"When you surrender, you remember that you are a Divine soul, inseparable from God, guided by God. You also see the absolute connection you have to all God's grace and good, like rays that are connected to the sun. What you see is your true worth as a child of the Universe, infinitely loved and supported."

Would you like to experience heaven on earth? Would you like to get rid of all the unhappiness in your life and experience only joy? Does the idea of living a blissful existence, unencumbered by the weight of grief and sorrow appeal to you? Or, how about never having to worry about anything ever again? Does that sound good? Would you like a little of that?

You can have some you know-as much as you want. It's all within your reach and you don't need a prescription to get it. It's not illegal and it's absolutely 100% free! In fact, you already own your own personal stash—as much as you would like, anytime you're ready to use it. It's been with you since the beginning of time—since way back when—when your soul was nowhere—before it came to now here.

So, what do you have to do to get it? Nothing. In fact, thinking you have to do anything will only get in the way of receiving it. I know that sounds a little difficult to believe, but your inability to believe is precisely why you don't have it. There is nothing to chase, nothing to go after and nothing to search for. You don't need a translator, a guru, a building, a book, or someone Holy to show you the way. There is no map, no buried treasure, nothing to find. The only thing that's required is surrender.

Did it sound like I just swore at you? I mean did the word surrender just feel like a four letter word? Did it just make the hair on the back of your neck stand up? It can do that you know; this word surrender. Just the sound of it can make us feel like we lost something, gave up the fight or just plain quit trying. But in some ways that is exactly what you must do to find the peace I speak of—lose your ego, give up the fight and quit trying to find something that has already been given to you—already been found.

The fight, the chase, the endless pursuit, has only led you down the path of fear, further and further outside of yourself—further away from the truth. What you're looking for does not lie out there somewhere. What you're looking for lies within. That may be why it has eluded you all these years—you've been looking for it in all the wrong places.

You see many of us have been facing the wrong direction. We've been looking outward, away from ourselves, thinking that happiness is something we need to find. But, to find what we're looking for, we need only turn our eyes inward and begin to look where the answers really lie—within the soul.

It may be hard for you to believe, but the only reason you haven't experienced the happiness you desire—heaven on earth—is simply because you haven't chosen to—yet. You see, the God force allows you to choose your reality based on the lessons your soul came to earth to learn. The Universe trusts you to know what you want. It will accommodate any request as soon as you make it abundantly clear what your request is.

The God force doesn't make any judgment about what will or will not make you happy. It knows that what constitutes happiness will be different for everyone. It simply goes about its business, flowing through your life like a steady trade wind, until you make the choice to set your sails and flow with it. The secret isn't to find a way to change the direction of the Universe to fit your needs, the secret is to just relax and surrender to its power. The power of the God force will take you wherever you desire to go. It's always present and it's always free. The journey begins with the choice to surrender.

I know this can make you feel a little cheated, like someone has played a dirty trick on you all this time. After all, if you're like a lot of us, you probably bought into the religious notion that you were born in sin and thus needed to be forgiven before you could be deserving of happiness. You may have been led to believe that you had to do something, or become something or receive something or give something before the bearded old man who roams the sky would grant you a favor and toss down a few crumbs of joy.

But I don't believe you were born in sin, I believe you were born in love. I don't believe that God is some kind of judgmental angry old man who roams the sky; in fact, I don't believe that God is separate from us at all. I believe that God lives in us—each and every one of us. He is separate and apart from nothing. God is everything and thus, we are everything. We all have His power within us, but only a few of us have chosen to surrender to it. Some of us are still waiting to embrace our own truth.

If that's you, take a cleansing breath and send yourself some love. You see, a lot of us as children bought into the established views of religion and never questioned whether they were right for us. We just practiced our faith like everyone else in our family and never gave a whole lot of thought to what we were actually doing. But guess what? You can come out of the closet now. You don't have buy into it any longer unless you choose to; unless your religious practice is leading you to the spiritual place you desire. If it is, by all means continue along that path.

But for a lot of us, it's time to look in a different direction and consider that perhaps God doesn't have a religion. And maybe, just maybe, He doesn't have a beard. It might even be possible—heaven forbid—that He may not be a He after all. What if God is a She? What if God is neither? You can choose to see the God force anyway you wish if the way you currently see It doesn't feel right to you. My rule of thumb? If it makes me feel closer to God I accept it. If it tends to increase the separation between us, I run as fast as I can away from it!

