What changed absolutely everything was the recognition that the peaceful, timeless expanse I experienced in meditation was not an aspect of me (the personal self), but was instead the Ground of Being, my own Self, the very thing I had been seeking.
This peaceful, timeless expanse was not a special experience for the contracted small 'I' but was the infinite, fulfilled Self I had always been, my true nature. All I had to do was to recognize it and surrender to it.
Anne, would you say that the surrender was an act of will, or something that you experienced as happening to you beyond your will - or something else entirely?