“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can

And Wisdom to know the difference…”

 

These three lines are the gist of everybody’s life. Serenity comes when we trade expectations for acceptance. We try to find peace and serenity outside. We want to incorporate meditation in our daily routine to experience peace in our lives. We try to indulge ourselves in Yoga and other art of living practices to find the balance in our lives. But still, we are unable to do it. Why? Because we are still not able to come out of our expectation zone and accepting what is in front of us.

The simple treasures of our life are the mediums that can grant us the peace, happiness we all are craving for. We don’t have to do anything fancy or extraordinary to experience the serenity. We only have to do a simple act of accepting the things that we cannot change as these are the ones which keep on bothering us all the time and triggers the feeling of feeling low. Next, move on to those things that are in our hands. These are the things that we can change either with some change in our way of handling or our way of looking at them. Once we do these two, we automatically see the difference in our own mental state. When we understand that this what it is and we have to make the best out of this then no one can stop us from experiencing the true bliss, happiness, and satisfaction. Once our mind learns to accept things, we are less likely to get disturbed with small episodes.

We as human beings are full of emotions. We know how to react in different situations. But sometimes, we find ourselves confused due to many things happening at the same time. We don’t know whether to be happy or excited or nervous. And that causes restlessness. Have you seen a baby ever getting mad on small things? I would say, we can learn so many things from infants. Yes, with no knowledge about these big, heavy words, infants are one of the happiest souls on the earth. They know how to live in the present moment and be happy in it. When they start to crawl and if they are not able to get it then it must be disheartening for them but do they give up? They keep trying, get tired, become irritated. But they still try. After so many trials if they still don’t get it then they leave it for time being and get busy with something else. After a few days, they again try. Continuing with the same example, why do we feel at peace when we see baby’s face? It’s because they are happy from within.

Serenity or experiencing peace can be practiced. It will not come on its own. It will not come from outside. It is within us. It is always there but time to time, it just goes on the back burner. Today, our lives are lived at full speed. There is a way to take back our time; to reclaim our peace of mind and to find solace amid the chaos. There are ways to find serenity again.

We have to keep reminding ourselves about our blessings, smile more often, forgive ourself and others, trusting our inner wisdom, celebrating small victories. Serenity is the oasis in the middle of busyness. It’s the place where we can refuel before heading back into the fray. Serenity is the place where we can find ourselves when we have become too busy to look. How would you describe serenity and how do you bring it into your life?

‘I’m Writing Bravely for the Write Tribe Festival of Words – March 2019’

Prompt: One word: Serenity