That's why you will hear me use the term God force so often. For me, those two words seem to best describe the power that runs through my life, far better than any other option. Your choice may be much different than mine. A female client of mine once explained that she was unable to see God as a father figure because her own father had raped her repeatedly as a young girl. She was healing from a very traumatic childhood experience. By seeing God as a She, a roadblock was removed in her relationship to God that could have kept her feeling like an island—distant and removed.

By letting go and getting rid of anything that has kept you separate from God all this time, you can begin to consider the notion that perhaps you and God are not separate at all; that you and God might just be one and the same. Perhaps by seeing God in this new light and embracing our own godliness, we can allow more of God's energy—the power of love—to flow from us and into the world. Don't you think it just might be possible that God has heard all of our prayers for a better world—for a Savior—and He's already sent help? He's already sent you? Maybe it's time we let our own light shine, embraced our highest gifts and used them to make the planet a better place for everyone. Besides, doesn't just sitting around waiting to be delivered seem like a sorry substitution for the one-on-one relationship with God that you desire?

Take a good look inside yourself and tell me if what I am saying doesn't have just a little ring of truth to it. Don't you feel some inner sense of connection to everything in the universe? Haven't you always kind of felt that way? Doesn't it seem that if God created everything—and that includes you—that we could just relax, surrender to this awesome power and trust it to lead us to happiness? Doesn't it seem like it should be just that easy? Why would we ever think that connecting to God should be a struggle or that happiness requires a sacrifice? Do you really think God would have to play that kind of game? After all, He's God; He doesn't have to play any games. And since He is within us, neither do we.

Let me ask you something: Do you have to make a tulip grow? I don't mean plant the seed and do a little watering. I mean do you actually have to assist the seed in germinating, putting down roots, rising up from the soil and turning itself into a beautiful flower? And do you ever worry, as winter departs and spring arrives, that this could be the year it might not happen? That perhaps the tulips will forever cease to bloom? Of course not. You trust in Mother Nature—an unseen power greater than ourselves—and know that you don't have to worry about such things.

Or how about making the blood flow through your veins? Just before you fall asleep at night, do you worry that without your conscious help and involvement your heart might just stop beating and your blood would cease to circulate through your body? Silly right? You never give your blood flow a second thought. You just trust in the fact that it will keep on performing its miracle day after day after day, just as the air fills your lungs and the hair grows on your head. It's all about surrender and trusting that the Universe knows what It's doing. Right?

Well, that's exactly the same kind of trust and surrender that I am asking you to have when it comes to allowing God to flow through your life. The universe knows what She's doing. We can surrender our need to control It, and just trust in Its awesome power. The God force flows smoothly through everything. Our desire to control it only interferes with it. The power comes in letting go, not in holding on.

It's just like learning to ride a bicycle; the harder you fight for your balance the tougher it is. Suddenly, you just relax, let go of your need to control it and poof! You're balancing on two thin tires and riding around like you've been doing it your whole life. Heck, pretty soon you're even thinking about letting go and taking your hands off the handlebars-not for very long, just a second or two, just to see what might happen.

"Let go and let God." I first read those words on a bumper sticker pasted to the back of a dilapidated old station wagon as I raced past it, down the interstate—just outside Cincinnati Ohio—chasing what I thought was my dream. The year was 1983 and I was four years out of college, full of piss and vinegar and totally in charge—or so I thought—of my future. I knew what I wanted and I wasn't about to slow down or surrender to anyone or anything. Let go and let God? You had to be kidding!

But as my life unfolded from that point, as I began to acquire the material things that I thought would make me happy, I found that I was never satisfied. My ego just kept demanding more and more and like a junkie I kept searching for more and more ways to feed it. I would no sooner get something but that I wanted something else; no sooner arrive at the summit before I began searching for another mountain to climb.

Once, just after I had purchased a gorgeous new home on a golf course with a panoramic view of the Pacific ocean and just three blocks from the beach, I immediately began plotting how I could sell that home in six months and buy another one—a bigger one—a better one—not three blocks from the beach but right smack dab on the beach! Yeah! Then I'll be happy!

