Response-ability

Because I want to be a sane person, I choose to take in the news of the day in small doses. I want to stay informed, especially during this pandemic, so I am consistent, albeit brief, with my dosage. Recently, as I was listening to the news, I couldn’t help but notice the word responsibility getting tossed around as an accusation or even a threat. “So and so is responsible for this”, or “Mr. Smith needs to take responsibility for that”. And trust me, the “this” and “that” to which I refer are not pleasant things. Responsible does not need to be another four-letter word.

 

Often times, when something negative or painful occurs, the natural tendency is to point our finger out and look for who’s responsible, who’s to blame. You’re the perpetrator and I’m the victim. But maybe, if I’m humble enough, I might realize that I had something to do with the situation; I have one finger pointed at you, but there are four fingers pointed back at me.

 

When we are able to take responsibility for a situation in our life, we step out of our role as victim and we become empowered. We can step back and look at the role we played in a situation, no matter how small, and see how we contributed to its creation. Sometimes that role is ridiculously small, but in stepping back, we can see the situation with more clarity and respond more skillfully.

 

For a yogi, the word responsibility is typically defined as our ability to respond to a person, place, thing, or situation, any circumstance that in some way impacts us. As yogis, we are striving to be skillful in our response to the seemingly endless challenges during the COVID 19 pandemic, focusing on responding from our inner core of peace and stillness. One of the Bhagavad Gita’s most beloved quotes epitomizes this thinking, “Yoga is skill in action.” The skill we are developing here is responding from our highest, most grounded, and wisest self. And the surest way to know how skillfully you are responding to your current challenges? Just notice where those fingers are pointing!

 

Has yoga changed your life? Has it transformed you from the inside out? Send us a message and let us know! We’d love to hear from you.