What Does It Mean to Take Full Responsibility for Your Life?

When you said that you are taking full responsibility for your life, it must not be said only as lip service. Instead, it must come with a real change in mindset. A person who takes full responsibility for his life has a certain attitude towards living his life.

He understands that everything that he experiences is a result of his own thoughts and manifestations. He understands how his thoughts create his experiences. He also understands that how he experiences his life depends on his perspective, or how he sees things.

Thus, his own state of mind - whether happy or sad, good or bad - depends only on himself, on how he manages his mind. He sees the importance of having a greater degree of mastery over his mind. He sees the need to work with his mind.

He begins by discarding any old mental habits of criticizing and judging others, or even the tendency to do so. He then applies it on himself as well, meaning that he also stops criticizing and judging himself.

He realizes the importance of looking within to further understand himself better. Therefore, he learns to be mindful, to be more aware of his thoughts and feelings. He observes how his mind works, without judging it. He simply witnesses the unfolding of his thoughts and feelings as they occur, fully accepting them, embracing them. He drops all resistance, all fears through understanding and through confidence in the benevolence of the universe.

He understands that his present experience is the results of his past thoughts and mental habits. He realizes also that how he responds to his present reality becomes the seed for his future experiences. Thus, he consciously chooses his responses, thereby changing his present and future experiences.

This act of conscious choosing gives him a greater degree of mastery and control over the outcomes of his life. It is indeed empowering to know that one has the ability to determine one's own destiny.

This is in sharp contrast to one who is unaware of all this, and simply reacts to events through his conditioned mind, out of old mental habits. Life seems out of his personal control for one like this.

He who takes full responsibility for his life also knows that he is fully accountable for his decisions and choices, and he takes on that responsibility knowingly and willingly. This takes courage and honesty.

One who takes full responsibility for his life is one with such a mindset. With the absence of judging, with greater understanding and acceptance through mindfulness, he begins to experience a new and transformed life - one with greater peace of mind and contentment.

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Does-It-Mean-to-Take-Full-Responsibility-for-Your-Life?&id=9456274

Rohn: 4 Reasons to Take Control of Your Destiny

There is no greater pride than knowing you set your mind on something and accomplished it 

One of the first things successful people realize is the old adage, "If it is to be, it is up to me."

For you, that means that your success, your course is up to you. This doesn't mean that you do it all alone. It simply means that you take responsibility for your life and your career.

Too many people today look at opportunity and figure it is up to someone else to make sure they get it. They wait and wait, figuring that it is up to someone else. And then the wait is over, and it is too late to do anything. Their life is over and they are filled with regret.

But this isn’t true for you. You know that you must take responsibility for your life. It is up to you.

The fact is, nobody else is going to do it for you. You must do it yourself.

Now, some people might think, That's a lot of responsibility. But here's what I think: That is the best news you can ever hear. You get to choose your life. Hundreds of millions of people all around the world would give anything to live in the situation you do—to have the opportunity to take control of their destiny. "It is up to you" is a great blessing!

Here’s why:

1. You get to chart your own destiny.

Maybe you want to start a small business and stay there. That's great because you can choose that. Maybe you want to create a small chain of stores. Maybe you want to have a net worth of $100 million. That's OK, too. The point is that you get to choose. You can do whatever you like. Different people have different dreams and they should live them accordingly.

2. You reap what you sow.

Sleep in and go to work late and reap the return. Or get up early and outwork the others and earn a greater return. Place your capital at risk and earn a return. Place your capital at greater risk and perhaps reap a greater return. You decide what you will sow and thus what you will reap.

3. No one else can stop you from achieving your dream.

Yes, there will always be obstacles that come up and people who may not like what you are doing, but you can just move on and chart your own course. There is great freedom in that.

4. You experience the joy of self-determination.

There is no greater pride than knowing you set your mind on something and accomplished it. Those who live with a victim mentality never get to experience the joy of accomplishment because they are always waiting for someone else to come to the rescue. Those who take responsibility get to live the joy of seeing a job well done.

Let me ask you a question: Where will you be in five years? Ten years? Twenty-five years? Do you know? Do you have an idea? Have you ever dreamed about it or set a goal for it? Are you willing to take responsibility and recognize that it is up to you?

You will be wherever you decide to be at that point. You decide. It is up to you.

And that is very exciting!

http://www.success.com/article/rohn-4-reasons-to-take-control-of-your-destiny