Responsibility
The beauty of taking responsibility is this: Anything you take responsibility for, you can change. Not always right away, but eventually.
Why do you want to take responsibility for your entire world? Because if you take responsibility for anything and everything that ever happens to you, then you can change anything and everything that ever happens to you. It's a nice mix of responsibility and reward.
Responsibility starts in the imagination. Imagine that you are responsible for everything that ever happens to you and you become the author of your story. It's a nice feeling to have this much control.
You can't always control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it. Responsibility is really respond-ability or the ability to respond to events in a way that builds you and the people around you.
When events start coming at you too quickly, slow time down. Step back a moment and imagine how you would like to respond to these events. Then do so.
Never let events control you. Instead, step back and plan your own events. Plan how your life is going to go.
Cast yourself as the hero in your own personal drama. No matter what happens to you, your response is always heroic. See yourself that way and it will always be so.
It is by slowing down and responding heroically to everyday situations that we live lives of grace and simplicity.
©Edward Abbott 2002-2004