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Speak Only If It Improves Upon The Silence #FFF

“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi 

Mahatma Gandhi at Inspiring Quotes

On a day like today in 2020, I replied to a prompt that required us to come up with something to write about silence, and the instructions are left to the individual’s interpretation.

Write something about silence.
Write something loud.
Write something that should be spoken out loud.
Write something that should be whispered.
Write something, anything.

The prompt came from the Sky Collection Publication on Medium, and I settled on a Tanka to write about serenity. I hope the tanka speaks for itself and paves the way for you to breeze through the holiday season in peace and harmony in your homes and with the state of our world today.

A Tanka follows a pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. Ideally, one 5-lined tanka should suffice to get one’s message across. Here, I wrote it in two stanzas. Enjoy the prayer.

Change what you can change
accept the unchangeable
know the difference
untwist distorted thinks with
realistic expectations


My anchor and yours
none misleading, none untrue
To feel peace within
learn to manage emotions
create habits that serve you
Therein lies serenity
***

© 2021 selmamartin.com

Today, Friday, December 10th, 2021, I’m reposting with a pingback to Fandango’s Flashback Friday in hopes that the prayer will touch one person.

To benefit from this new serenity prayer, you’ll need to suspend a few things — like your need to fight everything that comes your way, like the belief that you must explain; need to explain to be understood. You don’t. And neither do you need to understand everything.


There’s too much going on, distractions — all of it; bombardment of information, relentless stimulation of our senses, noise all the time. We need to shut it down, retrieve and learn to listen to the silence, zoom out, and look at ourselves from above — observe, in silence. Calm and serenity are what we need right now.

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars,
and see yourself running with them.”
~ Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

So, change what you can change, accept what cannot be changed, and then just let things be.

First published on Medium as The New Serenity Entreaty.
Image Credits: Serenity- Photo by Rulo Davila from Pexels
Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays to all.

Selma Martin
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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Jane Aguiar

    So, change what you can change, accept what cannot be changed, and then just let things be……I like these words of yours ❤️👍🏻

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