Friday, August 7, 2009

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

The Serenity Prayer is a good nugget of wisdom, but there is a major problem with the first line.

In the first line you are asking for outside help, but this is not something that can come from outside, this is something you much teach yourself. By asking God to grant your wish, you are distracting your thinking away from where the real solution lies. Serenity is a state of mind which you must program into your mind through hard work, often taking many years of constantly refocusing your thinking.

This is why I like Buddhist teachings, it is all about familiarizing your self with your mind, and how to refocus your thinking to achieve serenity.

Stop asking and get to work.