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LIVING BY DESIGN NEWSLETTER
by Leslie Karen Sann, MA, LCPC
V4, #6
March 22, 2004
IN THIS ISSUE
Response-ability
Quotes
Practically Speaking
Wonder Questions
RESPONSE-ABILITY
Powerful People Make Things Easy (Part 4)
(This article is a continuation of a series
about our personal power to create the life we want)
Responsibility is the ability to respond, to make
choices, to take action, to choose again.
Taking responsibility affords us power. This is
personal power - the power we have as individuals to make a difference in
our own lives.
Often responsibility is confused with taking the
blame. As in whose fault is this??? Once we assign blame we are no longer
in charge of the experience we are having. We have cast ourselves in the
role of victim. Once we see ourselves as victims we lose access to our
ability to make a difference in the situation as it is right now.
Recently I was on my way to work, sipping on a cup
of coffee. Next thing I know I have dribbled onto my formerly very clean,
white shirt! #@%! mumble, grumble.
I noticed the temptation to get 'upset' and blame
myself for ... whatever ... and then instead realized blame and upset
weren't going to get the stain out.
The question became - NOW WHAT? I have a full day of
clients and I'd prefer to be wearing clean clothes.
By the time I arrived at work I had a plan. Next
break I’d go to the cleaners in the building. In the meantime I’d wear
my scarf and I’d be ‘covered’. Ahhhh, relief.
I ended up using the situation as a teaching example
in my first session. I revealed my ‘error’ and turned it into a tool
for learning! I took responsibility - responded to the situation as it
was, and creatively utilized what had occurred!
That was powerful!
Blame extinguishes the opportunity to be creative in
the now. Taking responsibility ignites creativity. When faced with ‘now
what’, the imagination gets invited to play with possibilities.
We're responsible the moment we choose to take
responsibility. Even when we have no influence over outer circumstances,
we do have authority over our inner response to the situation.
We can respond, we can choose, we can take action on
our choices. Our actions produce a result, and we can choose again. This
is ease, this is flow, this is power.
Powerful people make things easy. Cultivating your
ability to respond will enhance your capacity to create what you want.
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QUOTES:
“Taking responsibility means a person no longer
blames outside circumstances, or other people, or past events for the
conditions of his own life”
~ Brad Blanton ~
“Once I took responsibility for my own
unhappiness; I was no longer a victim and I felt completely in charge.”
~ Samahria Lyte Kaufman ~
“Genuine responsibility - - the kind that
changes your life - - does not begin until you take it.”
~ Gay Hendricks ~
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PRACTICALLY SPEAKING:
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Remember, responsibility occurs
right now.
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When something happens, ask
yourself, ‘NOW WHAT?’
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‘NOW WHAT?’ fuels the
imagination to offer choices, possibilities, actions
WONDER QUESTIONS:
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Are you willing to cultivate your
ability to respond?
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How can you increase your capacity
to respond to the moment with ease?
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How can you shift from blaming to
creativity?
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Are you willing to be the
predominant creative force in your life?
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COPYRIGHT/CONTACT INFO/REPRINT PERMISSION
c Copyright 2004 by Leslie Karen Sann, Living by Design
Visit this link for contact information:
leslie@living-bydesign.com
Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears in full:
Copyright 2004 by Leslie Karen Sann,
Living by Design.All rights reserved.
Web site. http://www.living-bydesign.com
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