I never paused even once to enjoy the moment or give thanks for the gifts that had been bestowed upon me. I just kept driving through life, making things happen, always heading for that greener pasture—that something better—a little further down the road. With an ego that was now severely out of control, I blazed a trail by pushing hard and taking the bull by the horns. But taking a bull by the horns can be a very dangerous thing to do.

It took a while—make that a very long time-for the truth to sink in, but eventually I realized that I could never find meaning in the meaningless. It suddenly dawned on me that believing my life was a do it yourself project—that I could somehow make it on my own—was leading me nowhere fast; down the wrong road, further and further away from the happiness I desired. That's when I allowed the God force within—the power I had let lie dormant—to come into my life and work along side of me. That's when replaced fear with love and began to trust in something I couldn't see. That's when I stopped fighting God, fired my ego and surrendered to spirit. That's when I began to walk the path of light.

The changes my life went through from that moment forward can best be described as nothing short of unbelievable! I rediscovered my highest gift, and began to follow my heart. I learned to be still and to listen to the voice within. The power of Spirit filled the void in my soul and I began to trust in the power of love. Suddenly the world seemed fresh and new. I had been reborn!

But here's the point: I had very little do with it. I just surrendered to the power of love and kept my focus on that power. It hasn't always been a bed of roses but now I know where to go to regain my balance and get back to center. Now I know that God lives within me and is available anytime, anywhere. I have found a strong spiritual foundation and what can only be called, heaven on earth.

Our lives begin to take on a new direction the minute we give our ego the boot. What we once thought were our dreams and desires no longer seem to fit. Suddenly, we develop a whole new sense of what it means to be happy. No longer do we feel that we must acquire things to feel worthy. We begin to accept the world and ourselves just as it is, just as we are. Peace begins to fill the void in our heart like a warm running fountain that keeps us in a perpetual state of bliss. Suddenly, we're in the flow of life riding the wave of creation instead of doing the doggy paddle and fighting the tide.

Oh, and you want to know something funny? We seem to think that if we get rid of our ego everything in our lives will fall apart. But I have found just the opposite to be true: Once we get rid of our ego, everything in life begins to come together. After the ego says, "adios," all that is left is love. Suddenly, surrendering to love becomes the only natural thing to do. But here's the catch: You can never see this when the ego is running the show. It's only after its departure that the truth appears. Again, it's all about surrender. You have to trust and surrender to the power of love if you want to move to a higher energy level and transcend the warped reality that the ego wants you to linger in.

At first, it's a little like walking around with a blindfold on because you're never quite sure where God is leading you. But soon, you become comfortable with the unknowing and lose your desire to look too far into the future. In what Zen terminology calls satori, you have an instant awakening where you begin to understand that the present moment is the only thing you can really own. Anything other than what's happening right here—right now—is simply seen as an illusion. You begin to enjoy the journey. Results no longer matter.

And that's probably the toughest thing about surrendering to the God force; releasing the egos need for results. We tend to want to focus on what something will do for us or what the outcome will be versus just relaxing in the moment and enjoying the doing itself. However, happiness lies within us; wherever we go, it goes. The only reason we don't know it's there is because we're not focused on the present moment. Our minds are either way out in the future somewhere or thinking about what happened yesterday, last week, last year. Repeat after me: You can only be happy right now. Even if you plan to be happy in the future, by the time you get there it will have become right now. Right? The trick is to always live in the present.

By detaching ourselves from results, we begin to focus more intensely on the now and not worry so much about what will or will not be. This shift in perception frees us because by focusing only on the present there is nothing to regret and nothing to worry about. The past is over and the future has yet to come. Without regret, guilt or worry, only happiness prevails. Don't worry. Be happy. It's true!

I once learned this valuable lesson about the past and all that we regret, while sailing off the coast of San Diego. We were underway in twenty-knot winds, when I became aware of the wake created by the boat as it moved through the water. Being an avid sailor, I had noticed the wake on many occasions of course, but this time something seemed to click. I have come to trust that whenever I get that special little feeling, it's time to pause and take notice; a lesson is about to present itself.

At that moment, I realized that the wake does not drive the boat—the wake is merely a result of where the boat has been. Stop the boat and the wake stops. I know this revelation sounds a little goofy, but just like the vapor trail behind a jet, we often think that our past—our wake—is pushing us forward. But it's not. It's only what's been left behind. And what's been left behind serves no useful purpose other than to remind us of where we have been.

