Responsibility IS freedom

That doesn’t seem to go together, does it? Let me explain.

When you take responsibility for what is happening in your life you become the driver instead of the passenger. You begin to live your life by design instead of by default. Sure you make some bad choices now and then but then you take the responsibility for them, make adjustments and move on. When you realize that you are indeed the creator of the experiences you have, you begin to make better choices so that you will have the experiences that you want.

You’ve heard the expressions; “Birds of a feather flock together”, “The better it gets, the better it gets; and the worse it gets the worse it gets” or “This day started out bad and got much worse.”  There is more truth to that than you may have given credit.  The people you identify with and listen to do have an effect on you. It may not happen right away but eventually it does. Next time you’re in the company of a few individuals having a conversation sit back and just observe the conversation. Listen for when someone starts to complain about something like their last cold.  Eventually someone will chime in about their last cold and how awful it was and then maybe another has to top that with something better until the whole conversation is about trying to out-do the others.  It really is quite amusing. Of course it doesn’t have to be about a cold it could be about anything; job, errands, injury, traffic or weather, you name it.

Now if you’re really into the Law of Attraction like I am, you’d remove yourself from the above conversation or at least not give much thought to it. Why, because where attention goes energy flows. Even though you may not want to get a cold, just the thought of getting a cold and all the symptoms that go with it could actually bring it to you. You are a magnet attracting whatever you are giving your attention to whether it be the atmosphere at work or in a traffic jam. Even though you don’t want a cold your attention is focused on a cold and so you get one. You have the freedom to choose where your attention goes. 

What has that got to do with responsibility you ask. Well, this attraction magnet within you brings you the experiences you have in every aspect of your life. When you hang out with creative people you tend to start thinking like they do. If you’re around people who talk about sports or cars, you will start to learn more about it and talk more about it. Conversely, if you’re around people who swear a lot then you too will slip out a #$%&* once in awhile. When you’re around people who complain a lot you too will add your two cents to the conversation and become a complainer too.

The good news is that you don’t have to buy into anything that you don’t want to.  You have the freedom to choose what you will pay attention to and what you will not. You can take responsibility for what you’re experiencing and make corrections if needed. You don’t have to live your life by default. You have the power to choose your outcomes by making better choices and you have the freedom to start today.