Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Responsibility is to be taken, not assigned. We are often eager to point out the faults of others, especially when they have not accepted the degree of culpability we think they should. Placing a burden of shame or blame on another—or tossing it upon our own shoulders—is not what responsibility is really about. It is not a constant barrage of incrimination, making others wrong because of their mistakes or putting them down for making less-than-skillful choices. Nor is it about drowning them in a sea of regrets—a fate we also must avoid ourselves.
The accountability that taking responsibility requests is born of a deep desire to grow, to look first within ourselves before pointing a finger at another. To ask, over and over, what is—or was—my part in creating the current dilemma, and what do I need to do about that? This places us squarely in solution mode rather than remaining stuck in a painful past or an imagined, fearful future. Responsibility keeps us present, willing, open, and in discovery mode. It sorts through what is really mine and what is theirs, a liberating perspective that empowers everyone.
When I assume responsibility, I free myself from being a victim.
Hazelden Foundation
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