"I consider Gay and Kathlyn to be my teachers." -John Bradshaw
When Does Responsibility Start?
Of all the principles we explore, taking healthy responsibility and the positive impact that can have on the quality of your close relationships and circles of connection seems to create the most pushback. Some people jump right in and start owning their experience and creating a positive difference in their worlds.
For others, a particular obstacle looms up. We frequently get asked to comment on whether someone is responsible for their childhood abuse or the suffering of wars and genocide. It’s as if the person can’t change until the past does, which is impossible. So they often stay stuck. We reply that responsibility starts when you take it. Before that you are at the effect of whatever the strongest forces are in your environment. At that magical moment when you choose to learn how to consciously choose and respond to what is occurring in your life, the game changes. Rather than being the victim of circumstances, you can rapidly learn how you have been re-creating troublesome patterns and choose a new conscious path. When you take responsibility, you are actually reclaiming the creative juice that’s been dribbling away in power struggles and complaints.
When you step into healthy responsibility, life presents you with the next learning edge, so that you expand your ability to respond. I think this is very cool. If I’m open to learning, I get to trade in the repetition of familiar cycles for the thrill of the unknown, the next creative moment. I get to be like Indiana Jones on the cusp of the abyss, stepping out from my willingness to fall into nothing rather than lurk on the edge of my smaller world.
Our planet is calling for explorers, for people willing to forge new pathways and solutions. The only way to gather enough power for this clarion call is to stand in our full creative power. That power appears so far to be infinite and to be fed by saying,
Hmmm, what can I learn from this?
What do I really want?
What do you really want?
How am I creating, sustaining, allowing this issue?
How can both of us (individuals, groups, nations) create a large enough field that we can all enjoy connecting from essence?
Let us know about your responsibility explorations and what creativity and solutions open up for you.
»
- Katie's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Contact our Support Team
The Hendricks Institute • 1-800-688-0772 • 226 W. Ojai Ave. Suite 101, PMB 505 • Ojai, CA 93023
© 2012 The Hendricks Institute & The Foundation for Conscious Living. All rights reserved.
