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.
This excerpt talks about applying the serenity prayer to every day problems. In doing so, the exercise "brings serenity to my life and helps me feel God's presence." - Voices of Recovery, page 365.
I started doing this last week. I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but I was dog-sitting for a friend. As I was getting ready to go to sleep, I kept hearing the dogs licking their paws. The sound was driving me crazy. I tried yelling at the dogs, I tried distracting them. I was about ready to put socks on the dogs to keep them from their paws. But as I sat there, I remembered the serenity prayer. So I repeated it to myself over and over again until I no longer felt like kicking the dogs outside [they are indoor dogs and it was cold]. I suddenly found I could ignore the licking and go to sleep. What a relief.
Today when I was reading about the fourth step, I felt complete and utter panic. The concept of sharing everything about myself with my sponsor was just horrifying. But reading the serenity prayer I started to feel calmer. I need to work the fourth step. I can't change that, and I can't change the things I've done in the past. I theoretically could run away and leave program, but I'm not willing to do that. I am going to do whatever it takes to find recovery. So here I am. Worrying about the upcoming fourth step isn't going to do anything to help me today. So I am letting it go. I'm going to hand the fear and the worry over to my Higher Power, and I'm going to go to sleep.
