“You must begin by assuming responsibility. And you alone are responsible for every moment of your life, for everyone of your acts.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Without taking responsibility for your life, the rest is less than a dress rehearsal. Once awake to taking active responsibility for every moment of your life which encompasses conduct, behavior, communication, and acts of any kind . . . progress begins. There is no substitute for this, although trying to side-step the actual ownership of embracing that premise, we see multiplied a thousand-fold all around us. It’s necessary to actualize a very simple truth . . . what other individuals choose to do, how they conduct their lives, raise their children, transact business, or embrace who they are . . . is none of our business. In this moment we recognize as “time,” we have the opportunity to take advantage of a continuing phenomenon acknowledged by the words of Byron Katie, “Life is the constant opportunity to wake up.”
How many of us completely obliterate this opportunity, or unfortunately . . . don’t even realize we’ve missed it? How does the awakening process come about? For each of us it is uniquely different. It happens for some in the silence of stillness, perhaps a catastrophic event, loss of a loved one, a life changing health diagnosis, job loss, or confinement of some kind. Buddhists refer to living in a world of false ideas and distractions . . . samsara. Living unconsciously sustains a great deal of drudgery, suffering, longing and blame. No matter how you slice it, this creates negative and toxic energy for you and those around you. The conscious choice of will triggers an aspect of our being, that begs awakening from sleepwalking through our lives . . . Simon Weil puts it another way which we all recognize, “Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention.”
Is there anything or anyone holding you back from being who you really are, and who you were meant to be? Is there anyone keeping you from becoming conscious? Are you ready to accept complete responsibility for every moment of your life, and everyone of your acts? The only thing holding you in that ambiguous, negative, toxic, fearful, confining, restricted space is you. We are not bound by our past, we limit ourselves by fear of the unknown. Take that leap of faith without reservation while understanding the words of Matty Healy . . . “Who’s to say tomorrow won’t be the best day of your life?” The future awaits your conscious choice of will. JLR