For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know that I love the Serenity Prayer. I’m not a fan of the way it’s recited at the end of every 12-Step meeting, in a quick, sing-song kind of way. In fact, even as I said it that way with everybody else for the first 10 years of my own recovery from many addictive behaviours, I began to feel curious about this Prayer and what it really meant. As I dug deeper, I discovered it to be one of the simplest, most profound pieces of writing I had ever experienced. And now, as an Addictions Therapist for over 30 years, I often use it with my clients to help provide both simplicity and clarity in sometimes very complicated circumstances.
I have written several articles about the Serenity Prayer over the years, which can be found on my Blog and the Free Articles page on my website. Today, however, I want to focus mostly on the last line: