How to Let go and Surrender to Change
By: Annie Jina Tan
Tags: Acceptance, Self Improvement, Letting Go, Surrender, Forgiveness

It is the cradle of truth that change is constant and permanent. Change is life, and change always happens no matter what. We are living in the rapid changing world, to which is the most realest fact there is to our human life. We can’t avoid change, the more you try to force things not to change it is like you are pushing life from happening, it is as simple as that.

Still, we often want things to be different than the way they are, and why? I have to ask this question myself sometimes when I view problems negatively, instead of seeing it as a positive change.

So let’s think about it this way, since we can’t control change, why not surrender to things we can’t control ?

Here are some tips to let go of control and surrender to change

Proclaimed: This process might need to strip out your ego and entitlement that blocking you from a total surrendering.

)BREATHE

Breathe that fresh Prana in, take a moment to pause, and feel the air going into your lung and out. Take a break, stop everything that is going on in your head right now, and start paying attention to your breath.

Why paying attention to your breath? Because breathing is something that we must do every second, every moment in order to stay alive; yet we rarely pay attention to it. Therefore, paying attention to breathing is one of the easiest step to start practicing, and it requires no tools or special setting. Just you, your breath, and your awareness; anytime and anywhere is all fine. Realize every breath you are having, experiencing the air you take in and out, do this at least for 5 minutes, and you will feel your whole body and mind start to relax and let go. I believe in order to start letting go, we should start from the physical form first, in which breathing comes to a crucial play for this very precise moment. Then, we go within.

2.)ACCEPT

How about create a new narrative to yourself, a story that values peace and acceptance. Tell yourself that everything will be OK once you accept everything that happens to your life. And don’t get me wrong, you are not powerless when you accept, but instead you gives yourself a permission and power to love and gain self-respect. It is a self honoring process However, I know it is easier said than done. On the other side of your mind, it would probably fight against the idea, because it is seems too painful to accept and I hear you. Again, if such toxic thinking occurs again, accept it, and move on to accept more. When you accept, the acceptance will bring peace to your mind and inner self, regardless how chaotic the outside world would be. Embrace the fact of life, and perhaps stop holding yourself to pre-pandemic standards, because that kind of thought kills you.

3.) FORGIVE

To forgive others, and most importantly to ourselves is one of the most caring acts we can practice. Put bad memories and emotions aside and forgive them unconditionally. The act of forgiveness is not for others, but believe me, it is solely for your benefit. Because once you truly forgive, you will feel peace sprouting in your heart. You will feel as if you can move forward with self-love and confidence, help emptying emotional baggage you might carry all along. No shame of the past. Leave the past behind and start fresh again. The sake of forgiveness makes you become lighter and open to witness the next life chapter to unfold. To forgive is to move on! By the end of the day, it doesn’t make sense to live in the present, while using past bad experience to define the future, am I right?

4.)LET GO AND SURRENDER

Letting go means no attachment: no attachment to the past nor the future, just stay present with no expectation. Feel the present is flowing through your body, feel the air is flowing right through your fingers. Let yourself go and be free of expectation. Be kind and forgive yourself. Once you have learned to let go, then you surrender completely. Surrendering, in this context, doesn’t mean you are weak or you have lost the battle. Think of it in a different perspective, surrendering means you let the universe take care of the rest of the work. When you surrender, it is a sign that you have hand over the final tasks to the universe. It is also the sign that you fully trust in yourself and the higher divine, you can sit back and relax.

5.)TRUST

To trust means to reduce the anticipation of the results from the unknown future. Once you accept, forgive, let go and surrender, then you will gain a sense of trusting knowledge along the process. For those who are having trust issues, this could be a great test to overcome them. To test if you can completely let go, surrender to the universe, and trust fully that everything will be taking care of. It will be very difficult in the beginning. Me too, I have to work a lot on my poor trusting ability that had been built since I was a child. Over the period of time after practicing these steps, I could defeat doubts and able to know wholly in my heart that the situation will favor me either one way or another. Another perk is that when you trust, you start to worry less, and begin to understand why worrying much is a waste of time.