We Are All Responsible For Our Own Lives

OK, don’t get me wrong here; I know we are all responsible for our own lives. No matter what we face in our time here on the planet, we individually must navigate life. Even when it appears that someone else has made a decision for us, we have still made the decision to allow ourselves to be governed by another’s choice. If, by chance, you can’t agree with what I just said, sit with it a while.

So, as I said, don’t get me wrong; I know that we (oops, I will now lose the “we”) “I” am responsible for my life but on occasion I still get upset when someone doesn’t hook me up with a contact I’m interested in meeting whether they know that I have the desire or not. Really?!?!?!

On some level I’m either not comfortable asking for the introduction to be made or I’m unwilling to make my own introduction. So I’ve made another person responsible for an outcome which they haven’t produced and I get upset. However, wouldn’t that ultimately still make me responsible for the outcome because I made them responsible for it? That was a rhetorical question.

I recall moving to a new neighborhood as a child (8 or 10 years old) in Los Angeles, California, and sitting on the steps of my house watching kids playing across the street. I must have watched them day after day for two weeks, unwilling to ask if I could play with them.

Eventually, my mother came outside and, in a most embarrassing way, yelled across the street to let the kids know in no uncertain terms that I was going to be playing with them. Those kids became my playmates all summer long. Who knows what would have happened if my mother hadn’t taken the initiative to connect me with those kids and in addition, teach me a valuable lesson on that day. It was a lesson that didn’t register until years later; go get what you want.

In some instances, go get what you want and don’t ask, but inform others about how things are going to be. Unfortunately, another piece of information was picked up as well; if you wait long enough, someone may come and bail you out.

Anyone who knows me can attest to this fact: I am neither shy nor timid in my life today. However, I’m still discovering areas in my life in which I’m still that boy waiting for someone to take responsibility for the next move. As well as I perform, and as much initiative as I take in some respects, I still notice a need to be reminded of that which I truly know; if I don’t take (work towards) my success, I won’t have it because it won’t be given to me!

For the third time, don’t get me wrong; I know that I am 100% responsible for the choices I make in my life, but I notice ever more clearly that what I believe as truth and what I do need more alignment. More and more often I see my own resistance to responsibility taking and the cunning counter-productive intelligence that, if not controlled, helps me to rationalize more irresponsibility.

Today (usually) I see, acknowledge, accept and actively do something to create change when I see the need. Thus comes growth which makes me feel . . . well, successful. It aint always about the money; sometimes it’s about accepting that the old ways of doing things just don’t serve anymore, and then doing something different.

My friends show me that. Good books show me that. Personal reflection and experience shows me that. God has always shown me that, but I only see when I look. Even now I’m a little better! Oooooh, gratitude.

Just my thoughts.

-REL