Serenity Prayer: A Recipe for Good Mental Health

The Serenity Prayer offers more wisdom in fewer words than almost anything ever written. Living the Serenity Prayer is truly a recipe for good mental health.

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.
                                                                        by Reinhold Niebuhr

The Serenity Prayer is a recipe for action and good mental health. Life is a series of problems. By asking yourself in the face of one, "What can I change and what can't I change?" you begin to devise a plan of action. For things you can't change, your task is to work on accepting them. (Yes, you can make a conscious decision to work on accepting what you can't change.)  For things you can change, your task is to determine what you need to change, and then to find the courage to do it. The process sounds simple, but isn't. That's why it requires serenity, courage, and the "wisdom to know the difference." The Serenity Prayer offers guidance and wisdom for all of life's problems.

For a related topic, see control and responsibility. Click on the photo below to begin online therapy.