“To be able to look at change as an opportunity to grow--that is secret to being happy.” Joan Lunden

As I stepped outside this morning for my daily power walk brisk October air braced my cheeks. The deep, fragrant aromas of wood smoke and dying leaves; autumn in New England filled me with an unexpected joy and appreciation for season. I looked around at spectacular, vivid color of trees. My sneakers kicked through crinkly red, orange and brown piles waiting to be raked. I remembered that I use to hate fall.

Fall meant death, end of summer, my favorite time of year. I was a summer person flourishing in bounty of life at its fullest. Every year, falls approach signaled to me an ending, a time to let go and I didn’t look forward to it.

As I was walking and breathing deeply in beauty of morning I began to experience my relationship with changing seasons as a metaphor for my life. I began to think about how well we as a culture celebrate birth, youth and new beginnings and how we’re taught to fear death, change and endings.

Recently, I had an experience where my affiliation with an organization dear to me was complete. It had become clear that it was time to let go and move on. The change would mean a decrease of revenue, as well as a loss of supportive associates. Naturally, I was conflicted about making decision to leave and felt some pain in separation. I wondered how I would compensate for change, and what I would replace emptiness with where a once thriving opportunity lived.

Why are you there? Who is responsible for you being there?

You are, that’s who!!! Every single circumstance around you has come about as a result of your thoughts, and consequent actions, in your past.

It’s old pebble rippling in pond thing, you might have to go back a long way to find it, but sure enough, look closely and you will see a choice that you made somewhere along line.

So next time you want to blame everyone else and their dog for your situation, make sure you are accepting responsibility for your own actions first.

This does *not* mean ‘blame yourself’. Yes, sure, you may have made wrong choices in past, but who hasn’t, and at time, they were best choices you were capable of making, whatever your psychological make-up was at that time.

So if taking responsibility doesn’t mean blaming your self, what does it mean?