The Paradox of Responsibility

The title of this post comes from a section of another blog called Revealing Wisdom written by Anne-Marie Marron. In particular it comes from a post titled Human Heartbreak and Longing.

Here’s the section:
The Paradox of Responsibility:

How do I take responsibility and then let go of responsibility all at the same time?

There is a fine edge between being responsible for creating our life circumstances and surrendering any sense of responsibility. I’m exploring this edge right now as I find my way into creating work that inspires and sustains me. It’s so compelling to be responsible and take every action known to mankind to ‘make things happen’.

The worker part of me just wants to work even if it’s not in alignment with the bigger vision. This keeps me disconnected from the rhythmic flow that appears below the radar and at the center of my heart.

How do we each find our particular edge of balance between taking action and let letting go to see what appears?

I love paradox, and not just paradox, but polarities, apparent opposites that flow into one another. Yin and Yang, Daylight into Night, the Masculine and Feminine. I love the question Anne-Marie puts forth – how to be in that balance of being and doing, resting and working, waiting and pushing forward.

I find myself at this edge, this balance, all the time. Knowing when act and move and progress and push forward; and when to rest, be still, watch, wait, listen. Like a tide or a breath there are stillpoints on either end of the acting and resting. After the inhale is a pause … feel that pause now. Then there’s an exhale and another pause … and soak that one in too. In those pauses is the potential. What will happen next?

In life, it’s the same. After the action and moving, there often comes a natural pause which we must recognize. In that natural pause we look around and using our best judgment, intuition, and listening we decide what’s next, or maybe life decides for us if we don’t listen well. Maybe what’s next is to rest, or maybe it’s to change course. Rest has its own pause, where movement just begins to happen and we decide what’s next. To let the movement grow, or to let it fade.

We need both – the inhale and the exhale – and we need the pauses to invite new possibilities. It’s a lifelong practice of listening and experimenting in every moment.

What choice will we make now?