How Does Accountability Empower Us?

self-awarenessmindfulnesslife lessonstaking actionaccountabilityresponsibility
Written By Raine Creative

Accountability is an important aspect of self-awareness and mindfulness

Taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, and actions matters in all you do.

Modern society hates to be accountable. But damn, do they love to blame.

When you are mindful, you are choosing to be aware of yourself.  You are aware of what you are thinking, how you are feeling, and actions you are taking from there.

When we are mindful of ourselves, we need to be accountable.  Why?  Because the only way to improve our lot in life is to be accountable for being where we have gotten to in the first place.

Society loves to blame.  We see it on every level, from the child who doesn’t want to be punished for stealing a cookie to the President who doesn’t want to be responsible for anything.  We blame someone or something else, rather than take responsibility and be accountable for that which we have done.

You are not accountable for some things

Let me put this out there right now. Some things happen due to outside influences for which you and I are not accountable or responsible.

An important note here – while “we” are not accountable for these outside matters, we are capable of doing things to change them. Supporting the protests and organizations that represent progress and positive change, voting in elections, and calling and writing letters to the leadership demanding action are a few options.

Accountability is empowering

One of the best ways to be empowered is to be accountable for yourself. Whatever thoughts, feelings, and actions you have, accountability is how you take control.

Consciousness creates reality. Practicing mindfulness and becoming aware of your mindset/headspace/psyche gives you control of your life. Then, being accountable and responsible for the results of the things you think, feel, and do empowers you.

This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool:

This is an ongoing practice that is incredibly practical and utterly freeing.

When you make a mistake, screw up, get something wrong, err, or otherwise fail – own up to it. Be accountable.

While you cannot undo, redo, or otherwise alter the past – if there is something that you did not take responsibility for then – you can do it now.

In either case, here’s a good tool for practicing accountability:

1.       Write it down. Whatever the situation was – especially if it went wrong – write it down. Put it there, on paper. While it might suck and be bad – odds are it’s not so terrible that it will have a long-term, negative impact on your life experience.

2.       Write out what you did wrong. Be specific. Don’t blame, don’t make excuses, and don’t half-ass this. What did you do wrong?

3.       What did you learn from this experience? Every experience in life teaches us something. Yes, that can be insignificant or a very of-the-moment lesson – but you learn something. Write it down and see what you come up with.

4.       What can you do differently next time? To be fair – there might not be an answer to this question. But asking it can give some clarity, insight, and possibly new ideas that serve this and/or other situations.

You can save this, erase it, or whatever when you are done. It might be helpful to keep it as a reminder. Likewise, it might also be worthwhile to acknowledge it and then let it go – by not keeping it.

When we are accountable, we’re empowered. And we make ourselves capable of action for change.

Raine Creative
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