From that moment forward, I began to acknowledge that our past has nothing to do with where we are today or where we choose to go tomorrow. Our past can only make improving our lives more difficult because we begin to think that our past defines us; that what we have done or have been is who and what we are and who and what we must continue to be. But our past cannot drive our future for every day begins anew with a fresh opportunity to move in the direction of our highest gift and live our life purpose. I let my past, with all its regrets and guilt, depart my life forever and surrendered to the only thing that can move us forward, the power of God.

Surrendering to the power within—the power of God—is not something that must be believed but rather is something that must be known. Surrendering is something that must be experienced and performed by the seeker. Surrendering to Spirit requires far more than simply choosing to believe in the stories and experiences of others, you must know the truth for yourself. It can't be lived through the autobiography of others any more than a kiss can be experienced by watching someone else do it.

It is, in this way, that surrendering to love becomes a spiritual awakening; void of any need for religious mandate. Surrender has no protocol, no prerequisites, and no rituals. Each step down the path-and even the pathway itself-is a personal connection to Spirit that can be as unique as the individual making the journey. In fact, often we resist to just surrender and walk the path of light because we don't want to follow the rules laid down by others. We want to connect to Spirit but the religious rules often push us away.

But eliminate the rules and you eliminate the resistance. There in lies the difference between what is religious and what is spiritual. The one-on-one connection to Spirit that can often be so difficult to find in the ritualized world of religion, unfolds like an open book in the all-accepting realm of spirituality. Suddenly, we're free to let our heart fall a little further down our sleeve. We feel comfortable dropping all pretenses and begin to hang out with God just as we would an old friend. Our relationship with God begins to take on a welcomed casualness that feels like a well-worn pair of jeans.

At this new level of awareness, the God force becomes something we can trust in because it is something we know. We have lived It, breathed It and allowed It to be felt deep within our souls. Fear subsides and love prevails. We begin to follow our own truth and allow our sixth sense and intuition—gifts from God—to lead us in every brave endeavor. Feelings take precedent over logic as we develop an inner knowing that transcends understanding. Making decisions becomes easy because we begin to trust what we feel and follow the direction of our heart. We already know the answer, for we are the answer. We have surrendered to the power within and begin to use it to light the world.

A Course In Miracles teaches: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." Since nothing can be threatened, only peace exists. Anything other than peace is but an illusion played out in our minds. Anything that is not peaceful—war, hatred, anger, violence—is nonexistent unless we choose to give these things life by giving them our thoughts. What we think about expands. As we think, so we become. Think only peace and love and that is all you will ever know. As The Course teaches, that is all you need to know.

The pathways that lead to surrender—to God—are like spokes in a wheel. Each connects to the center but from entirely different directions. And so it is that we must embrace through tolerance and understanding, the pathways chosen by those who differ from us. We must respect the different spokes on the wheel and allow other souls to connect to God without any interference or lack of acceptance on our part. We must simply surrender and allow love—the universal power that unites us all—to lead us to the presence of God. We must embrace the freedom to make that connection any way we choose, and allow others the freedom to do the same.

So let me ask you again: Would you like to experience heaven on earth? Would you like to get rid of all the unhappiness in your life and experience only joy? Does the idea of living a blissful existence, unencumbered by the weight of grief and sorrow appeal to you? Or, how about never having to worry about anything ever again? Does that sound good? Would you like a little of that?

All of this can be yours in the instant it takes to surrender and let the God force direct your life. In the time it takes to complain—one more time—about all that is wrong with your world, you can make the choice to set yourself free. Life was never meant to be a struggle. Believe it. Act upon it. And allow the miracles of the Universe to unfold before your very eyes.

Some Things To Consider

How much time do you spend trying to control the elements of your world with only the direction of your mind? Try a little experiment. Spend an entire week taking your hands off the handlebars and just let the Universe lead you instead of the other way around. See if you can allow your ego to take a backseat to your soul for a change. Allow yourself to just "feel" your way through the day and begin to notice the so-called coincidences in your life. After a week of doing this, (hey, it's only a week!) note if you feel any differently about your ability to let go and let Go(d).

All Rights Reserved © 2002 By Jeffrey Alan Hall