Accountability and Responsibility
Article #802Once of the most challenging aspects of any spiritual path is that it asks us to take responsibility and to become accountable for our lives.
What makes this so difficult for us is that we have been domesticated to do just the opposite – to blame everything we possibly can on others. The reason for this is that we have been taught to judge everything we perceive, and as a result are in constant fear of our own self-judgment in case we do anything “wrong” in life. If our minds are going to engage in the process of judging – it’s better if we can find someone to judge other than ourselves!
As a result, we are always looking for someone to blame our circumstances on rather than having to deal with that horrible feeling of beating ourselves up and dealing with that sick feeling we get in our stomachs. Even when we believe we are doing well at taking responsibility for our lives, we still persist in finding things that we feel are going wrong in our lives and pinning them on others.
For example, if you feel you are unhappy at work and see the cause of your discomfort to be the behavior of your boss, the attitude of your co-workers, the amount of hours that you are working, etc – is your discomfort the result of these situations?
If you are uncomfortable with your partner because he or she does not do what they are supposed to do, you do not get respect from them, they always want things their way, or you always feel like you are giving in – is your upset the result of these scenarios?
If you are irritated with your parents because they are always telling you how to run your life, how to take care of the kids, how to manage your money or who you should or should not date – is your frustration the result of their commentaries?
If you are recapitulating your life and you discover some painful childhood memories, are they still painful because you feel that you were hurt by the actions of others?
I am asking these questions because they are all common situations where we believe that something outside of ourselves is responsible for making us feel a certain way. When we choose to see our circumstances this way we are making ourselves victims of life. If we feel victimized by something happening in our lives that means we are saying that someone is in charge of our emotional state of mind and that others can make us feel in a certain way. In this case we are not taking responsibility for ourselves and we are making someone else accountable for our feelings. (Forgiveness is a great tool to stop the blame game.)
As warriors
, this cannot be truth. We know with all our heart that we are creating our reality by what we are projecting from of our minds and by the way we are choosing to interpret what we perceive. When we no longer give away our personal power to others (so they can be in charge of the way we feel) – we are taking responsibility for ourselves. I invite you all to become “accountable” warriors on the spiritual path of life!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sheri Rosenthal DPM is a master Toltec teacher and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Toltec Wisdom and Banish Mind Spam!. Having trained with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements®, she currently takes students on spiritual journeys www.journeysofthespirit.com works with personal apprentices and enjoys being extremely happy. You can reach her at info@sherirosenthal.com or www.sherirosenthal.com and www.withforgiveness.com
