Discipline and the Serenity Prayer

First off, if you've never read the entire Serenity Prayer, I think you should go do that right now...I'll make it easy and post it below:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Before I get to the real point of the post...most of us (I think - maybe just me??) typically know about the first four lines. Read the next section closely. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace. Those words are so powerful. But that's for another day...

What is one of the key teachings of this prayer, in my opinion anyway...control. Focus on what we can control and not on that which we cannot control. We can control our actions, our responses. We can control our attitudes, our minds, our bodies. We can control the inputs, the process of how we live.

Discipline is the underlying characteristic that gives us the power to control that which we can control. It's a skill that we have to develop in order to give us the freedom to choose how we design our life. If we learn to control our body and our minds, we can prepare ourselves to focus where we should.

I don't know about you, but I have often felt overwhelmed by all the things I can't control. If it's out of my control, I turn to something I can control and then focus all my attention there to try to compensate. I'll be honest, that has made for some pretty productive things. And I have definitely learned discipline, in areas. But I have completely underemphasized the importance of the discipline of the mind and how significant that is to a full life. I'm in early stages of trying to apply discipline to my thoughts, the rabbit-holes, etc. Meditation practice is something I am trying to incorporate, and so far I think it's been useful. If for nothing else, it's practice of applying discipline to my mind to try. To pursue it, to accept when I don't do it well or it doesn't go my way. And then pursue it again and start that cycle again. I can control the process so I focus there and then pray for the serenity to accept the things I can't change.