write; I was afraid he would think that I was being flip and that was not my intention. But there is a bigger truth here. And the truth is that no one, not our kids, our partners nor our friends can make us happy. And when we surrender to that truth we are left with only one place to find happiness. You got it!

Surrender - it starts with our breath

I discovered recently that I didn't exhale completely; I held some air in. It seems I didn't really, ever, totally want to let go. With this discovery, I decided I better "work on it." So in yoga, as I sat in meditation posture, I pushed that air out and sucked it back in. I had moved from one form of control to another. No surrender there!

Well, today, after a session of body work to ease tight muscles, a little miracle happened. I "watched" as I let go of my breath completely, effortlessly. I was empty for a moment and felt so calm and peaceful. Then the inhale just happened, no effort. It just rose up, expanded and filled me up. I felt revived and renewed.

In exhaling, I surrendered, letting go of the tension in my body and all the stories I carried around. Exhaling actually required me to die to life as I knew it, and to accept being born into a new life with each new breath I took in.

The deeper our exhale and letting go, the deeper our inhale, our expansion and our capacity to live fully. Pretty neat!

So why not surrender? Enjoy the adventure!