You alone are responsible for the quality of your life’s journey.

No one really wants to hear or think about the truth in this statement, yet it’s a reality that brings us all such grief and pain when we don’t embrace it -- “You alone are responsible for the quality of your life’s journey.” I know where your mind might have gone when you read this, but hear me out. Did you think to yourself:

• No, if it wasn’t for how my parents raised me, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now.

• No, my husband/wife treated me badly, left me for someone else, and caused me such pain.

• No, I loved my child, gave them everything they needed, yet they mistreated me.

• No, I have put in countless hours at my job, going above and beyond, yet still there’s no respect from management.

Every one of us could blame someone for the quality of our lives. Someone who hurt us, lied to us, stole from us, took advantage of us, let us down. But if we let ourselves get caught up blaming others for our position in life, we stop growing and advancing on our spiritual paths. We’re too busy looking *behind* us in anger or hurt to see the joy our future will bring if we can practice the Power of Surrender and truly let go of the loss, pain, suffering, and unfairness of the situation.

If we can’t surrender, we stay stuck in the past. The quality of our life’s journey is halted as we are consumed regularly by continuing (and possibly misperceived) injustices and mistreatment. When we live in the energy of injustices and mistreatment, everything starts to look like “yet another injustice” because we’re already so emotionally tied to our own injustice story. Anything anyone does reflects as another attack, let down, or fearful experience. Instead of feeling empowered in our lives, we start to feel like the victim of another unfairness or betrayal. Please know that I speak from experience – big, giant experiences of hurt, failure, lies, betrayals, letdowns, and loss.

BUT THEN I LEARNED … I took charge of my life’s journey. How? I realized that almost EVERY – SINGLE – ACTION I was hurt or angry about was brought on by a choice I made. Should I have been punished so painfully for making a wrong turn or poor decision? I can honestly say probably not – yet, I made the choices that put me in hurtful situations. Through my own growth process, I learned that I had to take responsibility for whatever fallout came from those decisions. A choice to marry someone, take a specific job, spend money foolishly, or take a step that was not more carefully thought through. We all have lives filled with decisions we’ve made – some good, some not-so-good – but each decision brought us to where we are today. These decisions molded and formed us into who we are right now, but when observed in hindsight, we can see the tremendous personal growth we have gone through.

Of course, there are many injustices that have nothing to do with a poor decision we made. Experiences where life seemed to put us in the eye of the storm. A storm we didn’t ask for or deserve. I, too, have had these experiences. Whether your injustice or betrayal was based on an action you mistakenly took or a circumstance you happened to be thrown into, the direction out of this cycle of hurt and pain is the same.

There is a really important innate Power we all possess if we dig deep. It’s the Power of Allowing. This means that we allow all events – good or bad – to happen in our lives with the understanding at our deepest level that each event had a specific purpose that needed to play out in order to bring us to the next step on our spiritual path. Having the Power of Allowing means that we accept the decisions we’ve made (or have been made erroneously for us) – good and bad -- and try not to regret, knowing that each seemingly wrong move was the Divine's correction in our life to a more authentic path. A seemingly wrong move may have actually been the right move toward aligning us on the path we needed to be on. A path that brings us closer to our true self and fulfillment of the goals we desire in our lives.

Unfortunate circumstances, poor decisions, and wrong moves are part of the game of life. It’s *how we surrender to the experience and move forward* that brings us the quality of our life’s journey. By practicing the Powers of Intent, I AM, Thought, Surrender, Allowing, Perception, Trust, Emotion, Prayer, and Gratitude we can pull off these hurtful layers, crush the injustices by allowing them to flow away from us (because we can see them for what they are), and grab hold of a positive, joyful future no longer noosed by past hurts.

BUT MOST OF ALL, practice the Power of Forgiveness by forgiving yourself for missteps knowing deep down that these detours were all part of the amazing soul you are becoming. Forgive yourself for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Forgive yourself if you feel that you allowed a negative situation to happen. Freeing yourself from a misstep or poor decision is the answer to opening up to the awareness of all the blessings in your life as well as making room in your heart and life for Divine Presence to bring you more for which to be grateful.

This blog is based on the awareness of our 21 innate Powers. Learn more: www.amarahoneck.com/creative-meditation-and-manifestation

Namaste – Amara