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Responsibility or Freedom!

Being able to respond, slowly became a way of being alive to everything around me. I understood how much of my aliveness was so held back in some corner, being reserved and withheld for god knows what!

Who knew, being responsible, meant coming alive.

I always thought or rather had made this assumption that responsibility meant a burden and I had always viewed every opportunity of responsibility as a burden and always avoided it. Or rather took it with reluctance, doing half a job at it. Who knew, that being fully responsible, meant being fully open to life, meant being open to everything that came your way, good or bad. It did not matter what came my way, or what will come my way in the future. I knew I could respond to it. Maybe there are still some capability issues, in as such that I might not be capable of skilfully resolving every situation, but I knew that I could respond to the best of my ability. The capability will get built over time.

Capability needs practise, and what better way to practise than to jump right into the middle of the action?

With this new definition of responsibility and the potency that it held, I could look at my career, my relationships, my physical fitness, my health, my mind and most importantly, my inner sense of being, with new eyes. I was responsible for all of these.

I was in charge of all of these and only I could direct the course of all these things. It would be stupid to blame others for any of these.

My joy, my sadness, my love, my hatred, my anger, my stillness; all were mine. To blame anyone else for all these things would be akin to placing the remote of my life in their hands. I sure was not ready to be a puppet to anyone’s whims, and taking responsibility was the way to take charge of these strings of life.

I am still learning this lesson, which seemed so innocuous that time to be taught in a yoga class, but has grown to be a tremendous force in my life. The more I implement this lesson, the more it evolves into different dimensions, showing me new possibilities and showing me the range of my capabilities.

Being able to respond meant that I had to be absolutely involved in whatever I was doing.

Without involvement, there was no taking up of responsibility. Isn’t it so?

How can you take up responsibility for anything if you are not involved in it absolutely? And the more I was involved, there was more life! Have you seen, that if you are so involved in doing anything, like playing a video-game or sport, or dancing, or singing or writing, or doing work that you are really passionate about; you are very involved in it, isn’t it?

And when you are so involved, it seems so significant and so full of life, isn’t it? Life seems so grand when you are involved. If you are doing something you don’t like, then it seems like such a drag. Like if you really liked reading this article and were involved in the whole experience of it, you would not realize that it was incredibly long, but if you could not relate to this, then you would have anyways left after reading the first paragraph. But when you are involved, you are full of life! What was this small life, suddenly seems so big and worth experiencing.

Responsibility or responsiveness to life around you brings in involvement. And where there is involvement, there is life.
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About the writer - Vishal S Rao

An MBA from IIM Bangalore and a rank holder Chartered Accountant, Vishal is a deep thinker. A man of few words, Vishal more than makes up for it through his writings. His words are measured with intricate meaning hidden in them.

Vishal has worked for KPMG and was in a leadership role at Aditya Birla. Currently, he is trying his hands at the restaurant business.

 

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author.

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