The Serenity Prayer & You

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Somewhere, somehow, I bet you’ve heard the opening line of the  “Serenity Prayer” which is written above. Apparently, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous started incorporating into into his program is 1941, and it goes even further back than that. I love it. I love everything about it. I saw this prayer a lot during my years of teaching yoga to teens at a drug treatment center.  Sometimes the kids had it hand written on their sneakers or even on their arms. They often requested we finish class with a group reading of it. I’d always be game as it is “so yoga” and at its essence is pure gold. 

It is a rockstar move to know what you can affect and what you can’t do anything about. Letting go of what you can’t control is self-awareness to the max, and that’s BIG WELLNESS.

This applies to everything, not just addiction. What I see often is women being way too hard on themselves when it comes to weight gain. They get disgusted with themselves for not stopping the 10, 20, 30 or more pounds from accruing. If this is you, let it go. With self-awareness ask yourself, “What can I do moving forward?” You can take a walk. You can say no to that glass of wine. You can plan your meals more intentionally. You can calm down. You can visualize yourself in tip top shape. You know what you can’t do? Go back in time. 

Making peace with the past (serenity). Daring to change and up level yourself starting now (courage). Moving forward with heightened self-awareness (wisdom)….this is the 3-step feel-great recipe, folks, summed up nicely in the first line of the Serenity Prayer. Let’s live it (and maybe write it on our arms for reinforcement 😂). You and I are blessed with the biggest gift of all – another day! Let’s go!