#439: SPOTLIGHT: Robbie Miles

#439: Robbie Miles

Sept 16, 2025

A Backbeat of Community

Question for Robbie:

The Serenity Prayer offers:  “Grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference…”.   With this thought, does something come to mind that you couldn’t change but had (or are having) trouble accepting ?

Robbie's Response: 

'What a relief it was to recognise what little I can change. Climate change, that sense of impending economic/societal change… could I give myself permission to take my hands off the wheel; to not mind?? Yes!… and discover that this vessel was autonomous all along!! No more haemorrhaging energy on anxiety in light of this apparently self evident truth: all is change other than the Witness! Thank God it’s not up to me!'

This insight was a gift from a silent retreat in Portugal that I am still integrating 9 years later. How stupid am I, therefore, to have had so many un-serene and fearful responses to change ‘in the ring’ of life since?!

Enter Irwin Kula in 2021 (my words, his message):

'The amazing grace of life is not linear. It may be more accurate to say: "I once was lost, but now am found… and will soon be totally lost again!!!”’

What a relief it was to hear that, Irwin! You helped me to see that it’s more like a 'cat and mouse’ evolutionary spiral; an ever improving game of hide and seek. Consistent (changeless!) change. Good old fashioned paradox. Best accepted. 

Right now, I feel on the cusp of having the serenity to accept that I cannot change people, particularly ones I love. It feels daunting; unfamiliar terrain. Some situations have repeatedly stumped me in each of my 4 decades. I pray that sharing this lays the foundations for a new interstate synaptic highway of serene acceptance!