Instead of Blame, Introspection

In my last article, I appeared to have SHOCKED some people by suggesting everything that happens TODAY is caused by people that came before us, which might have led you to think that I was saying we are not responsible for anything – that we are merely victims of the past.

Well, in a way it's true that we are all victims of the past.  But it's also true that we all do things in the past that cause problems in the present.  In fact, EVERYTHING we do TODAY dramatically affects what happens TOMORROW – which makes ALL of us a lot more responsible than we realize.

Let’s suppose, in the course of an investigation, that the evidence suggests that YOU did something in the past that caused a problem in the present.  The past could either be a minute ago, or a month, week or year.  Whatever, it was in the past.  

For example, let’s say that you ignored the advice of someone close to you -- either an expert, a family member, or whoever – and that something awful happened because you ignored that advice.  

A very important question should be "why did you ignore that advice?"

Let's say you ignored the advice because 1) you wanted to go forward with your plans, and 2) you felt like you knew better than the other person.  Of course, there could be a lot of other reasons for "ignoring advice" -- I'm only suggesting these reasons as an example.

At this point, I'm going to suggest a question that could change your life forever, if you have the courage to answer it.

Ask yourself:  What is it about the way I am that places my own desires and opinions of myself over the desires and opinions of someone close to me (using the same example as above)?

After all, when something goes wrong in our lives, shouldn't the major objective of everyone involved be to learn something about themselves?  

Forget about the "other person," what about you?  What are YOU supposed to learn?  

Please try something at home to see what I mean.  Home is the safest, and most rewarding place to try this.  Think of something you did in the recent past that caused an unfortunate event, and then ask "what is it about the way I PRESENTLY AM that caused me to do what I did?

Isn't it much more important to focus on the way we are at present than to blame the past?