Monday, March 25, 2013

Accountabilty 101

"You are exactly where you are, based on the decisions that you have made"
... Dallon H. Oaks

This quote resonates in my mind right now.  Sometimes I experience things that cause me to slow down and just try to look at things from an outsiders' perspective.  I ask myself... "How have I contributed to exactly where I am right now?"  If I'm honest, I am able to see that I have played The Main Roll in exactly where I am right this instant.  It's easy to blame and point fingers at others as to why we are where we are.  Most people do just that!  However, NOTHING will change until we decide to take personal accountability for our own lives.  Looking inward and raising our own awareness is the key.  You either go "within, or you'll go "without"...   We must become more aware of our ego, and the roles that it constantly tries to play.  Aware of our own patterns and being willing to look in the mirror.  Not an easy thing to do at times, yet oh so necessary. 

The truth is...Where we are today is direct reflection of what we believe and what we know.  The only way to change where we are, is to expand what we believe and what we know.  Raise our awareness!!  It starts inside our minds.

The tricky part, as we are picking apart our own lives, is to look at things with proper perspective.  We are typically way off the mark, when we venture into self analysis. Too much interference involved (personal fears, ego, victim mentality, etc...) for us to even expect a fair self analysis.   I was once told by a dear friend (John McLay)... "Don't you dare venture into the realms of self analysis, unless you invite The Lord to be present while doing so."  Great advise, because as I dive into this lately, I sure do feel like crap! :(  Easy to be harder on ourselves...or we are "our own worst critic"...  Only with The Creators' perfect perspective should we try to put ourselves under construction to build us into something better... Perhaps a prayer to seek guidance isn't such a bad idea...?   ;)

Sifting through patterns, habits, limited perspective... Yet learning of self, becoming more aware, and growing through difficult things is worth the task.

"We should all be in the pursuit of self mastery...It is a life long pursuit."
...My Mother

Thank you Mom :)

7 comments:

  1. First and foremost, your mother is brilliant.
    Self reflection is a tricky process, we are our own worst critics. It's about perspective, do you look at life from a positive or negative view. Of course we are where we are because of our choices. That is the beauty of the human experience and free agency. I am not saying that we shouldn't be accountable for what we do, good or bad. I operated with the mind set that I am exactly where I need to be. If it's not where I envisioned for myself then there is a reason. Maybe there is a lesson I need to learn or a lesson I need to help some one else learn. Then there is the ultimate and some times the most obvious answer. Maybe God and I have different visions, and who I am to agrue with Him. I try to trust in the process as hard as it is and as much as I want to bend it to my will.

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  2. Like personal purification wrote, your mother is brilliant. No one on this earth is perfect. You mentioned personal fears, I myself have realized how much we as human being hold ourselves back because of things we fear. Fear has so many degrees within itself that we can't quantify it with just a sentence or two. I personally spent most of my life (thus far) living in fear of how others will think of me. Will they ridicule me for my thoughts, my quarks, my beliefs? Until finally I realized I needed to heed the words I have heard so many times and that is "Be not afraid."

    We are all our own worse critics but we need to always remember no one is perfect, in this life we must all do our best and leave the rest to God. He's always there even when we feel completely alone.

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  3. Hello Matthew Reese,
    I would like to thank you for your wonderful pieces of writing. You are really inspiring. Few days ago I watched Belle and the Beast. It has always been my very best tale and your brilliant acting simply added to make me watch the movie two more times:)Then I started searching more about the actor. I didn't expect to find your blog, but I did. And there my "intoxication" began. I read Indiana and kept on reading all night. I was thrilled and shocked when I found Two Ladders- thanks:) I couldn't believe that I was reading my words, my thoughts,even my idea of ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT. You have said it all very well. I somehow felt...can't pick the right word... "found", yes. There is someone else who speaks my mind. I want to apologise for not commenting(what I'm supposed to do here), but that's my first time:) Besides I had been thinking a lot for several days before I had a go.
    Another thing that grabbed me was your songs. Breathin has been my song for some days now. I was wondering if there were more...
    Keep on smiling- life is really better and far more beautiful when we smile, and love no matter what. I do that all the time and it helps to get over yourself, to be a better person...
    Keep on writing because you are my inspiration now- I started working better, having more ideas...
    Looking forward to reading you :)
    Would you mind answering: When is your best time of the day and why?
    Thanks a million Matthew Reese!

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  4. Matthew, your comment is very spiritual and touched a lot me! I wished in my tour to give you my vision of the interest of an awareness by means of the spirituality.


    PART 1 /

    Your comment : "Looking inward and raising our own awareness is the key "


    THE "BLANK PAGE":

    For me the mental integration and the morality of its own capacities, allows certainly the personal fulfillment. Because I think that if sheis lived on a spiritual mode, the awareness of our internal potential will be stronger and more long-lasting.

    When we begin a personal and spiritual fulfillment, there is not the end!
    I do not stop working on me and it is wonderful to observe the internal transformations and to understand the world under another aspect, more and more global, to learn to love, to let go (a little, because it is for me one of the most difficult things) ;) to join the thought of God with whom I morally signed a "contract". ;)

    Indeed, I consider that during my baptism, I HAVE SIGN A "BLANK PAGE" WITH GOD, a " SPIRITUAL CONTRACT " which means that I accept that God can use me, according to HIS WAYS, THAT HE CAN EVERYTHING ASK ME ON THIS BLANK PAGE, to do good around me, and according to HIS PRINCIPLES to obey and delight him(it) by gratitude for the gift of the life and the incredible grace which he showed.

