[nandm]

A common theme I have found in people who have had periods of relapse prior to finding any length of soberiety is the term "surrender". I have heard many people say that they realized that in their previous tries at sobriety they fought with surrending to the fact that they could not do it alone and needed help.

I believe that "surrender" was also a key part of my sobriety. When I look at Steps 1, 2, and 3 I realize how much of those Steps is about surrendering and turning our problems over to a HP to help us resolve them.

I ran across this explanation of surrender in a book I am re-reading (I do that with many books as I have found that when I do I always tend to find something I can use that I did not realize was there the first read.). It is from the book There's A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Wayne Dyer.

1. Surrender This is first because it is the most crucial and often the most difficult. For those of us who have grown up believing life is a "do-it-yourself" project it is hard to admit that we need the help of many others just to survive for a day. In order to surrender you must be able to admit to being helpless. That's right, helpless.

In surrender, my thoughts are something like this: "I simply do not know how to resolve this situation and I am turning it over to the same force that I turn my physical body over to every night when I go to sleep. I trust my physical body to keep digesting my food, circulating my blood, and so on. The force is there, it is available, and I am going to treat this force that I will call God, as a senior partner in my life. I will take the words "All that I have is thine" in the scriptures at face value. I am willing to turn any problem over to this invisible force which is my source, while always keeping in mind that I am connected at all times to that source!

In other words, the spiritual life is a way of walking with God instead of walking alone.

What are your thoughts on "surrender"?
Do you consider it a key part of sobriety?
What has been your experience with "surrender"?
Any comments, thoughts, or experiences, would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.