Acceptance?
Guest
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Iowa
Posts: 675
Sheer
It appears that you didn't get a response to this question or at least not here. That surprises me. I don't know if you were responding to me as that was one of the last things I posted on the thread you started. In case you are still wondering here goes...
I think the word serenity speaks for itself. It imparts a certain sense of calm. The rest of it refers to most of our reactions to things we cannot change. What do we do when we put money in a vending machine, push the button and nothing comes out. Eventually we are pounding the button that is not responding and escalating to kicking the machine and/or shaking it. That's a simple minded example. For me when I run up against something such as remembering something I did in the past or, indeed, a world problem such as apartheid I would fuss about it to the point of distraction.
When it comes right down to it I can do nothing about something in the past and I can do nothing personally about apartheid. It really does me no good to fuss about such things as, again, there is not a damn thing I can do to change them. My choice now is to simply let such things be. I accept that I am powerless to alter the course of human events and so I leave them be. There is a certain serenity in that acceptance. I don't have to fuss about things I cannot change if I don't want to.
On the other hand I need the courage to change the things that I can change. If a fellow worker is mistreating another and I have the power to stop or alter this then I need to have the courage to step in. If I am taking drugs and damaging my self and my family then I need to have the courage to change it because I certainly have the power to do so.
Then comes the wisdom to know the difference.
I can be Don Quixote tilting at windmills or I can be Martin Luther King. Or something much less grandiose. I simply have to be able to choose what I react to and not spend what life I have left fussing over something I can do nothing about.
I am not religious and do not cater to prayer so this is called a prayer but to me is a nice thought to live by.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
When I am sane, sober and functional, I live by that. When I am not I am a stumbling, bumbling fool who can't see right from wrong or if I can I cannot act upon it.
It appears that you didn't get a response to this question or at least not here. That surprises me. I don't know if you were responding to me as that was one of the last things I posted on the thread you started. In case you are still wondering here goes...
I think the word serenity speaks for itself. It imparts a certain sense of calm. The rest of it refers to most of our reactions to things we cannot change. What do we do when we put money in a vending machine, push the button and nothing comes out. Eventually we are pounding the button that is not responding and escalating to kicking the machine and/or shaking it. That's a simple minded example. For me when I run up against something such as remembering something I did in the past or, indeed, a world problem such as apartheid I would fuss about it to the point of distraction.
When it comes right down to it I can do nothing about something in the past and I can do nothing personally about apartheid. It really does me no good to fuss about such things as, again, there is not a damn thing I can do to change them. My choice now is to simply let such things be. I accept that I am powerless to alter the course of human events and so I leave them be. There is a certain serenity in that acceptance. I don't have to fuss about things I cannot change if I don't want to.
On the other hand I need the courage to change the things that I can change. If a fellow worker is mistreating another and I have the power to stop or alter this then I need to have the courage to step in. If I am taking drugs and damaging my self and my family then I need to have the courage to change it because I certainly have the power to do so.
Then comes the wisdom to know the difference.
I can be Don Quixote tilting at windmills or I can be Martin Luther King. Or something much less grandiose. I simply have to be able to choose what I react to and not spend what life I have left fussing over something I can do nothing about.
I am not religious and do not cater to prayer so this is called a prayer but to me is a nice thought to live by.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
When I am sane, sober and functional, I live by that. When I am not I am a stumbling, bumbling fool who can't see right from wrong or if I can I cannot act upon it.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
The Serenity Prayer has had many variations over the centries
according to Wikki. Yes...some AA groups use it in their formats
however strickly speaking....it's not an AA prayer.
Anyway...I do use it often outside of meetings to help me keep
in emotional balance. Settles me down rather quickly...
If you have an AA Big Book...look on pages 418-419
for Acceptance as we AA-ers define it.
Good to see you here again..hope all is well in your world..
according to Wikki. Yes...some AA groups use it in their formats
however strickly speaking....it's not an AA prayer.
Anyway...I do use it often outside of meetings to help me keep
in emotional balance. Settles me down rather quickly...
If you have an AA Big Book...look on pages 418-419
for Acceptance as we AA-ers define it.
Good to see you here again..hope all is well in your world..
Guest
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 557
Serenity to accept the things that I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
The way this was explained to me is that I need to realize that the only things I can change are things that directly relate to me. I can change what I do, how I react, etc.
Everything else, I have absolutely no control over. When my brother doesn't do what I tell him to do. When a conversation doesn't go the way I planned it to. What my neighbor does in his spare time. All these things, and more I have no control over. The more I think I do the more upset I get.
As an example: I was doing my 9th step amends and went to apologize to a fellow for something I did. I planned the conversation - Hi I'm real sorry for what I did. Then he was supposed to say - Oh, thats OK, apology accepted, but it didn't really affect me anyway. When he actually responded with an outright refusal to accept any apology, the fight was on ... again.
The more I react to things I can't change the less serenity I have
Courage to change the things I can
The way this was explained to me is that I need to realize that the only things I can change are things that directly relate to me. I can change what I do, how I react, etc.
Everything else, I have absolutely no control over. When my brother doesn't do what I tell him to do. When a conversation doesn't go the way I planned it to. What my neighbor does in his spare time. All these things, and more I have no control over. The more I think I do the more upset I get.
As an example: I was doing my 9th step amends and went to apologize to a fellow for something I did. I planned the conversation - Hi I'm real sorry for what I did. Then he was supposed to say - Oh, thats OK, apology accepted, but it didn't really affect me anyway. When he actually responded with an outright refusal to accept any apology, the fight was on ... again.
The more I react to things I can't change the less serenity I have
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