Surrendering is not always a weakness.

If we ask people to imagine what comes into their mind when the word ‘surrender’ is mentioned, it is a battlefield where one person or group lays down arms and accepts defeat. It is an image of people with raised hands to show they have no weapons and are not going to attack someone. These images always conjure up surrender as some form of weakness. But surrender need not always be a sign of weakness. It can be a sign of strength, it can be a sign of acceptance, it can be a sign of the desire for peace, it can be a symbol of acknowledging higher purpose.

Because we value a relationship and harmony in a relationship when we let go of some issues, when we let go of our needs, when we subsume our desires to the desires of our children or loved ones, this is surrender and this comes from a source of strength. Letting go demands strength of character. The desire for peace is a higher one.

When we let go of the desire to control everything and everyone around us and surrender to the process of life, we accept our limitations. We acknowledge the limits of our power. Acknowledging our limitations needs a lot of strength and courage and surrender in this sense is again not a weakness but strength.

When going through a crisis it is vital to do all that we can. We make every effort to resolve the crisis. After having done all that we can, we leave it to life/god/higher power/fate or whatever else you want to call it. This is saying “I have made the best I can but I cannot guarantee the outcome. After giving it 100%, doing everything in my control I am willing to accept whatever the outcome”. This surrender is faith or trust in the process of life and yet again demonstrates surrender as a sign of strength.

When we stop trying to be someone else other than what we feel authentic, when we unconditionally love and accept who we are, when we love ourselves in darkness and light, that is essentially a process of surrender and that again needs a lot of courage.

Surrender should not be forced then no one likes it. But when surrendering is done voluntarily, with full awareness, with zero resentments, without an iota of doubt, and for a higher value we cherish, then it is a beautiful sign of strength.