[Mark Lapierre]

I'm with Steve on all the points he made except for the definition of true surrender. He described it as a deepening of responsibility without giving up control. He also mentioned letting go of your resistance to life. Both of these issues are fine and agree with the Buddhist concept of surrender. I think he confuses the point by mentioning cooperation with a greater good. While it's something that's also beneficial, it isn't required for true surrender.

So they are really two separate points, surrender to the reality of whatever situation you find yourself in, and acceptance of your responsibility towards the greater good. One doesn't require the other, though they can be combined.

A minor distinction, but an important one I think. But it doesn't detract from another great article.

Oh, one more thing. The suggestion to make changes if things aren't working is a good one, even if they're radical changes. But when doing so be prepared for things to go radically wrong... But if it does, as Steve said, never give up. Sort it out then try something else.

Casey, you say you've been thinking about divorce, and yet the only problem you've mentioned is a cluttered house, and your wife's reluctance to help with housework. For your sake I'll assume either there's a lot more to it or you've got some ingrained issue with tidiness. If it's the former we'll need more info before being able to give anything more than very general advice (I'd suggest starting a new thread in the Relationships forum). If it's the latter then perhaps you could work on accepting clutter and seeing that it's not such a bad thing (again, start a thread if you'd like advice on that).