[et_pb_section admin_label=\u201dsection\u201d background_image=\u201dhttp:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Morning-Meditation.jpg\u201d transparent_background=\u201doff\u201d allow_player_pause=\u201doff\u201d inner_shadow=\u201doff\u201d parallax=\u201doff\u201d parallax_method=\u201doff\u201d custom_padding=\u201d40px|40px\u201d padding_mobile=\u201doff\u201d make_fullwidth=\u201doff\u201d use_custom_width=\u201doff\u201d width_unit=\u201don\u201d make_equal=\u201doff\u201d use_custom_gutter=\u201doff\u201d][et_pb_row admin_label=\u201drow\u201d make_fullwidth=\u201don\u201d use_custom_width=\u201doff\u201d width_unit=\u201doff\u201d custom_width_percent=\u201d82%\u201d use_custom_gutter=\u201doff\u201d padding_mobile=\u201doff\u201d allow_player_pause=\u201doff\u201d parallax=\u201doff\u201d parallax_method=\u201doff\u201d make_equal=\u201doff\u201d column_padding_mobile=\u201don\u201d custom_padding=\u201d30px|30px\u201d][et_pb_column type=\u201d4_4\u2033][et_pb_blurb admin_label=\u201dBlurb\u201d title=\u201dThe Fifth Pathway To Unconditional Love\u201d url_new_window=\u201doff\u201d use_icon=\u201doff\u201d icon_color=\u201d#000066\u2033 use_circle=\u201doff\u201d circle_color=\u201d#000066\u2033 use_circle_border=\u201doff\u201d circle_border_color=\u201d#000066\u2033 icon_placement=\u201dtop\u201d animation=\u201dtop\u201d background_layout=\u201dlight\u201d text_orientation=\u201dleft\u201d use_icon_font_size=\u201doff\u201d use_border_color=\u201doff\u201d border_color=\u201d#ffffff\u201d border_style=\u201dsolid\u201d header_font=\u201dHappy Monkey|on|||\u201d header_font_size=\u201d28\u2033 header_text_color=\u201d#000066\u2033 body_font_size=\u201d18\u2033 header_line_height=\u201d1.4em\u201d body_text_color=\u201d#000066\u2033]<\/p>\n
by Gregg Sanderson<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I take full responsibility here and now for everything I experience, for it is my own\u00a0programming that creates my actions and also influences the reactions of people around me. ~ Ken Keyes, Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n *******<\/em><\/p>\n And we also have:<\/p>\n Two Roads diverged in a wood and I \u2013 I took the one less traveled by,\u00a0and that has made all the difference. ~\u00a0<\/em>Robert Frost<\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n There are few roads less traveled today, than the Fifth Pathway from the Handbook To Higher Consciousness. \u00a0The Fifth Pathway gives us good news and bad news:<\/p>\n The good news:\u00a0I, and only I, have the power to determine how I experience any given situation.<\/p>\n The bad news:\u00a0I, and only I, have the power to determine how I experience any given situation.<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t equate responsibility with blame.\u00a0 We consider it as simply the ability to respond, and blame as the tool of the self-righteous when they try to avoid responsibility.\u00a0 The two are mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n Yet it appears that our society is all about blame.\u00a0 Take this scenario, from a jillion country songs: I saw you with somebody else. I got jealous, acted like a jerk, and I\u2019m miserable without you.<\/p>\n In other words, \u201cI have a mental picture of how you should be.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t fit it and I got jealous. Now you left, I\u2019m miserable, and it\u2019s all your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, you were just being you.<\/p>\n I take full responsibility here and now for everything I experience\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n What Responsibility would say is, \u201cI have a mental picture of how you should be.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t fit it, but I can change the picture to include you the way you are.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2026for it is my own programming that creates my actions and also influences the reactions of people around me.<\/em><\/p>\n If I change the picture I might not be jealous, and your reaction might be different.<\/p>\n Either way, you\u2019re just being you.<\/p>\n The obvious question is, \u201cHow do I change those pictures?\u201d\u00a0 One way is to bring your consciousness into harmony with the Twelve Pathways.<\/p>\n Many of the messages we get from society are about blaming. Mark Twain nailed it when he said, \u201cNothing so needs reforming as other people\u2019s habits.\u201d\u00a0 How can anybody win with attitudes like that?<\/p>\n I believe the mental cause of most of the world\u2019s troubles today is the need to be right, and the corollary, to make everybody else wrong. I sum it up in one of my yet-to-be-famous acronyms.<\/p>\n RAMBO<\/strong>:\u00a0R<\/strong>ighteousness\u00a0A<\/strong>lways\u00a0M<\/strong>anages to\u00a0B<\/strong>lame\u00a0O<\/strong>thers.<\/p>\n Like the fictional hero, self-righteousness shows up with guns a-blazing for any who dare question it.\u00a0 This is so in the world; this is so in society; and it\u2019s so in interpersonal relationships.<\/p>\n Think of Christmas time when relatives come to visit with their children, habits, and opinions.\u00a0 It\u2019s often a rampage of righteousness, and\u00a0 a perfect chance to practice the fifth pathway\u2026 and all the others, too.<\/p>\n Did it bother you when I said \u201cChristmas\u201d instead of \u201cholidays\u201d above? Did you feel the need to correct me, or cancel your subscription?\u00a0 Congratulations!\u00a0 You just got your first opportunity to use the fifth pathway.<\/p>\n Whenever you have the urge to get even or project blame for your upset, it\u2019s a signal that you have programming that you can change.<\/p>\n Some people carry self-righteousness to the extreme.\u00a0 They claim virtue when they blame people they don\u2019t know for the suffering (real or imagined) of other people they don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Can you imagine anybody silly enough to do something like that?<\/p>\n Oh, wait\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Gregg Sanderson I take full responsibility here and now for everything I experience, for it is my own\u00a0programming that creates my actions and also influences the reactions of people around me. ~ Ken Keyes, Jr. ******* And we also have: Two Roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[9,16,17,25],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-the-love-collection","tag-emotions","tag-lifestyle","tag-love","tag-relationships","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritwithasmile.com\/MS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}