    From part my initial studies (Psychology, Graphology applied to the Therapy and Characterology), I was able to accompany already experimented and autonomous people, professors, Business managers, Senior executives to overtake their blockings so that they are more effective thanks to a better self-knowledge.

    But I find that the Word of God can help sometimes more if we feel the need for internal progress, in the depths of one !!

    I also agree with you Matthew. In certain cases : " Perhaps has prayer to seek guidance isn' t such has bad idea? ;) "


    LEARN, THEN, SHOW THE WAY :

    By being spiritual, we "teach" the others to be independent from spirit with regard to) the most perfect standard, that of God.

    We cannot teach to be completed, but only to aim constantly towards the perfection. The purpose at first, is to show to the other one how to ACQUIRE THE CAPACITY TO MAKE THE GOOD CHOICE, to take the right direction on the road of the spiritual growth, keep a positive vision on the life, as us the sign our Creator.
    It understands for some, I suppose, an undeniable assistance in this route on which they have to decide VOLUNTARILY to borrow.
    But I believe that it is also important, before undertaking it " LONG JOURNEY ", to not neglecting our spiritual self-fulfillment previously, because it i major to accept what we are at first, our possessions, our qualities and our weaknesses to be "CONGRUENT" then, have an honest look view.

    Without this awareness of our own limits and what we again have to realize, our growth cannot be harmonious.

    We can increase and delight the one who we brought on this " spiritual way ". My mother always incited me to look for by myself the "Truth" about God and about her intention and I shall never thank her enough for it !! She is delighted to see that today my conception of the human being and his fulfillment took root in me and conditions my choices in my life.

    Jesus had not declared " the follower is not more tall than Master but every ACCOMPLISHED follower will be AS its Master" (chap Luc. 6 verse 40)

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  5. PART 2 /
    WHAT ENTHUSES ME MOST IN MY SPIRITUAL "GROWTH" ?

    It is the question that I often arose … Can be that it is " to BE HONEST WITH MYSELF ", to have a "PEACE OF MIND" because according to Philippiens chap. 4 verse 7 we acquire thanks to the spirituality " God's peace which surpasses any thought ", and especially the HAPPINESS OF SHARING AND OF HELPING OTHERS (Jean Chap. 14 verse 12 " the one who believes in me will also make the works which I make, and he(it) will make it of bigger " declared Jesus).

    YOUR COMMENT : " The truth is... Direct Where we are today is reflection of what we believe and what we know. The only way to change where we are, is to expand what we believe and what we know. Raise our awareness!! It starts inside our minds "
    I completely agree with you !! Your vision seems to me just.

    As long as the EGO is only at the controls, the internal and external fights to acquire more power, prestige or success can prevent us from cultivating more brotherly relations with the others. Naturally I do not play here the mystic apprentice, but I think that by means of the faith, of the meditation and of the prayer, we can overtake the borders of our ordinary personality, our EGO, to open us to a vaster, more sensitive and more generous dimension of the existence.

    THE RELEASE-GRIP, A CHALLENGE IN FRONT OF ONESELF :

    The internal desire of development of one brings to raise itself questions, to look for the information and for the experiment.

    The release-grip in the mediation and the prayer is not synonymic for me of " let make ", because I think that it implies on the contrary an intense activity on the spiritual plan, the constant efforts towards the progress and a fight against our internal tendencies that this life, that this world wants to standardize in the excess.

    It asks for an honesty with oneself, as to the others, but also the rigorous observation of the laws, the morality of justice which God put in front of us.
    Because it adorned me honest to notice that the underlying cause of the slavery of the Man as well as that of its liberation is in mental sound.
    It asks for big efforts of control, because the critical mind accepts no assertion without wondering about its value and about the aimed fulfillment (because a word or a deep research which is not followed by action adorned me completely useless!).

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  6. PART 3/

    THE CONTROL, IT IS TO ACT TO SEE BEYOND the APPEARANCES THERE SPIRITUALITY

    The spirituality taught me, I believe, to consider above all, things and to be them beyond the simple appearances, and to act as a result of what we learn.

    The Bible is as a mirror in which we are deeply encouraged to look. Chap Jacques's passage. 1 verse 23 - 25 is clear on this matter: " if somebody is a listener of the word and not a person who practises it, that one looks like a man who looks in a mirror at theis natural face. Because he looks, goes away and forgets immediately which man's kind he is. But the one who plunges his looks into the perfect law which belongs to the freedom, and which perseveres there, that one will be happy by practising it, because he became, not a forgetful listener, but a person who makes the work ".

    I think that the good "control" takes all its value with a good consciousness. Today, I often think at the bottom of me : " I can face in a mirror because I have the satisfaction to make what is right in the eyes of God ".

    It is THE AWAKENING OF MY MORAL SENSE based on the spirituality, that only allows me to continue to stay on the straight and narrow (and the husband whom I’ll take will have to have the same vision of things, because otherwise how the harmony could take place in the couple??!).

    But we can always progress ! The control of our thoughts is indeed a long way on the road of the maturity, because the mirror (quoted higher) reflects an outline, but not all the details. The more complete understanding of the Word of God asks for efforts continue, requires to bend more and more towards the objective which we want to reach : a clearer vision of our imperfections which ensues consequently from a more and more wide and deep awareness.


    But these efforts are worth it ! Don’t you believe ?


    Thank you for having shared this comment and safe journey on your way towards the wisdom Matthew !! :)

    Maryse CANOVAS

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