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.
Thy will,
Not mine,
Be done.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,
Page 41.
Hello,
This is Roberto from Withdrawal to Freedom.
I am a Grateful Recovering Addict and your guide for this meditation.
I'm going to start by asking you to find a comfortable position,
Lying down or seated.
Please close your eyes and we'll practice what I call the Lion's Breath.
Inhale through your nose.
Open your mouth wide,
Stick out your tongue and stretch it down towards your chin.
Then exhale forcefully,
Carrying the breath across the root of your tongue.
And while exhaling,
Make a haa sound that comes from deep within your abdomen.
So let's try it.
Inhale through your nose.
Open your mouth wide,
Stick out your tongue,
Stretch it down your chin.
Exhale.
One more time.
And relax.
When I came to the Rooms of Recovery,
I used to think that I was inherently broken,
That nothing could restore my sanity.
I also had no idea what sanity looked like.
After living a long life of chaos,
Resentment and pain,
I thought that if I stopped feeding my disease,
I would be on the path of destruction to death.
Not knowing that all my body was asking my brain to do was to stop what I call my internal tornado.
Just by breathing and being present,
One day at a time,
Well,
More like one second at a time during that time,
The Serenity Prayer was the door for my recovery.
I had it printed in large letters so I could read it with my foggy brain.
And slowly,
Those words started to make sense.
I found myself longing for the serenity that everyone was talking about.
Because my high power is love,
I have my version of it.
I usually take a deep breath,
Exhale,
And I pray.
Love,
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.
Your will,
Not mine,
Be done.
Now slowly open your eyes.
One more deep breath.
Ah.
And have a beautiful day.
