We Are Responsible – Introduction

I recently wrote that “you are not responsible for other’s happiness, but you could be the reason for it.”  But that didn’t seem quite right. It didn’t ring true and as I thought about it I realized that we are indeed responsible for it; just as we are for treating people with love and respect.

Not being responsible for other’s happiness seems to a cop-out, a way for us to remain aloof and not help others be happy.  Perhaps we’re not happy to begin with? And if that’s the case, it would be difficult to help others be happy.

But which would you rather give others: happiness or anger?

As I’ve thought about responsibility for self and others, it seems to me that we too quickly say, “It’s not up to me” or “Somebody else can do it.”

I decided to follow this thought about responsibility for a bit and so I’m going to be posting about it as follows:

• We Are Responsible For Ourselves And The Decisions We Make
• We Are Responsible For Others And Helping Them Grow
• We Are Responsible For The Place We Live And Making It Better

I think we are to be responsible for others and one way we can do that is by showing them that we care and what matters to them matters to us.

Of course, we must begin by being responsible for ourselves.  This includes making good life decisions that are in line with our core values and beliefs.  We need to take these and live them in our world and being dependable, reliable, and even accepting the consequences for our decisions (they won’t always go as we wanted them to).  

When we are responsible for ourselves, and others will see this, then we gain their trust and respect and they will become more willing to open up and accept what we have to offer – our genuine compassion and support.

I trust you will get some value from these upcoming posts and I look forward to any comments you may have.