Look at your life beginning at the end. If you are about to die, how much control do you have over anything? That’s the same amount you have at any given moment in your life. We expend so much energy and endure so much frustration attempting to control that which cannot be.

Here’s the picture: One little intellect attempting to control the forces of the universe. It’s laughable, and most of us will live this patterned scenario every day we draw breath until just about the time we run out of it.

It’s not necessary to wait until you have no options. You can let go of control now. It’s called surrendering to what is. Success at surrender will bring you more peace than a convoy of control.

Control is the ego’s evidence that it exists. If we expose the evidence as illusion, the ego dies well before any physical death occurs.

Surrender begins by recognizing that control is a happy accident. A set of circumstances happens and we get the upper hand. Voila! We have control. We like that feeling and attempt to replicate it our entire lives.

It’s the same premise that keeps gamblers coming back. Have you ever met a gambler who talks about their losses? The focus is always on the wins. They are color blind to their red balance sheet.

Every government that has attempted to control its people has been overthrown or will be. It’s only a matter of time. When people cease to give their permission to be ruled, enslaved, downtrodden, hoodwinked, the “controlling” force will either disappear through an election, a junta, a jihad or be given a ceremonial position.

Control is the tool of the fearful. This fear causes us to think the only way to make things happen is to control all the variables. Even the best jugglers eventually wind up with their props on the floor. Any pseudo control that we do experience is a flash in the pan, a one hit wonder that we want to perpetuate.

Control lacks options. There is only one dance step it knows and repeats it over and over. We keep hoping our routine will come back in style so we can capture the whole dance floor’s attention again. It’s going to be a long wait.

Just imagine that someone whom you think loves you has made it all up for an ulterior purpose. Then you’ll know how the love affair with control is a sham. We have been convinced that control is real and our devoted companion. This ego generated belief keeps us riding a Merry-Go-Round without a brass ring.

If control really existed, wouldn’t more things have gone your way? Lots of people believe in things that don’t exist but nothing as energy depleting and counter-productive as control.

Surrender is the only solution. Surrender to the idea that control doesn’t exist and you’ll stop chasing it. Surrender doesn’t mean that you cannot take action in your life towards goals and objectives you want to accomplish. Taking action is a lot different than attempting to take control. One is a physical act that has measurable results; the other is a mental construct that keeps you stuck.

“Giving up control” is one of the most freeing things you can do in life. It’s a process. It begins with recognizing the lunacy of the notion and then it requires repeated interruption of the idea when it surfaces.

Each time you give up a little more control you are presented with more options. Holding on to the concept of control keeps you cracking the whip in an empty circus tent.

Peace begins when you give up war. Control is a conflict that takes lots of casualties. Control is a war without end.

Isn’t it time to get off the battlefield?

I won’t tell you that giving up the illusion of control is easy, only necessary.

“I have no control over that” is a mantra worth repeating. The more often you recognize the absurdity of control, the more options you’ll have for peace.

If “I give up” is not in your vocabulary, your options remain impoverished and you become another casualty of control.

All the best,

John