Finding Lightness in Responsibility

(Thanks to my son who, when asked for a single word about which I should write because my head was so out-of-place, responded quite easily....)

Responsibility.

How many of you just shirked away?  Even the mention of the word conjures up more pressure, more stress, more things to do.  None of us needs that.

As I've learned, the problem isn't the responsibility.  The problem is what we think we are responsible for.*

In an unexamined life, we take on responsibilities that are not ours.  We say yes to things we think will bring success or satisfaction, yes to things that originate in someone else's dream.  Yes to that job, yes to paying for that credit card and that life, ... even yes to volunteering.  It's what we're supposed to do, right?

Heaviness weighs on our hearts and our bodies with these responsibilities.

Instead, start with your visions beyond words.  Those that immediately make you feel peaceful, passionate, alive.  Those are the ones that are beneficial to you and beneficial to us all.  When you come alive, the world comes alive.  Trust in this.

Take responsibility for this.

Take responsibility for being, for FEELING Alive.

When you wake in the morning thinking of what there is to be done, breakfast for the children, the dishes, the phone call...they all begin to just fall into place.  There is no dread nor heaviness.  

There is gratitude.

Because when we start taking responsibility for being, feeling, bursting into LIVING, our moments themselves come alive.  Dishes, paint, trees, our hands...  We can't help but stumble, laughing, into gratitude.

What is the difference 
Between your Existence 
And that of a Saint? 

The Saint knows 
That the spiritual path 
Is a sublime chess game with God 
And that the Beloved 
Has just made such a Fantastic Move 
That the Saint is now continually 
Tripping over joy 
And Bursting out in Laughter 
And saying, "I Surrender!" 


Whereas, my dear, 
I am afraid you still think 
You have a thousand serious moves.

~Hafiz

Take a breath. (Inhale, exhale.)

Let gratitude swell within you that you are alive to experience this moment.

Just for today**, take responsibility for keeping that gratitude alive.

Namaste.

** Thank you to the principles of Reiki for the "just for today" phrase.

* I was brought up to never end sentences with a preposition.  I can never do so without thinking of the joke.  New student: "Excuse me - where is the library at?"  Yale grad: "Ahem - here at YALE we don't end sentences with a preposition."  New student: "Ok....where is the library at, bitch?"   I still giggle.  Now go.  Be NICE in the world.  (Don't actually say that to anyone)  Be grateful.