Clarify your Purpose

Taking responsibility is often difficult for many of us to handle. Instead, we blame the other people, or circumstances in our lives in an effort to make ourselves feel better about the situation we are in.  We blame professors for having a low GPA, stingy employers and the government for being broke, parents for our 'daddy-issues' and 'momma's-boy-syndrome', and our significant others for our unhappiness. We blame our ex-boyfriend/girlfriends for ruining our lives, for the reason why we haven't moved on yet, for making it too hard to trust the next person that comes along, for our drinking problems and insomnia, and even for our bad habits. We blame our present boyfriend/girlfriend for the endless cycle of dysfunctional love we may be in, for not feeling appreciated enough or good enough, and for not taking care of ourselves.

In this way, we give the power, and more often than not, the satisfaction to that person for being prevalent enough to control so many aspects of our emotional selves. Instead, what if we woke up one morning and took that power back?. What if we looked in the mirror and placed responsibility -- not blame, on ourselves?. And in that moment, what if we suddenly discovered that we are the one person holding us back?. Perhaps a striking thought that we are what needs to change-- to trust more freely, to raise our GPA, to find healthy love, and even to move on from a past experience.

I know, grasping the idea of this discovery within ourselves, or even attempting to fathom how accepting this idea could alter our lives, makes it harder for some of us to simply breathe. It may feel confusing and overwhelming, as it absolutely should. To empower ourselves is a heavy task, but also a liberating one. Once we truly realize that we have the ability to alter our own situations, and that things are not merely happening to us, we are free.  It will begin to feel like fresh air on a clear Sunday morning, and in that moment we will wake up to an empowered sense of self, ready to move on from a very heavy past. 

 

Readers, don't forget to make a toast to your intentions this week. Cheers to a productive one. If I continue to keep my sanity through the last stretch before finals and a wonderfully crazy                                                                                            work week, it will be a miracle.