Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine having a replica of yourself. Every time an OCD urge arose, you could hand it off to the 2nd you to take care of, freeing you to live your life unencumbered by OCD.
Well, it turns out that you can do essentially that, through the process of surrendering. Sacred texts made these entreaties thousands of years ago:
- The Bible, Peter 5:7 — “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for us”
- The Quran, 40:44 — “I entrust all of my affairs unto God”
- Hindu prayer — “O Lord Ganesha, please remove the anxiety caused to us”
Surrendering is different from suppressing. Suppressing anxiety can lead to all sorts of unhealthy attempts by the subconscious to cope, including to more OCD. But in surrendering, we recognize the problem or anxiety that is causing distress and we hand it over to the vastness of the Universe or to our personal deity, who is infinitely better equipped to deal with it.
Surrendering has been essential to my freedom from anxiety. My anxiety is attached to my ego, but who cares about my ego? I let it go. I release it to God/The Universe. I recognize it, feel it and hand it over.
It takes practice. But you can hand over all of the anxiety that plagues you to God, the Universe, All-That-Is … instead of…
