Though it’s much easier to blame all our problems, conflicts, and difficulties on others, our greatest struggles are not with other people, fate, nature, or time; our greatest struggles are with our selves.
Some of us spend our entire lives blaming others without even understanding the joys of knowing self, taking responsibility for our problems, and earning plaudits for our achievements.
On a deep level, many of us shift the blame to others while trying to feel proud of our accomplishments. Unfortunately, when we make others responsible for everything that goes wrong in our lives, we also come to believe that external forces must also create our successes.
Believing that this is the way the world works can lead to a sense of despair and hopelessness that many of us medicate with alcohol, sugar, caffeine, fat,. . . . The feeling of detachment from the forces in our lives can be subtly pervasive, yet very powerful. When we start to take responsibility for our failures and successes, we discover that what powers our lives is within us. This realization can be very powerful. This discovery can lead to a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of all aspects of our lives as well as the ways we are attached to the world.
Some phenomena may begin outside of the sphere of our influences, like a power outage. Our reactions to the phenomena reflect how much responsibility we take for what follows. Do we panic, blame the utility companies, and generally feel helpless and at risk? Or do we assess the situation calmly, adapt to the new situation (cookouts in the fireplace), and feel in charge. Even in these situations, when we don’t directly create the incident, we can take responsibility and grow as a person.