Acceptance and Finding My Happy Place

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” – The Serenity Prayer

Before being introduced to recovery through the Twelve Steps, I never gave much thought to my serenity. In fact, it might be accurate to say that I never gave personal serenity any thought. Serenity, after all, had to do with feelings; and feelings were not something I wanted to study too thoroughly. It seemed safer to ignore them, and simply press on in life.

In recovery, however, it is nearly impossible to not address serenity. Early on, I would stumble over the Serenity Prayer at the beginning of every meeting. I knew it contained three requests: serenity, courage, and wisdom. However, remembering the order in which they were requested presented a challenge.

I used to joke that they wouldn’t let anyone out of rehab until they could recite the Serenity Prayer without stumbling over the words. It seemed like we were reciting it all the time there. Morning, noon, and evening; every session began with it. “Ok, ok… I get it. Serenity is important!”

Eventually, it clicked. I came to realize just how important serenity is. It is a state of mind that God can provide; one that helps me to better practice acceptance over things I cannot change.

It did not take long for me to discover how to best achieve serenity in my life. As I start each day with prayer and meditation, I enter my happy place of serenity. Meditation, for me, is my writing. Sometimes, God grants me serenity through writing something funny, or about fond memories from my past. At other times, He grants serenity as I write about something that is heavy on my heart, or that I need to get off of my chest.

Either way, by the time I finish writing, my serenity tank is refilled. Refilled to the point that I am better equipped to practice acceptance for the day. Often, I will also find that I have greater courage and wisdom from God as I write.

The reason I need acceptance, courage, and wisdom can be summed up in two words: “My Past.” There are times when my past seems intent on eating my lunch. Without acceptance, I find myself dwelling on the past so intensely that one would think I could somehow change it by doing so. Without courage, I would not have the ability to make the changes I need to in order to avoid making the same old mistakes. Wisdom is finally needed to remind me that I can only change myself, and not others.

So, this is my happy place. It is my place of serenity. Of course I return here every day. After all, I have discovered that when I do, I can…

Have a remarkable day!