"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."

The serenity prayer offers simple, yet deeply profound keys for conscious living, for invoking our inner Buddha-nature so that we can live one prayerful moment at a time, and ultimately, the keys for lasting happiness. We all want lasting happiness, yet the ways to achieve lasting happiness are rarely known. The goal seems shrouded in mystery, even an impossible ideal, while the ways seem countless, varied and subjective. But what if the goal is revealed and achieved in the ways themselves? The goal would not be something in the distant future, but available in the immediate and eternal present by following the ways themselves.

Acceptance is the first way. Through prayer, we invoke the divine will to bestow within our hearts the serenity to accept the things we cannot change. Serenity is peace, the stillness and the sense of calm that arises when centred in the heart of hearts and comforted in knowing that everything is okay.

The Tao teaches us to be like the grass, which bends in the wind, while a tree breaks. The high winds come and create disturbance, even chaos, yet the grass does not go anywhere to escape or hide from the storm. The grass does not resist. It holds on throughout the storm, centred in peace.

Learn from the grass the ways of lasting happiness.

There are things that cannot be changed. It is simple. The greatest truths are always the most simple, like Love. Love is simple. We cannot change the ways and events of the past. We cannot change our mother. We cannot change our father. We cannot change other people. We cannot change the facts of history, for facts are things that cannot be changed.

The way of acceptance is the way of peace. It is the master key for letting go of the suffering caused from anger, blame, shame, regret, hopelessness, while creating peace within the heart so that one can be comfortable being oneself fully and move forward in life. We all do our best in life. When we learn how to do differently, we do differently.

In each moment of acceptance, the heart blooms in a newfound stillness. Each moment reveals the grace of inner peace. Each moment offers a gift for awakening further into the beauty of all there is.

In the stillness, there is a gap between thoughts that allows the conscious mind to choose to think, speak and act in ways that bring about the highest good. In the silence, we find the courage to be a hero in our own life story.

In the silence, there is time . . . precious time to stop and think, a precious moment to stop and ask what love requires and how we can choose love each moment.

We remember Arjuna, the ideal hero of the Mahabharata, the great war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. While standing on the battlefield in the great war, Arjuna begs Lord Krishna to help with the question, "to fight or not to fight?" The battle plays out when Arjuna rises up and finds the courage to do what Dharma requires, to "stand up and fight". The stories of the Mahabharata are played out in Balinese Wayang Kulit puppet shows and on the stages of the Ubud Palaces. The Balinese regard Arjuna as one of the greatest heroes.

For the Balinese, the laws of Dharma provide the wisdom to know the difference between what actions ought to be done and what actions ought not be done. Courage is following the way of Dharma, which is the way of life for the Balinese and the central tenet of Balinese Hinduism. It speaks of there being perfect intelligent order in the universe, that nothing happens without reason. Everything is absolutely as it should be. Everything is in order. I accept the way things are.

Nature's laws govern and organize the universe by balancing all things. Light and dark. Day and night. There is balance. All imbalance is eventually restored to balance. Through prayer and sacrifice, the Balinese restore and preserve the balance of all things. Dharma - wisdom - requires that we always look beyond ourselves to see the whole before considering one's actions and that we do the right thing in all circumstances. The Balinese believe, "One must behave appropriately" in all situations. 

It is simple - really simple. Yet this simplicity is hidden when the storms of resistance arise and uproot the self from its true centre. When we lose our centre, we become uprooted, like a tree carried away in a storm. When the storms come, stay centred in the heart. Breathe. And choose as wisdom requires.

Acceptance. Courage. Wisdom. The serenity prayer offers these three ways to lasting happiness.

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