Our entire lives we are taught a simple equation to success. Effort = Success, more effort equals more success and less success is the result of not enough effort. While there is truth that successful outcomes often require effort, effort is just one ingredient to success. It’s not the entire dish. Successful outcomes depend on so much more. They require novel ideas, an effective strategy, access to resources, favorable market conditions, and being in the right place at the right time.
We could go into a deep discussion around the varying definitions of success; however, that is not the point of this article. It’s about the ineffective belief that we can force things into existence from a place of effort and determination alone, and the meaning we make when our efforts fail to bear fruit. The stories our mind tells us about the cause of this perceived failure.
We hear self limiting statements in our head like “you will never get this right, it’s not meant to be” or self-judging statements like “you are such a failure, you should just give up.” Other times our fragile egos try to externalize our feelings about the situation by blaming others for our own dreams and desires failing to manifest. By placing the blame on others, we are attempting to preserve our own worth; however, this never works long term. Our hearts know the truth, and our blame does not serve to move us any closer to our objective. It only drives a wedge between us and others, often destroying relationships we need to actually be successful.
Sometimes things are just not meant to be… or just not meant to be right now!
The truth is, that we are in control of very little. In large, our effort is not the sole determining factor regarding success. If anything, it just gets the ball rolling and helps to keep it moving. We must surrender the outcomes of our efforts over to our Creator… To the supreme intelligence which has manifested all things. Our Creator is the author of this story, we are but characters playing small but important roles. This may make some a bit prickly and defensive, but it can also be the most freeing and lightening thing you have heard. By not being in charge, the heavy burden of solving all these problems no longer lays upon your shoulders?
At first it may terrify us to relinquish control, especially to something we cannot see and barely understand. That’s normal, as we have been taught that our ability to control our external environment leads to our internal happiness. We have also been taught not to trust anything we cannot observe with our five senses or be verified by “science” (aka statistics).
Deep down, we know this is not true. We have become the most advanced society to live on earth. Science has developed ways to manipulate just about everything, yet our mental and physical health is at an all time low. We simply cannot manipulate our external environment enough to create internal happiness. Our happiness lives on the level of the soul, and that is always internal. The level of the soul is where we commune with our Creator.
By giving the outcomes of all our efforts over to our creator, we make space for our soul to flourish.
We allow ourselves to focus on the here and now, not just the future. We start to enjoy the process of putting in effort, not just the outcomes. We notice and appreciate the subtle nuances that exist within the process. We feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude when things do come to pass. We feel connected and hopeful.
When our existence begins to look like this, we start to notice synchronicities occurring. External factors that work in our favor and appear to be coincidental. This is because you are now working in cooperation with the Creator and he is expressing himself through you. You are not the sheet music or the sound of the song, but the instrument which plays it.
Giving it over to the Creator does not mean becoming passive and not trying. It means listening to your heart as the compass, while putting in effort and moving at the pace set by the Creator.
You still have agency over your life. You alone are in charge of how you respond to any situation and the meaning you create around it. You decide if you are willing to slow down and work in harmony with the Creator. You choose who and what your actions serve. Your choice is what you are in control of. That is it!
The journey will not be effortless, just because you chose to operate in alignment with the creator. Our physical world is complex and interconnected. Others are on their own journeys and have their own free will. Sometimes choices made by others may impact us. Likewise, darkness still exists in the world, laying out traps and decoys in an attempt to lure us away from the light. These paradigms are not personally for or against us. They are just the dynamics that exist in the world we were born into.
However, the creator wants us to succeed. He wants to bear witness to our triumph over darkness and share in our glory. He will provide us with signposts and clues when we find ourselves at a fork in the road, a dead end, or straying off trail. We must learn to notice these signs and understand their meaning. Nobody can tell us what they mean, as these messages are encoded uniquely for us. They are part of our growing intimacy with the Creator. They force us to draw closer to him.
Sometimes the messages are internal. We may notice them as emotions such as constant frustration pointing to a lesson about patience, or chronic tension in our bodies pointing to something we are holding on too tightly to. Other times the messages are external, such as financial resources showing up exactly when needed, forcing us to confront whether or not our hesitation to proceed with a new endeavor is really about money. Either way, the Creator is talking to us, providing us with guidance and opportunities to grow our character. We just need to listen.
We must give it all over to him, surrendering to his will, entrusting him with our well being and the well being of those we love. Things will come to pass if and when they are supposed to….
If we are unable to give it all over and surrender the outcomes to our Creator, we leave space for darkness to step in. Once in even the slightest amount, it will use deception to lure you away from the light. We will find ourselves back to grinding away, focused on some achievement and rushing through life. Exhausted, we will not have the bandwidth to realize that we have become enslaved, nor the ability to notice the signs our Creator is giving us.
Who you choose to serve, how you choose to act and what meaning you choose to put in your life, are the only things you really have any choice in!
Choose wisely…
I’ll endeavor to put this wisdom into action. Great essay!