"To harness the same power, recovering addicts learn the Serenity Prayer. **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**. This is how they focus their efforts. It’s a lot easier to fight addiction when you aren’t also fighting the fact that you were born, that your parents were monsters, or that you lost everything. That stuff is done. Delivered. Zero in one hundred chances that you can change it. So **what if you focused on what you can change? That’s where you can make a difference**. Behind the Serenity Prayer is a two-thousand-year-old Stoic phrase: “**ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin.” What is up to us, what is not up to us**." ([Location 629](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00IX49OS4&location=629)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[stoicism]], [[resilience]], [[anxiety]], [[fear]], [[mindfulness]], [[making-decisions]], [[bad-habits]], [[alcohol]] **Source** -- [[202409180132 - B - The Obstacle is the Way]]