Is it Giving Up or Surrender?

When you’ve given up dieting in the past, have you gained weight? Have you thrown your hands in the air and walked away saying “That’s it, I give up, game over.” It is lonely thing giving up. You separate yourself from the game, from the effort, from the problem and you wash your hands of it and walk away.

Giving up is saying “I can’t control myself so I don’t care. I’m just going to let myself eat whatever the fuck I want”. Possibly that would mean gaining weight. If you’ve got some eating triggers and habits that haven’t been resolved, when you give up, you’re going to keep eating those trigger foods and continue to struggle. Giving up doesn’t always work.

Why is Surrender Different?

Surrender is most familiar to us in the context of war where one side surrenders to the other side and says, “OK you win”. Surrender has this connotation of turning yourself over to a power that is stronger than you.

Lets break down the word surrender. Render means “to cause to be or become” and Sur means “over, above or in addition”. Surrender to means to cause to be or become something over or above.

Surrender ~ to cause to be or become something over or above what we already are by turning ourselves over to a higher power or to something that is greater than ourselves.

If you haven’t been able to  lose weight and keep it off on our own then you would probably like some help. If anything or anyone could help you, it would have to be something greater than you that can effortlessly handle this problem.

That something doesn’t have to be God or the Universe, it could simply be the power of group support, or your higher self – your wonderfully evolved future you. It could be a spirit, or an angel or a mythic creature – it doesn’t matter, it simply needs to be something that works for you. Can you imagine some kind of Guide that would help you out?  If you don’t believe in anything, then simply pretend.

Surrender that issue that you have not been able to handle on your own to something greater than you. Ask Gandalf the Grey wizard for help.

Alone or Supported?

When we give up we walk away alone. When we surrender we turn it over to something that is greater than ourselves. Surrender feels like a huge weight has been lifted off our solitary shoulders and the burden is handed over to something or someone else who is more than capable of bearing the load.

In that moment of surrender we become separate from the problem and the unwanted behaviours and we are left with our pure essence, our authentic self. The essence of you that is beneath your behaviours cannot be judged by what you say or do. You are at last free to simply ‘be’.

Paraphrased from Inside Out Weight Loss Episode 93 ~ Renee Stephens
(swearing and references to Gandalf added by me)

Did you know …

• Most of us have not been guided to live our lives in surrender. We have been taught the opposite; try harder, plot more, manipulate where you can, force, push, resist, and if those don’t work, run and hide. We know too well from experience that all these actions really accomplish is to dig us deeper into turmoil. We burn out, get frustrated, feel hopeless, alienate others, compromise our integrity, and give away our power.
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  Surrender allows us to own our power; the power of our higher self, spiritual self, creative source or whatever term one uses to describe their eternal essence. That same essence within each of us is within everyone and everything in the universe. This is why when we let go into it, our fears are taken away, our problems are taken care of, and whatever we need is brought to us. All it takes is letting go; letting go of trying to control all the details, letting go of holding onto fear, doubt or guilt, letting go of old identities that no longer serve us, letting go and letting something bigger than our small self be our guide. From here our mood lightens, our heart opens, and the walls we erected to protect our small self begins to crumble, allowing more light to enter. ~ How to Embrace the Power of Surrender

→ photo : The U.S. Army