Tag: responsibility

As we begin the fall season, I think about Jim Rohn’s advice, “… Learn how to reap in the fall without apology. Without apology if you’ve done well. Without complaint if you have not. …”. That is such a powerful way of thinking about the life we live. It makes us recognize that every life has seasons; summer (when everything is beautiful and going well), winter (the hard times of life), spring (times of promise and opportunity – the places of sewing and planting), and fall (harvest time for the things we’ve planted – things we live off of now, store up for later, and stash for emergency and hard times).
Taking the seasons of life and breaking theme down like that makes me remember all the times of fall for my life when I had nothing to reap because I hadn’t planted or cultivated for my future. Oh how I used to lament during the rough winters! Bills due, hinge needing to be done that couldn’t be done. There were many, many moments of living the coulda, woulda, shoulda mantra out. I would replay the things I could have done differently over and over again. Well, I did that replay until the day I said – it doesn’t matter what I did that got me here. I’m here so what next? How do I not be here next time?
http://youtu.be/UIBRBgNKArg
One day it hit me. My life is my responsibility. If it isn’t going well, I need to fix it. I realized that planning and caring for my life is a … science. There is a formula that works to bring the things I want into my life. If I don’t apply the science, I won’t receive the desired result. I remember creating my first Life Map, wondering if it will work. Hoping for something different next fall. Then I remember the moment of pride from creating, sticking to maintaining my goal! I realized that the complaining in the fall doesn’t make the reaping any easier. Doesn’t make the dead or insufficient harvest any more alive or sufficient. The formula of planning and execution makes the rest of it all work so smoothly.
The truth is, the seasons of life change. We must learn to be fully responsible for the life we live. We have to be okay with what we reap and learn from those places where we haven’t done our parts. Jim called taking responsibility for want happens to us the best of human maturity. He said , “… I’m not saying its easy. I’m saying its the best.” Live daily trying – striving to be your best. Truthfully, the only thing one can do is learn from the past, live for now, and become responsible for the coming future.