What is responsibility?

​Responsibility.
Response-ability.
Response. Ability.

What does responsibility mean to you?
What does it mean to be responsible?
Does it differ in different areas of your life?

I keep pondering the belief --which I hold to be true-- that Freedom and Responsibility are two sides of the same coin.  We all want "freedom" - to live it in our nation, to feel it in our own bodies, our own lives. The idea of freedom I will come back to. Today (and onward), I want to embody and embrace Responsibility.....whatever that means.......

Let's break it down:  My ability to respond is my responsibility.

Respond to what? My life and the things that are important to me. Things that are True, that hold Integrity, and that does not harm Others. This sounds as it should be true enough for everyone:
     Your responsibility is to be able to respond to your life and
     the things--which are True, hold Integrity, and does not harm Others--
     that are important to you. 
Does that resonate for you? 

What kinds of things are important to you and fit those guideposts of True, Integrity and Does No Harm? Here are 3 points of focus which can be looked at in the detail of your own life:

• Your ability to live in your Truth, to live the life you were born to love. Am I living free of inner conflict and feeling the sparks of joy in "my work" because I'm being true to who I truly am?
• Your projection or expression with yourself and those around you and beyond. This is about your feeling of significance in life- big and/or small. For me, in addition to my self-talk, I start with my family -- am I setting the example of living in my Truth? am I observing and appreciating their own Truth-living (--this is especially important to recognize in our children as they have fewer years of outside influence and will live their Truth if they're allowed)? am I respecting each of our processes and personal development as I focus on honing my own expressions? am I having the impact I desire? 
• Living responsibly.....  Don't you love when the word you're trying to understand is used in another form within the defining of it?  :)  If you consider the first 2 points, living responsibly is the set of healthy boundaries by which you can live and express your Truth.  So what does it meant to "live responsibly"? Living responsibly means to live within your means. Which means being clear about your earning and spending and the energy exchanges therein. Which means being clear about your priorities and your ability to recognize what is and isn't priority. Living responsibly means to self-care. Which means to create balances in your life between consumption & creation, breathing in & breathing out activities, hard work and pure release-- both can be joyful or challenging, knowing your needs which informs your priorities and knowing what is pure & useless distraction, nourishing/fueling and metabolizing/letting go/resting, etc. Balance is key. Which means to also know your baseline from which you balance. This baseline can adjust as is necessary, as shifts happen in your life. Priorities shift. Balance. Feel it. Be able to feel it. Able. Ability. Response. Living responsibly is to live in balance with keen knowledge of your needs, within your means, at any given moment and to be able to respond.

To live in balance with keen knowledge of MY needs, within MY means, at any given moment and to be able to respond. Technically, this IS self-care.

Self-care, living in my truth, being an example of light and meaningful expression of Truth for my family and community and on......these are the things that are important to me that are True, hold Integrity, and does not harm Others. And my ability to respond to these things, within the protective boundaries of balancing my needs, within my means, at any given moment, is the Truth I need to embrace and embody somatically in every cell of my being.

Yet still, this is all well & good but could get overwhelming where you feel you have not learned how to manage, digest, and metabolize these things. The "ability" part of it. How do you respond seemingly without the ability?

Recognizing the perceived dis-ability is the first step. Think of those who are considered to have a "disability" as is commonly known in society today. Or a "handicap". Some people need help like handrails, wheelchairs or ramps or special technological advancements to assist in speaking or seeing or some other need. Some secure tutors or nurses or other sorts of caretakers. Whatever the situation, ALL are required to look for ways to see beyond their dis-ability and acknowledge where they just need to work a little harder, where they need help and where they can creatively do things differently to balance ability with dis-ability.  What are your perceived dis-abilities and how will you see beyond it?

Write it down. Assess it. Do the work. This is your RESPONSE-ABILITY.  

Each of us are responsible for our own response-ability. Together, as response-able individuals, is how we create our own Freedom and how we can promote freedom in our greater world.  Digging deep within is where our Truth lies. And our Truth is worth finding-- it is where our salvation thrives, and freedom and responsibility exist on the same coin.

#response-ability
#dis-ability
#freedom
#truth
#selfcare
#responsibility