What does taking responsibility for your life mean and are you doing that?

1. If you feel victimized or are blaming others for your misfortune and cannot seem to move on, you are NOT   taking responsibility for your life.

• If it happened to you – it BELONGS to you!
• Reality is what is, not what you want it to be.
• What are YOU going to do about it?

   2.  You need to step up and be accountable for all of it.

• It makes no difference if you can or cannot figure out the “why” of something.
• Understanding the why is important in order not to make the same mistakes going forward, but it has nothing to do with whether or not you accept and embrace your life this very moment.
• Accepting “what is”, is the beginning of making the change.

  3.  As a victim, you are powerless to  change your life.

• Sometimes we simply can’t figure out why something happened to us. Regardless, at some point, we have to accept that it did.
• That does not mean we did something wrong or caused it to happen, but simply that it happened to us and we are left with it.
• We can either keep resisting “what is” or we can accept it, work through it, and move on. Only then, do you begin to take your power back.

4. You are accountable for ALL of your life – not just the parts you like or are good at.

• It’s too bad that we cannot pick and choose “what is”, but we can’t.
• The dark side shines as brightly as the light even though sometimes it eludes our natural consciousness.
• At every moment, what is in darkness is coming to light.

5.  If you consciously choose to avoid certain parts of your life, it is like saying “Don’t think of a monkey”. A monkey is all you think about.

In a national competition, Chandra Alexander, MSW, was selected by THE OPRAH MAGAZINE as the Life Coach to deliver a series of coaching sessions to the grand prize winner of their prestigious Toyota Moving Forward contest. She also spent five years on NBC/TV “DAYTIME” giving a weekly “Reality Check”. Chandra has been living and teaching authenticity for the last 30 years and is the founder of Coaching for Authenticity, a place to explore and discover the essence of who you really are.

We all remember how on Seinfeld, George would break up with a lady and use the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line. While that was funny on a sitcom, in real life no one appreciates rejection. Whether it’s from dating, job hunting or a relationship with a friend, no one enjoys rejection. Here are 4tips on dealing with rejection that will end up making you stronger.

Fruitfultime wants you to look at the future. “But instead of concentrating on how bad it feels when someone rejects you think of new possibilities, new doors that will open soon. The new opportunities might be better than what you have aimed before. Having such a mindset helps you handle rejection and keep on going in life.”

Pickthebrain has a list of ways to deal with rejection. The site says that there are a lot of people in the world and rejection is inevitable. ” There are six billion people on this earth. We are all beautiful, unique and different. There are times we are in demand and times we may get rejected. Knowing that rejection is an emotion that many people go through is a reality check! So get over your victim mentality and move on!”

Sometimes, if you handle the rejection well, you may just get rewarded. Lealea’s BlogBlog has a great story of someone passed over for a job, and a few months later received another offer from the company that rejected her in the first place. ” In fact, she revealed that she applied for the same job a few months previous but she was passed over for someone else. Even though she didn’t get that job, she wrote a personal thank-you note to the people involved for considering her and even personally arrived at the office to give them some cookies. The person at reception thought she actually got the job because she was being so nice, when the opposite was true. She was gracious through and through.

… and a few months later, when a contract position opened up in this place, she was immediately called back and subsequently hired. They didn’t have to waste money or time interviewing her all over again — they knew who she was. She didn’t let them forget her because when the first opportunity passed her by, she didn’t hold any grudges and was also very clever in leaving a great impression. ”

That’s awesome.

Dramaquill says that rejection doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a bad person. “ Rejection isn’t a reason to give up. If you get personal comments from an editor, read them and really evaluate if what they say can help you improve the piece before you send it out again.  And rejoice in the fact that the editor took the time to actually comment – that’s a good sign.

Keep your chin up. We all get rejected at one time or another, but pick yourself right back up and get out there and I’m sure that something good will come your way.