For as long as my son has been alive, most nights he easily falls asleep. These are some pictures of him when he was 3, 5 and 7 months (I think). To this day he continues to fall asleep as though he is being arrested for armed robbery.
What is interesting to me is not so much the amazing beauty of my son, but rather the way in which he falls asleep. Maybe it is only my son that sleeps this way. But then I began to think and I also sleep this way. A quick little search has pictures of people who sleep this way, a facebook group and even characteristic traits tied to this position (which read like horoscopes).
I began to wonder if we could "metaphorage" this idea for a moment and note that regardless of how you sleep, we all surrender to sleep. We all at some point in time have to "give up" control and let sleep take us. We gain a number of benefits (another good article shared with me here) when we sleep but before we gain such things, we have to first surrender. We have to be willing to not be in control.
We have to be able to let go.
Religions around the world have it deep within the tradition to help people learn to let go, surrender and be aware of not being in control of all things. When we do we humans tend to have happier lives. When we are willing to let go of our schedules a little bit and engage with people on a Sunday morning, we gain the social benefits of life.
Perhaps there are those of us who are able to gain social benefits in their lives by always being in control of their schedule and always being the one who decides when you will meet with people. I have not met many people who have been successful at constantly striving for more control in life. I meet people who are more stressed and anxious about life; constantly unable to see how all the work can be done in a day.
Perhaps, just like with sleep, the way forward to fulfillment and happiness is not so much going to worship or being "religious" but setting structures in your life that force us to not be in control for a period of time.