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Happy Thanksgiving & Seven Principles of Self Responsibility
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Greetings ,
Several years ago I was glancing through a magazine, Time perhaps, which had a report on the 'Happiest nations in the world'. One nation caught my attention for it seemed out of place in the top 10. Bangladesh.  How would you explain this tiny impoverished nation, ravaged every year by cyclones and floods, ranked high for happiness? So, I read on. The report suggested that these people tend to be grateful for what they have. Remembering what is going right in one's life emerges gratitude, a dominant contributors to happiness. I came to realize that taking things for granted or 'entitlement' has the opposite effect, putting a damper on one's happiness.
On the occasion of Thanksgiving Day here in America, here are 6 habits of highly grateful people, therefore, very happy people):
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Once in a while, think what if a person(s) or thing in your life was gone
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Take time to appreciate the little things in life, like a nice warm shower on a cold day
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Take the good things as gifts, not birthrights
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Be grateful to people, more than things, as an expression of gratitude makes them come light up
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When you thank someone, be specific about what they did, like bringing medicine when you were sick
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Thank adverse situations, like loss of job, or humiliation, because they teach you lessons that you would've never got
In continuation of the 4 'R's of self management, see the seven secrets to self responsibility.
In gratitude,
Janardhan
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The 4 Rs of Self Management
Seven Principles of Self Responsibility
You are the creator of ALL your thoughts, feelings (emotions) and actions
Easy theory but in reality most of us are taught to believe otherwise. Any time you react to anything or anyone it just means you are saying someone else is responsible for what your life in that moment. It means that you are not in control of your self. It 'seems' someone else is 'making' you react, but it's just a projection of ones own self-created discomfort. It's just an avoidance of self-responsibility.
Even though you may have assimilated beliefs and behaviors at a young age you are responsible for the maintenance or the changing of those beliefs/behaviors into old age!
In other words we cannot blame the past either! Our actions and reactions today are certainly shaped by what we assimilated yesterday, last year, decades ago. The beliefs and perceptions absorbed as a child have a powerful and usually subconscious influence over our life. Self-responsibility recognizes the necessity to make the unconscious conditioning conscious, so that it can be checked, challenged and where necessary, changed. This is the cultivation of self-awareness and this is the foundation of real learning.
No person, event or situation is responsible for your happiness
Not easy to see when our conditioning has told us the opposite. But until we see and live the truth of this principle we will never know real freedom or true joy. We will live a needy and dependent life without realizing the true meaning and source of our own contentment.
All that you seek outside yourself you already have within you
Everything that we do is motivated by a personal desire that only seeks one thing - the contentment that comes from 'feeling' our inner peace and the giving of the energy that we are, which is love. When you see this and know this, you recognize that all seeking is simply a search for the self and you are looking in the wrong direction.
As you think so you create your life
It's no secret that many have and do use this very old and fairly obvious understanding or insight regarding our 'consciousness' to create exactly the life they want to live. They were able to do this because they were learned to concentrate their mind on precisely what they wanted to manifest in their life over time. When we believe we are not responsible for our own destiny moment by moment we do not practice the art of concentration essential to our creativity. We feel we are therefore not the creators of our life, we feel powerless; we feel we are being controlled. All are illusions to a human who knows their own being and consciously uses their own mind.
You are not responsible for others feelings
One of the greatest freedoms and therefore doorways back to happiness is the realization that you don't make others happy or sad, they do. Always. This one insight alone, when restored to our awareness on a day-to-day basis, can end many dysfunctional 'relationship games' including the emotional blackmail we learn around guilt and shame.
You are never victim unless you choose to be
Listen to the many stories of those who have faced what could be called insurmountable odds or terrible adversity, and hear how they were able to respond. They didn't just have tremendous resilience; they had a mindset, which had learned how to turn any scene or situation into a positive force for their own learning and strength. Seldom found at the heart of the school curriculum but it is a 'potential' that lies within the heart of every human being.
© Mike George 2013
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