False Responsibility

As I began to take full responsibility for everything in my life, I discovered a common stumble. Many times, we take on responsibility for things that are not ours. I spent most of my life thinking that I had to make other people happy. The fact is, I am not responsible for anyone’s happiness but my own. More than that, I don’t have the right to try to make anyone anything.

How I feel, think, speak, act, and react is my responsibility. Those are the things I can choose and change. What happened in my past is my responsibility only as far as how I acted and reacted. I am not responsible for the way others acted or how they reacted to me. I can’t control other people and its not my place to even try. All it does is create stress and conflict.

The state of the world is not my responsibility either, but how I react to what I perceive is. Even what I perceive about the world at large is up to me. I can choose to see the worst in it or I can choose to look for the good. The more I look for good, the more I will see it. When I see injustice or harm, it is up to me to do something about it. I could, of course, choose not to do anything about it, but then I am responsible for it not changing.

Carrying only what is mine,
Jstone