"Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life—and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you." Eckhart Tolle
Surrender is another word for acceptance. And acceptance is a big deal to us in recovery.
Clients come to us because they have a problem with drugs or alcohol. Or both.
And after a period of sobriety things start getting better. But many, because they're in a recovery program, still feel as if they're broken. As if something's wrong with them. And sometimes they look to us to be the repairman, someone who can fix them.
But reality is that we can't fix anyone. We don't have that kind of power. What we can do, if they're open, is to teach them to look at the good and the positive within. To help them accept that we're all human. That we're all flawed in some respect. That we all have challenges of some kind.
The idea of completely surrendering to who and what we are can sometimes help us come to terms with ourselves.
To live sober we must accept that we have an addiction. And accept that life is sometimes a painful proposition that doesn't always go our way. If we can surrender to those two things then we have a chance to live differently - without covering our pain with substances.
