One of the most popular prayers is the Serenity Prayer. This prayer is repeated often within Alcoholics Anonymous and addiction circles. The first words are the most powerful:
GOD, grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the
things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.
This prayer and mantra is centered around change and control. Control and change go hand in hand. You can really only change what you can control.
While I had heard the prayer many times, the last time I heard this was in church, and it caused me to really reflect and listen to the words about change.
I went home and began to make a list of things that could be changed and things that could not change. Ultimately, what did I have control over? In other words what were the things that I could really change?
Things I could control:
- my attitude/perspective
- my actions
- my behavior (who i listen to, who I hang out with, how I spend my time)
- my time
- my intentions
- my thoughts (sometimes)
Things I could not control:
- other people’s action /behavior /thoughts
- other people’s thoughts about me
- nature
- outcomes /results
- circumstances
Several observations came as a result:
- There was very little I could control. Reality was I could not even control my feelings or thoughts. I could only control the output of my feelings or thoughts.
- What was in my control was a much shorter list than what I could not control. Yet, I spent most of my time thinking about what I could not control.
- Most things that I had control were about me, while things that were out of control had to do with other people.
- You have 100% control over actions and behavior. This means if someone told you to dance like a chicken or you would be harmed, I’m sure you would dance like a chicken. And actions are kicked off by a thought.
And actions are kicked off by a thought.
Therefore, all actions can be changed with your mind and what you believe. And if you can change your thoughts, you can change your actions. If you change your actions, you will change your habits. If you change your habits, you will change your outcomes. If you change your outcomes, you change your life.
So, change your thoughts, change your life.