Self-awareness and self-acceptance create responsible people,
the kind of people…you want to be around
When we say that we are responsible for creating our own life it doesn’t mean we must shoulder all the blame for what happens and what we experience. Rather it means that we acknowledge that in every situation between two people there are two creators, and both are creating their external experience from their internal experience. Both play an equal part in how things play out.
Taking responsibility and claiming our authentic power happens when we can acknowledge that we played a part. It happens when we don’t blame someone else – even if they are a psychopath – just as we don’t blame our self. We don’t apportion blame. We do accept that our beliefs and thoughts have contributed to what happened.
Simply acknowledging this is a step in the process of moving on. When we’re afraid of feeling blame or shame, it’s difficult to accept responsibility for our actions.
A good way to move through life with integrity is to ask ourselves “What within us might have contributed to creating this situation?”
Real growth only happens when we investigate the thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that get us into challenging situations in the first place. What was it we were seeking to feel? Could we have behaved differently and caused less suffering to ourselves and others?
And then, having investigated, we forgive ourselves.