{"id":2813,"date":"2015-05-17T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2015-05-21T13:41:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T18:41:07","slug":"choose-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2813","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Accept Responsibility for Your Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Responsibility<\/a>We live in a society that does not want to accept responsibility for bad choices. If a person smokes and gets cancer, it\u2019s the tobacco industry\u2019s fault. If a person shoots someone, it\u2019s the gun manufacturer\u2019s fault. If a person drives drunk, it\u2019s the bartender\u2019s fault. If a child misbehaves, it\u2019s the music industry\u2019s fault. Should the tobacco industry, gun manufacturers, bartenders, music industry, and others act more responsibly? Yes! Are they to blame for the choices we make? No!<\/p>\n

This \u201cblaming others for our actions\u201d mentality influences almost every aspect of our lives. We want to blame our \u201clot in life\u201d on our parents, our neighborhood, the times we live in, our lack of good fortune or fate. However, many people born into poverty have risen above it and many with health problems have accomplished much. Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton, Andrew Carnegie, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Helen Keller are just a few that come to mind. While it\u2019s true that environment and heredity can limit our choices in life, they can\u2019t determine what kind of person we choose to be. Our actions determine that.<\/p>\n

Albert Einstein said, \u201cMan must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will \u2013 his personal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychology may teach us there are some subconscious motives for the conscious things we do but there comes a time when we can no longer blame a repressed sex drive or how we were potty trained for being a jerk. Ultimately, we determine what kind of person we want to be.<\/p>\n

\"Who's<\/a>This proclivity to blame others for our poor choices is not new. It\u2019s been going on since the time of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3 we see that when God asked Adam why he disobeyed by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam blamed Eve. Then Eve blamed the serpent. Adam went so far as to say to God, \u201cIt\u2019s the woman, YOU gave me!\u201d Now it was God\u2019s fault. Everyone wanted to blame somebody else. And we\u2019ve been blaming others for what we do ever since.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 Blaming others or blaming circumstances never improves a situation. If anything, it only makes it worse. However, taking responsibility for our poor choices helps us make better and wiser choices in the future.<\/p>\n

Suggestions for practicing this choice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don\u2019t be afraid to admit when you have blown it. Believe it or not, people respect those who take responsibility for their actions. When we admit mistakes others are more likely to believe us about other things we do because our word has meaning.<\/li>\n
  2. Memorize these phrases and use them often: \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d \u201cI made a mistake.\u201d \u201cPlease accept my apology.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. Stop making excuses for yourself like\u2026I wasn\u2019t told, I never had an opportunity, everybody is doing it, it\u2019s not my fault, they don\u2019t like me, wah, wah, wah, wah. Grow up!<\/li>\n
  4. When problems come resist the temptation to find someone to blame. Instead ask yourself, \u201cWhat could I have done differently?\u201d Or \u201cHow could this have been prevented?\u201d Learning from a situation can help avoid repeating the same mistakes.<\/li>\n
  5. Think about this Eleanor Roosevelt quote: \u201cIn the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Blaming<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We live in a society that does not want to accept responsibility for bad choices. If a person smokes and gets cancer, it\u2019s the tobacco industry\u2019s fault. If a person shoots someone, it\u2019s the gun manufacturer\u2019s fault. If a person … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}