DESIDERATA

Definition of Desiderata:
A 1927 prose poem by American writer Max Ehrmann

Synonyms of Desiderata:
Requirement, need, indispensable thing, essential, requisite, etc.

These notes are from recovery in AA and related 12 step programs.
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Love in fellowship

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world if full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.  Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be a peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful.  Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann (1872–1945) wrote the prose poem Desiderata., It was first published in The Poems of Max Ehrmann in 1948. The text became widely known after its use in devotional and spoken-word recordings in 1971 and 1972.

Contrary to popular myth this text was not found in Old Saint Paul’s Church, Baltimore, dated 1692.) | More…