Well, yes, but that's not the whole
story.
12 Step Surrender
And there's the
difference. In the 12 Steps we are surrendering to something, we are
yielding to something, and that something is the our Higher Power,
the God of our understanding.
This sort of surrender is
far from a resigned giving up. It is, instead, an act of faith, a
recognition that we don't have to do it all ourselves, but can actively
turn it over to that Spirit, that Higher Power who truly has the power.
Surrendering Negative Self-Talk
Recently, I've been made aware about the
tremendous amount of negative self-talk I have going on in my head. In my case,
my self-talk is about money and the lack of it. I'm feeling broke again, which
is a struggle that has run through all of my sobriety.
Now what I really believe at my core is that
it's an abundant universe. I have only to look around me to see this is true.
God's abundance is apparent in every flower, in every star - abundance is all
around us all the time if we only remember to notice it. It's even obvious in
the more mundane, like the traffic or the amount of things it's possible to buy
in any store, or the number of people in a crowed.
But somehow I have trouble seeing and accepting
this abundance in my own life. So I struggle, and worry, and wake up in fear.
Much of my problem is revealed in the negative self-talk about not enough.
I don't know, of course, what your issue is...
but I'll bet you have some negative self-talk going about something.
Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
The first thing, of course, to to admit and
accept the problem - that's exactly what we did when we first came to Program.
And in that admission and acceptance is surrender. In my personal example, I've
had to admit and get conscious of all the negative self-talk.
The next step is to recognize that I can't fix
myself by myself - that it's going to take my Higher Power to restore me to
sanity. Is this starting to sound familiar?
When I make a decision to let God fix my
negative self-talk, I'm on my way. That decision, to tap into God's power rather
than just me ego-based idea of my will, is, I think, the final part of true
surrender.
Of course, there's still more to do. For my
negative self-talk has years of habit behind it. I have to stay aware of it (and
I ask God for help with being aware) and when I catch myself saying there isn't
enough of whatever, I substitute an affirmation. I often use this one:
I surrender to the Power and
presence of God
within me.
There are all sorts of
affirmations you can use... and as you use them, they become part of your
thinking and as a result your life begins to change.
Love, peace and
abundance,
