Faith Venture

“What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.” ― Maya Angelou

This thought is similar to the Serenity Prayer attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: 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.

My professor in graduate school hated that last part about accepting things you cannot change. But that is ancient wisdom. I use this thought when accosted by the daily deluge of news (which I mostly ignore). If I can’t do anything about it, why dwell on it? Live in the present moment.

I also like the tag that Angelou puts on the thought—Don’t complain. Once again, why waste that energy?

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This entry was posted on March 9, 2026 at 4:49 am and is filed under Attitude, Awareness, discernment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.