Serenity
We found n inner place
of joy, peace, and harmony
Let not your heart
be troubled
"Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth,
give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid."
John 14:27
Abstinence was of no help to us
Some say that AA is just about not drinking. For most of us, however, our problem ran much deeper. Abstinence was of no help to us. Until we could deal with our problems, spiritual, emotional, and mental, we could not stay sober. We could find no peace.
The benefits to a program of recovery
Finding a Higher Power we can relate to. Removing poison from our lives. Rebuilding relationships with family and friends. Learning how to behave around others. Realizing that God could do for us what we could not do for ourselves. But perhaps the most significant result of our spiritual progress was to find a state of serenity.
Most AA meetings begin with the Serenity Prayer
a request for the calmness of mind to deal with situations over which we have no control. This elusive inner state is a place of joy, peace, harmony, and balance. The everyday world, with its irritations, aggravations, and unexpected surprises, can easily overwhelm us. To maintain our poise and equilibrium we need a way to access this state of serenity on a regular basis.
Serenity comes slowly
Baby steps in recovery from addiction
As we worked the Steps, cleaned up our side of the street and worked on our character defects, we found short periods of time where everything was still and calm. This feeling might last for a few minutes or hours, then it would fade away. With more work on finding our Higher Power and making amends, these periods of serenity lasted longer, days to weeks.
Calmness of mind
With time and the blossoming of relationships, this calmness of mind came more often, maybe lasting a month or more, only to fade away again. As the months and years in recovery began to accumulate, bad days came less and less often. It became more difficult to upset us; we enjoyed life in a way we had never experienced before.
Living in the moment >>
As the weight of our past and the fear of our future faded, we found we were focused on the here and now. We paid attention to the small joys of life we found around us. A bird song, the glow of a sunset, the soft kiss of our mate, all these things became important. We began to live in the moment.
Serenity--a place of calm and peace
We reached a place where serenity was our daily experience. Even the nastiest things the world threw at us could no longer affect us. If something did take us out of our serenity, we easily found our way back.
Happiness follows serenity
The unexpected benefit of serenity is happiness
In our old world, we looked for happiness everywhere: a new job, a new girlfriend, whatever money could buy. But if these things got me high, the buzz always faded rapidly. When serenity became an everyday thing, happiness followed, tagging along like a happy puppy. You can’t pursue happiness but you can pursue serenity.