Andy Borowitz, on the staff of the New Yorker, normally writes political satire. But in a post on January 1, 2025, he offered some ideas for reflection.
“And the main point if mindfulness, is that all we have is right now,” he wrote. “The past is gone, and the future never arrives. None of us know what’s going to happen, we absolutely do need to focus on the micro, and do what we can to change our small corner every day. For me that means being kind, helping others when I can, and doing my best to live in the moment. Simple, but not easy.”
He also provided a version of the Serenity Prayer a little different from the version we normally see.
“God give me the serenity to accept things which cannot be changed; Give me courage to change things which must be changed; And the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.”
Of note, the first sentence does not say “the things I can change,” but “the things which cannot be changed.” Similarly, the second sentence says “things which must be changed” rather than the more common “the things I can change.”
Using your own devices, look up the definition of “serenity.” Then, on the basis of the quotations from Borowitz and your own discoveries about the nature of serenity, write for ten minutes what comes to mind when you think about facing the future with serenity. Not the usual task-oriented “What do you mean by serenity?” but rather the open-ended “What comes to your mind as a result of what you have just read about serenity?”
