If Peace is the Goal, Surrender is the Recipe

Of one thing I am certain — nothing, outside of this present moment, is worth anything.

There was a moment, a near 4 or 5 months ago now, when I came to the realization that nothing is set in stone. You can count on nothing. No one. There is not a single happenstance of life that is constant. That is, except for the inevitable cycle of change and loss.

Everyone will fail. Everything will fail you. It is a fact of life that can never be manipulated to completion — no matter the effort you extend, the eventual result will have it’s way. You may put off the inevitable, but you can never escape it.

The relationship will wither. The grass will die. The sun will rise and the rain will fall. Sadness will envelop you, laughter will burst forth unrestrained, it may even shoot out of your nose when the right elements are in place.

And just the same, the comfort you find in the peaceful tranquility of enlightenment or awareness, adventure and camaraderie, it will escape you. The liquor will wear off, the THC will run its course through your system. The trip will end.

It is up to your sole determination that a new trip begins. The sun will rise regardless, but what will it find?

Are you cowering under the thick sheets, stained in semen and tears, riddled with crumbs from yet another dinner in bed? Are you witnessing the movement of your breath on the yoga mat, trying ever so hard to release the tension that’s anticipating the strain your muscles will undoubtedly endure when the real work begins? Amidst it all, are you asking yourself with every passing second, “Do I really want to be here, doing this? Is this truly what my life is? Is it all there is? Has my decision to be here caused me to miss out on something better? A brighter morning, an emotionally stable evening free of longing?”

Or better yet, “Do they know something that I don’t?”

Life is a series of questions and uncertainty. Peace is a series of riding the questions and uncertainty with a strict hold to the confidence of this simple fact — I am always, undoubtedly, exactly where I am supposed to be, simply because this is where I am.

There is no better moment, no sweeter feeling than surrendering to the one that is here.