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08
Nov
by Steve18 Comments »

The Truth About Personal Responsibility

The idea of personal responsibility has come up for me 3 or 4 times already this morning.  I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but when I see topic or theme presenting itself in my consciousness, I know I need to pay attention.

Normally when we think of responsibility, we mean taking ownership of a thing or of a process. Generally, it is within the context of a burden or task we are taking ownership of.

A Different Context of Responsibility

The personal responsibility that I am referring to in this post is within the context of cause and effect.

For many years, I have believed that what we experience externally is connected to what we create internally (through our thoughts and emotions).

I have struggled with this idea of full personal responsibility, however, because quite honestly, I don’t want to believe that everything in my outside experience is a reflection of what is going on inside.

Laws of Personal Responsibility

The truth is that this is a spiritual law. You reap what you sow.  What goes around, comes around. What you put out into the world comes back to you.

However you phrase it, cause and effect rules our physical and spiritual realities.  In physics class, one of the first laws you learn is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Perhaps the reason this fundamental law rules our physical world is because it rules the spiritual world first.  Or, perhaps there is no distinction or separation at all.  One is the other.

What I realized today is that much of the anxiety that I experience in my life is over regret that something is not unfolding as I want it to.  I stress out because I am resisting the reality of what is and then projecting that resistance outside of myself onto the external circumstances.

Taking Personal Responsibility

Why is it that as soon as we experience stress or anxiety, we try to fix it by medicating or manipulating the external?  I admit it. I do this 99% of the time…even when I know the truth.

Why do we shrink back from addressing the internal world in order to realign the external with our intention?  Why is it so hard to live from the center space?

That is and will always be (in my estimation) the guiding question.  And the answer to it will be the key to our personal liberty!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Personal Growth, Personal Responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508674852 Earl Harville

    Love it!! We do keep ourselves in a losing battle with trying to change outside circumstances!!

  • Anonymous

    On point post, Steve! I think this is a battle that we all must fight within ourselves; in order to get to know who we are better. We can never truly tap into our fullest potential; unless we first understand our own personal responsibilities to who we are as individuals. I too, have battled with taking full responsibility with where I am, but it hasn’t been until I was able to do so that I then saw life taking shape for me. I completely understand and relate to this well written and approached post. Thank you for sharing it with us bud! ;)

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      That’s a great point, Deeone.  Developing our full potential is about honoring our responsibility to ourselves.  From there, it is about accepting the responsibility for the life that we have created for ourselves and that means doing the work it takes to change it if necessary.  

      I appreciate your comments, my friend.

  • http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog Ryan Biddulph

    2 words: Own It. 1 more word: Ouch! Lol…it feels sucky at times to own the outside experience, knowing you created it within. The ego will b*tch and moan, and complain, and this process feels super uncomfortable. I still resist owning everything in my life, but I find that falling in love with my vision and helping as many folks as possible helps me better deal with whatever I experience. I focus on seeing my dream life and serving others, and I tend to embrace all that happens with greater ease. Thanks Steve!

    RB

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      Those are really great suggestions for easing through the discomfort of seeming contrary situations that we have created.  For me, situations that seem “stressful” or uncomfortable are a mini wake-up call…calling me back to awareness…to consciousness so that I can observe what is really happening and what it really means.

  • http://kelli-cooper.blogspot.com/ Kelli Cooper

    Hi Steve
    Awesome post and you brought up so many good points. You are right, we can resist this idea because we really do not want to face the extent of the role we play in the circumstances in our lives. While still challenging at times, I have gotten much better at owning my role in my life and this has given me insight into past situations and it is glaringly obvious how I contributed to them with the feelings and thoughts I was carrying on the inside.

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      Thanks, Kelli.  So appreciate you stopping by the blog.  You’re right.  It is amazing how clear it is that our internal affects the external once we start to pay attention.

  • Fred Tracy

    Oh, jeez.. I keep experiencing the same exact thing. In fact, this article is probably a manifestation of that principle. I need to learn that what goes on on the inside, goes on on the outside. I suspect that I’ll keep seeing this over and over until I finally get it, lol.

    Thanks for being a syncronicity for me and expanding on such a profound topic. :-)

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      haha….i never thought of it being the manifestation for someone else, Fred.  I think it’s an on-going process…even after we finally “get it”  :)

  • http://twitter.com/SherrieKoretke Sherrie Koretke

    Hi Steve,
    I’m not a 100 percent convinced all our experiences are created from our thoughts. A lot of them are given to us to experience different things: To learn something new, to correct our course in life, and some are valuable life lessons. That being said, how you interpret everything that comes your way IS your personal responsibility. 
    Thanks!
    Sherrie

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      I know what you mean, Sherrie.  I struggled with this too.  I guess what I believe now is that our experience (or our perception) of our external circumstances is created by our thoughts (and I believe, the emotions that we carry about them).

      I agree with you that the way we interpret our circumstances is 100% our responsibility.  The meaning we give our circumstances is always under our control.

  • Mullenann4

    To me personal responsibility has another name also. I call it will. It is also called agency and sometimes wrongly called free agency. We have a choice about what we do, but there isn’t anything free about it. There are consequences with every choice. Perhaps that’s how our inside touches our outside. Somewhere between the choice and the consequence of the choice. Interesting blog. Thanks.

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      Ann, I love the distinction you make about the human will and the inside touching the outside. Your response really made me think.  Thanks.

  • http://www.stevetheowl.com Steve Nicholas

    Great post, Steven! I must admit that there are times when I think that we talk about personal responsibility in a way that some try to use to absolve others of things that they do. That being said, I don’t think that it’s a 100% correlation between internal and external (For example, if someone has a cheating spouse, and has done everything he/she thought possible to love that spouse, is that a case of the internal showing up on the outside.) but we do have 100% control over our response. As Jeff Olson reminds us in The Slight Edge, sometimes things happen to us that really aren’t our fault, but taking responsibility for everything is the key. Or as Stephen Covey reminds us, when you focus on the things that you can control, your sphere of influence starts to grow.

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      Good point, Steve.  In no way do I excuse others for bad behavior in my belief in personal responsibility.  I do retain my power to choose my behavior however in the face of their bad behavior.  

      In the example that you gave of the cheating spouse, a person may not have chosen the cheating, of course.  However, if it were me, I believe I have the obligation and right to stand up to bad behavior (in the form of cheating) and refuse to continue to be mistreated in the situation. 

      You are right, as we focus on what we can control, our influence does expand.

  • http://www.getoutofstuck.net Roberta Budvietas

    Not sure I agree with the sowing and reaping but I do agree that keeping your word and owning up to your responsibility is incredibly important. If more people were willing to admit that they made a mistake then so many of the problems in the world would end. 

    • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

      I agree,Roberta…taking responsibility means refusing to blame others (or other circumstances) for what’s not working in our lives.

  • http://www.michelleshaeffer.com Michelle Shaeffer

    The sowing/reaping, karma, get what you give principle crosses through
    so many religions and schools of thought that it’s got to mean
    something.

    Whether I believe I created my circumstances by my own thoughts or not, I’m the only one who can choose how I will react (or better yet, respond), and what happens from there is all based on that choice. 

    I’ve found though, that the more I take responsibility for everything, the bigger difference I can make.