MESSAGE
We are continuing our a four-week series based on the Gary Zukav book, Seat of the Soul, which describes the remarkable journey to the soul that each of us takes. Everything we experience in our lives is meant to help bring about our wholeness by unifying our personality (human self) with our soul (spiritual self). This journey that moves us from external power to authenticpower is what infuses our lives with meaning, purpose, joy and fulfillment.
This week we are talking about accepting RESPONSIBILITY for our lives, and how that plays a role in our journey toward wholeness.
Have you ever tried to run away from responsibility … or at leastwanted to run away? Have you ever blamed a situation on someone or something else when, at some level, you knew you had to accept responsibility yourself?
Accepting responsibility for our lives can be difficult. For many of us, thinking about responsibility triggers responses such as, “burdensome,” “hard work,” “demanding,” “painful” and “onerous.” It can also trigger fear, blame and feelings of unworthiness.
But when we truly understand what responsibility is, we realize that it is not a burden; it’s actually a blessing! It’s not demanding; it’s actually empowering and liberating.
Ralph Marston, author of the The Daily Motivator, had this to say about responsibility:
You are responsible for everything in your life. If a windstorm blows over the trees in your yard, you’re responsible. If a drunk driver runs through a red light and smashes into your car, you’re responsible. If your employer goes out of business due to poor management or poor market conditions and you’re left without a job, you’re responsible.
Is it fair that you should be responsible for all these things? No, it is absolutely not fair. And if you wish, you are perfectly justified in feeling sorry for yourself and complaining to anyone who will listen about the unfairness of it all.
That’s certainly one option. But here’s a better one. Take responsibility. Even though it’s not your fault, take responsibility. Even though it’s not fair, accept the responsibility to make it better.
Responsibility is not a burden that’s heaped upon you. Responsibility is the exact opposite. Responsibility is your way to free yourself from those burdens. Responsibility is the way for you to take control. Look at the word itself.
Responsibility is your “ability” to act in “response” to whatever circumstances the world might dish out to you.
Who is responsible for all this? You are! Accept your responsibility, live it and use it to shape a more positive world filled with true joy and fulfillment.
When you consider responsibility in this way, it shouldn’t scare you … it should excite you! Responsibility is the power to improve yourself, make your life better and fulfill your destiny! If there is any area in your life that you wish to improve, the place to start is accepting full responsibility for it. Accept responsibility foreverything - your feelings, relationships and circumstances -and also accept responsibility for transforming them into something greater.
Our personality – human self – wants to resist and avoid responsibility … but our soul – spiritual self – is calling us to responsibility. Why? Because at a soul level we know that responsibility is liberating and empowering. Our souls know that responsibility is the path to creating, attracting and becoming more than we imagined we could be. To live a spiritual life is to not be afraid of responsibility. To live a spiritual life is to embrace responsibility – not run from it – and to use it wisely and intentionally toward the healing of our soul and the evolution of our consciousness.
The first step for become fully responsible for our lives is to become fully aware of everything that is going on in our lives.Many of us just aren’t fully present in our lives. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and you weren’t really paying attention to them? Much of the time we’re simply not aware of what we’re saying, doing, thinking or even feeling. We get caught up in routines, or overly focused on one area of our lives to the detriment of others. We don’t honor our body temples. We don’t treat ourselves or others with reverence. We don’t provide our loved ones with the time and attention they deserve. We just go “unconscious” and “numb out” in certain areas.
Every one of us carries pain from unresolved situations, traumas or losses. That emptiness or woundedness can sometimes be so deep that we act out in unconscious ways, such as turning to alcohol, food or drugs to numb our pain. Some of us are addicted to procrastination. Some of us are addicted to drama or chaos; others are controlling, jealous or addicted to rage. We have all kinds of addictive negative patterns through which we try to fill some empty part of ourselves or numb ourselves, because we don’t want to face and feel our pain.
But if we don’t become aware of our woundedness, and acknowledge it, we can never be transformed from it. Awareness of our pain is the only path to liberate ourselves from the unconscious elements that control and undermine the success and happiness of our lives.
There are two ways in which this can happen.
First, we can hold an intention to be more conscious of and responsible for every aspect of our lives. We can allow our intention to help us pay attention to what’s not working in our lives and what we are feeling, and spend time going deeper to discover what in us needs to be healed, brought forth and released.
