janbear
10-07-2006, 07:50 AM
WISDOM
”Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes
too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too
selfish to seek other than itself.”
Kahlil Gibran
When I heard the serenity prayer at the first OA meeting I attended, I didn't understand quite what it meant to accept what I couldn't change, have courage to change the things I could, and wisdom to know the difference. I said it at each meeting and hoped that eventually I would somehow find that wisdom. It was quite some time into my recovery when I finally understood what having wisdom really meant. I then realized that before coming into the program, for years I had put on a mask and never let anyone know the real me. I didn't know how to laugh or cry, and I certainly never knew how to reach out to others because it was always about me and my unfortunate life.
Before program, I wanted my life to be the way I wanted it to be and I never accepted things or people the way they were. I felt paralyzed by my fears about what wasn't working in my life. This fear kept me from seeing what I could change -- or even try to change -- in my life. But once I finally allowed myself to be real and vulnerable with others, miracles began to happen. I became more willing to accept people and places as exactly the way they should be at that time, and I was able to walk through my fear and learn what I could change in my life. To my delight, when I became more vulnerable to others, it didn't make me weak; rather, I felt a strength and power flow through me and I became more able to know the difference between what I could or couldn't change -- and for me, that is wisdom.
One day at a time...
May I always be willing to know the difference between what I can and cannot change.
~ Sharon S.
”Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes
too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too
selfish to seek other than itself.”
Kahlil Gibran
When I heard the serenity prayer at the first OA meeting I attended, I didn't understand quite what it meant to accept what I couldn't change, have courage to change the things I could, and wisdom to know the difference. I said it at each meeting and hoped that eventually I would somehow find that wisdom. It was quite some time into my recovery when I finally understood what having wisdom really meant. I then realized that before coming into the program, for years I had put on a mask and never let anyone know the real me. I didn't know how to laugh or cry, and I certainly never knew how to reach out to others because it was always about me and my unfortunate life.
Before program, I wanted my life to be the way I wanted it to be and I never accepted things or people the way they were. I felt paralyzed by my fears about what wasn't working in my life. This fear kept me from seeing what I could change -- or even try to change -- in my life. But once I finally allowed myself to be real and vulnerable with others, miracles began to happen. I became more willing to accept people and places as exactly the way they should be at that time, and I was able to walk through my fear and learn what I could change in my life. To my delight, when I became more vulnerable to others, it didn't make me weak; rather, I felt a strength and power flow through me and I became more able to know the difference between what I could or couldn't change -- and for me, that is wisdom.
One day at a time...
May I always be willing to know the difference between what I can and cannot change.
~ Sharon S.