Typically we are taught:
1. Problem: When you’re unhappy, have inner turmoil or your heart is heavy- there is something “wrong” with you that needs to be fixed.
2. The diagnosis? Someone has hurt you. You have unforgiveness in you. You are carrying baggage. You’ve hurt someone and haven’t made it right. You’re feeling guilty about something.
3. The cure: Forgive them. Take this course to drop your baggage. Meditate to be in the present moment. Release your guilt. Ask for forgiveness.
4. Result: You will then feel peace.

“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.”

Notice that Serenity comes before Acceptance.
How can that be?
Doesn’t acceptance make you more serene? When you forgive someone, or stop fighting reality, or exhale… isn’t that supposed to bring you peace?

What if it’s the other way around?

When you decide to become a peaceful person, your stories of unforgiveness, anger, jealousy, unhappiness, unfairness all disappear.

Your new story is one of peace.

The decision to be serene… peaceful… happy… comes first.
Only then can you accept what you see in front of you as part of your peaceful journey.

When you decide to be peaceful, everything, absolutely everything fits inside that mindset. In fact, it’s more than a mindset- it’s aligning with the energy of everything. Everything is peace. The grass doesn’t struggle to grow… you’ve heard that before.

Let me show you:
When you decide to be upset about something, you’ll create inner turmoil. Something has made you upset, but upon further inspection, you find that not all things are making you upset. Just this one thing. So you tell yourself a story of being upset. You stay with that story- instead of re-framing it with the true story of peace.

Have you ever met someone who was holding on to anger? They’ll tell you the story, over and over. They’ll even start making up angry stories about other things. They are telling themselves an anger story, and they are struggling to keep it true in all areas of their lives.

But when you START from a place of peace, there is no friction with anything you observe. Everything- war, death, flowers, birth, breakups, new lovers, dis-ease- makes sense in light of peace and serenity.

So instead, let’s look at it this way:
1. Problem: You’re unhappy, have turmoil, or your heart is heavy.
2. Ask- is this a problem? (Sometimes it’s not.)
3. Diagnosis: what’s my mindset? Do I believe everything comes from peace, or do I expect outer events to reflect peace first before I feel it inside?
4. The Cure: Begin with peace.
5. Result: Instead of grasping for peace, you are peace.