If we don’t choose to examine ourselves in this way, life will intervene by creating a major crisis that will get our attention: for example, through a divorce, loss of a job, health crisis or depression. Christian scholar and teacher Charles C. West said, “We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them!” When we’re unconscious and not present to the greatness and possibilities in our lives, the universe will get our attention by slapping us upside the head with a spiritual two-by-four to say, “Wake up! There is more to you than just this!” Sometimes we need a little “shake up” to wake up.
This awakening process forces us into self-examination. It forces us to look deeply into our lives and behavior, and to throw light on to all of our wounds, fears, shame and feelings of unworthiness. It forces us to ask ourselves, “Is this really the way I want to be living? Is there a better way for me to show up in the world? Are there better ways in which I can express my Spirit and share my gifts and talents?”
Awareness is a powerful thing. If we truly wish to lift ourselves out of our negative circumstances, we must take an honest look at ourselves and become aware of what is actually going on in our lives. We must identify our true feelings, and acknowledge how we came to be in the situation we are.
In what areas of your life are you not giving sufficient attention, care and attention? In what areas of your life are you hurting? What feelings do you need to acknowledge and release so that you can move on to cultivate what you want to develop in your life?
The second step to becoming fully responsible for our lives is to recognize that we have the power of choice. Everything in life is a choice! No matter what our circumstances, we can always make new choices that can better support our peace, happiness and fulfillment. If your life isn’t working out the way you want it to right now, you have the power to change whatever you want by making new choices.
The Prodigal Son acknowledged that it was his poor decisions that led to his poor condition. Like him, we must own a level of responsibility for the conflicts and frustrations we currently face. Taking responsibility for our situations is not about blamingourselves but, rather, about empowering ourselves to take charge and change our lives and circumstances.
Everything we are today is the result of all the choices we’ve made in our lives. Our relationships, successes, achievements, failures, challenges and struggles are the result of our choices. Are you making conscious choices that reflect and nurture the priorities in your life? Or have you become caught up in unconsciousness, moving from one thing to the next in such a hurry that your choices have just become routine?
When we become overwhelmed by life, and lost in fear or frustration, we can often feel powerless to overcome our challenges and make our lives better. But, in reality, we always have a choice. We always have the power to choose something better. This is an incredible gift! With choice, there is freedom: freedom to choose anger or gratitude, resentment or forgiveness, love and compassion or judgment … freedom to do whatever we choose!
At every moment of your life you are being called to choose. Joshua 24:15 says, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Job 22:28 states, “Decide upon a thing, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. Matthew 7:7 tells us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” These Scriptures all support the fact that everything is possible! What do you choose on this day? What do you decide? What are you seeking? Where are you knocking? What is it that you want? Our choices are what move our lives in a particular direction. So the question is, in what direction are you choosing to move your life? Are you happy with the choices you’ve made? Are you choosing consciously and responsibly? Or is there something calling you to make a new choice?
Every choice we make has a consequence. Choosing to be loving has a consequence; choosing to be cold to someone has a consequence. Choosing to be fully present to a loved one has a consequence; shutting down and closing your heart has a consequence. Getting angry has a consequence. Cheating people has a consequence. Eating a second piece of chocolate cake has a consequence. Every choice has a consequence.
It’s important to look at both the choices we are making and the consequences of those choices. That is how we choose consciously. In reality, all of our choices come down to this: Are you choosing love or fear? Are you choosing to align with your personality or with your soul? Are you choosing to chase external power or to align with your authentic power?
When you make conscious choices, you feel more in control and become more centered and aligned with the kind of life you want to live and the kind of person you want to be. Every time you make a choice that aligns your soul toward love, you actually gain more spiritual power and confidence, and radiate more good energy. And every time you choose fear, hatred or jealousy, you diminish your own power. The only thing standing between you and a better life is the choices you make!!!
The final step to becoming fully responsible for our lives is to recognize that we have to do the necessary work to achieve what we want. If we’re honest, most of us don’t really want to work for what we want. We would all prefer to find a magical solution that would instantly make our lives better … to make just one perfect choice that would make everything go easy in our lives. This is true even when it comes to spirituality! We think to ourselves, “If I just adopt a ‘guru-like’ consciousness, then I can go into spiritual cruise control.” But that just doesn’t work! It takes work to achieve the things we want!
