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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer#Early_history
Basically, that’s it. Asking a higher power to grant Acceptance, courage to Change, and Wisdom. Pretty simple, eh?
Not so fast, my friend. Back up a bit.
It is not possible to be ready to accept and change.
Think about it. Faced with a situation that is uncomfortable it is necessary to change it or accept it, based upon the tools, skills, character available. Choose one or the other; not both.
If this is confusing and beyond your experiential level just give it time. The logic will reveal itself to you. How can one ask to accept what is present when one still has the ‘umph’ to change what is present? There is only the one option. Change or accept.
Therefore, the serenity prayer must be abandoned once one has uttered those words. The product of the prayer is to be able to accept or change. Nothing more. No changing AND accepting. One OR the other, thank you very much. Here is the solution. Say this prayer after choosing whether to Accept or Change.
God grant me the serenity to accept (what is happening). OR…
God grant me the courage to change (what is happening).
Leave out the wisdom part. Just say, “Amen”.
One will never get to a resolution if one continues to utter the whole prayer.
I hope this is clear. It is to me. The only other option is to utter the short form of the serenity prayer which is, “Fuck It!”.
Thanks for tuning it.
Peace,
Gentle George
Playing Fair and Being Kind 