“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”

- Anne Frank

Do you consider yourself a person steeped in personal responsibility? How do you chose to step up or show up in life, especially when a situation arises for which you feel you might be blamed. Is it a practice to say, “Yes, I am responsible?”

I don’t personally think of personal responsibility as blame. Yes, it is a way we define the word, but I came to realize some time ago that to align blame with responsibility was defeating me in moving forward. Blame for any situation bogged me down into the past, what had happened, fantasizing about how it might have been different, and ultimately beating myself up for not having done it better.

How I have come to define personal responsibility now carries with is a forward momentum.

I first consider the situation and the circumstances, whatever they may be. I look at them free of judgment and say:

• “I see what has unfolded here.”
• “I am willing to understand my part in it.”
• “The journey forward is for me to undertake.”
• “I own this, and don’t need to make anyone else own it to try to make me feel better.”

This practice of mine releases blame for myself and others. It opens me up to solutions.

It is my personal response ability.