Is anyone else out there sad the football season just ended? Personally, I love football! And it provides a great analogy for our topic. We have reached the pinnacle topic of taking personal responsibility in our lives…….learning to not blame outside factors.

Does the Quarterback yell at his Center for not passing him the ball properly when he throws an interception? Does a player blame the wind or the fans or that his car broke down that morning? No. It would be considered bad sportsmanship. They all have to play as a team and take personal responsibility for their own actions.

So why is it, when things aren’t going our way, it is often our instinct to start blaming other people for the things that are going wrong in our lives? It’s our parent’s fault or our spouse or our boss or our clients, our children, etc, etc. Or we may blame the economy or various other outside factors for the hard times we experience.

Sure, we have to adjust when the wind blows and sometimes obstructions do come into our paths. It’s not to say they don’t exist. It is just not productive to place the blame for our own existence on them. We are responsible for our own lives, our own happiness, our own success. There will always be outside factors and other people to deal with,.but we must learn to work thru that.

What often seems like an obstacle is often just a lesson. The truth of the matter is that EVERYTHING in our lives is a mirror of our internal state. Once we address our innermost challenges with our self our outer world also starts to fall into place, as well.

Take some time to think about what’s holding you back from experiencing life as you really want to live it. If you find yourself consistently blaming the outer world, it’s time to look inside. Don’t judge yourself or be a harsh personal critic. Instead, do just the opposite. Deal with yourself as if you were a young child. You wouldn’t berate a child for making mistakes. Don’t berate yourself for them either.

Simply accept that you have full responsibility for what has happened. It did not happen because of anyone or anything else. Even if it appears that is the case, keep in mind it is just a reflection of something going on inside of you. You will never change others anyway, so tend to yourself.

Figure out which of your own beliefs or patterns or behaviors are holding you back and dedicate yourself to working on them. In time this will become very freeing because you are no longer the victim of anyone or anything outside of you.

You may need to shift left or swing right, but when you take full responsibility for your life, you also realize you have the power to change it!! You don’t have to wait for something else to come along and fix it. The answers are within you!

So pick up that ball and run for a touchdown!

Let me know how this works in your life. Did you experience more freedom? Post a comment below.

I think you guys are the best

Be Free!

Lauri Sompres