I’ve been meditating more and more on the realization shared with me by a friend recently:

As I was reflecting on how easy it is to become in a “victim” mentality I thought how your “lead, follow, or step aside” is also relevant there in a similar way. You can either lead your life, follow your life as it drags you around, or you can step aside. Goodness-passion-ignorance.

Here is what I think about this:

The outcomes of the decisions we make are partially dependent on the paradigms and methodologies we employ when we make them. The outcomes are also dependent on the will of Providence and our previous karma. In that calculus the only thing we can change are the paradigms that we employ to make our decisions. The only way we can help others is by helping them progressively improve the paradigms and methodologies they have at their disposal and utilize in their decision-making.

We own the responsibility for the paradigms and methodologies we employ. The rest we should accept as the will of the Lord. No-one else can be blamed for what happens to us.

The best methodology to employ is to get good guidance, to be open to transformation, knowing that transformation is the only advancement and is the goal of all activities, and to make a conscious decision to not be a “victim of circumstances”, but rather a “servant of the situation”.

We are where we are as a result of our own choices and the will of the Lord. We can’t choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we respond. In every moment we should accept the situation as just, and ask ourselves the question: “Now, how can I serve?”