When life feels like a struggle it is a clear sign of our resistance to it. If we choose to resist anything in our lives by hating it, ignoring it, pretending it doesn't exist and in general deciding something should or shouldn't be, we are ensuring that it will remain a problem for us. The Law of Resistance tells us, what we resist, will persist. The more we try to push it away, we unwittingly give it greater power in our life. Our life circumstances are our experiences, but they do not define who we truly are unless we allow them to. Our experiences in life affect us but we get to choose how we perceive and allow them to impact our lives - positive or negative.

We must accept and embrace our current circumstances, as well as our life stories and where we are at any given moment. Areas we feel the greatest resistance in are often our most fertile ground for personal growth. Surrendering to what is or has happened in our past, allows us the ability to connect and listen to ourselves - not the chattering in our minds but to hear our own inner voice. Life circumstances can hold associations to painful past experiences that hold us hostage. Resisting our reality drains us of our life energy preventing us from moving through our issues to a greater sense of freedom. Acceptance allows space for transformation and change to occur. We are no longer engaged by an internal power struggle against what is. When uncomfortable circumstances occur we can use them to look within ourselves and examine our thoughts and feelings surrounding it. It gives us the opportunity to recognize negative habits and beliefs that are creating the very situations we don't want in our lives. Energy spent resisting what we don't want, blocks our ability to create what we do want. Releasing resistance creates ease where there was struggle.

The fear is that surrendering means we are settling for what we don't want in life. There is the feeling that the possibility for change is lost if we accept our current circumstances. It is the very opposite. By accepting what is, we allow the natural process of life to flow. Life is energy in constant motion. Change is brought about when we make peace with the very thing we feel resistant to. Resisting and pushing up against life in order to change it, is what prevents and blocks the flow of life. This causes us to feel stuck, drained and diminished. Forcing solutions in life only brings us more problems, struggle and suffering. If we pay attention we can actually feel the difference in our bodies when we stop resisting. It is an instantaneous release of pressure, as if a literal weight has been lifted off our bodies. We feel a sense of lightness from within.

We must surrender to all that is in our life and ask ourselves, "What is _______ in my life to teach me?" Running away from our deep seated feelings only serves to drive them deeper within us, causing us to continue to get more of those unwanted circumstances by giving hidden power to repressed fears and beliefs. The challenge is to recognize in the midst of our difficulties that our answer and power actually lies in our ability to surrender and let go. What we surrender to is learning to connect to the deep sense of knowing that resides within us all to know what is right for us. We are conditioned to look outside ourselves for our answers, but our natural state of being - our true self holds the answer to all of our questions. There is always an answer - always. Our true self will never leave us or let us down, can be counted on to tell us the truth, always has intentions for our highest good and will always show us the right path. We need to learn to listen and follow the quiet voice within. Listen for inspiration in the thoughts and ideas that would not have come to us otherwise. The closer we get to our true self the things in life that aren't aligned to it start to fall away or no longer bother us. Surrendering allows us to respond rather than react to our past and current life circumstances. Responding comes from our core, our true selves. Reacting comes from old beliefs, fear, and misperceptions from the past.

We are a society filled with "doers", so our first thought is, "What do I need to do to find my true self?" We won't find it by seeking it or trying to develop it because it already exists - it just is. It is so simple really and yet it seems so elusive to us. All we need to do is allow and accept it. We need only to set our intention towards giving our attention to our true selves for it to happen. Our true self wants to be heard by us and it comes to us in that nagging feeling that deep down we know there is more to life than we are experiencing. This is our true source of power; where we hold the knowledge of our full potential and ability to manifest in our lives. Living our lives according to who we really are brings us freedom and peace. It gives us new eyes to see our current life (and the past we carry with us) in a different light. Many times what we consider our greatest successes in life begin as perceived failures. When we surrender to life's unwanted and unexpected situations and decide to grow from them, our most difficult times can be magnificently transformed into our greatest gifts and insights.

Every diversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an

equal or greater benefit. Napolean Hill