LeBron James is a great basketball player with tremendous natural talent. But he practices every day. He works to improve his game every single day. That’s what we all need to do in our lives. We need to keep practicing! We’ve got to show up and be fully present every day. We’ve got to make good choices every day. We’ve got to work on releasing all that doesn’t serve us every single day. That’s not always easy, especially when we have negative beliefs or patterns or shame or unworthiness that has been with us for years. We’ve got to spend time every single day doing all the work that is necessary to let that go.
This point is illustrated so well in the story of Moses parting the Red Sea. Even after Moses had led them out of bondage, when the children of Israel saw Pharaoh’s soldiers coming toward them as they stood won the banks of the Red Sea, they immediately turned to fear and desperation. They cried to Moses, “We’re blocked and trapped! Why did you lead us out of Egypt to die here? At least there we could have died in dry graves; now we’re going to die in watery graves!” But Moses said, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and see the deliverance God will give you today. For the Egyptians you see today you will not see again.”
Like the children of Israel, many of us are tempted to go back to our old ways after we’ve begun to free ourselves from the things that block our happiness. We begin a diet or exercise program, or start meditating 20 minutes every day, but are drawn back to our old patterns after a few weeks. The children of Israel represent that part of us that is in bondage; the immature part of us that feels trapped, but wants to grow and transform. Pharaoh represents the part of us that tries to pull us back into the same old comfortable patterns. And Moses represents that spiritual part of us – the Christ in us – that wants to break through to something greater. As he instructed, we must fight through those temptations, hold firm in our faith, and allow the breakthrough to happen. We’ve got to “stand firm” in our intention that we want to be whole, and that we want to align with our souls. We’ve got to stand firm in our choice of how we want to show up in life. And when we do that, God will show us the deliverance. The Egyptians we see today, we won’t see tomorrow; if we stand firm in our intention and choice, the old patterns that we feel trying to pull us back today won’t be there tomorrow.
When the children of Israel trusted what Moses said enough to put their feet in the water, whoosh! The Red Sea parted! That represents breaking through to another level! When we take the steps, jump in, do the work, set new intentions, challenge and release old patterns and beliefs, the sea will part for us. Maybe not the first day, or the second, or the third … but when we keep standing firm, on the 22nd, 32nd or 42nd time we will finally break through to a greater level of life and fulfillment.
When we put effort and intention into choosing to change our lives, the universe opens and people, guidance and blessings begin to flow into our lives in amazing ways. All kinds of unexpected support will arrive to help us. It might be in the form of a book that has been sitting on your shelf for a long time that you finally grab and say, “Hey, it’s time to ready this!” And it will provide an answer. Or you may be thinking about someone and two hours later you run into that person at a concert and make a connection. Perhaps you’ll see a movie, or hear a song, or meet a new friend. The world will support you in countless ways. The more inner work you complete, the more the outer world will move to support and lift you to greater things.
Remember: responsibility is not a burden. It’s not a curse. It’s a blessing! Responsibility enables us to claim our power, liberate ourselves from negativity, and improve our lives!
This week, are you willing to take full responsibility for your life? Are you willing to face and feel what’s hurting inside of you? Are you willing to become more aware of what is holding you back from happiness and work on releasing it? Are you willing to make conscious choices and use the power available to you to move your life in alignment with your soul? Are you willing to consistently work toward achieving the things that you want?
All that stands between you and the life you want is your willingness to accept and use your power of responsibility. Go make it happen!
God bless you all!
MEDITATION
Living, loving Spirit, I open my heart, mind and soul to the activity of God that is in me right here and right now. Thank you for allowing me to feel your presence, and for giving me the ability to awaken to greater levels of joy, peace and fulfillment than I have ever been experienced. Thank you for giving me the power to create all that I desire in life. Thank you for the ability to change my life by changing my choices and my consciousness. As I make adjustments and alter my course to achieve want I want in life, thank you for the knowledge that every day I am loved and led by Spirit. Thank you the support and blessings that you continually provide to help me on my soul path and lead me to achieve joyful outcomes in my life. Thank you, God. Thank you! And so it is.