While it may sound like some
cryptic Eastern wisdom, this
concept is actually pretty simple. You can take responsibility for something, and, in doing so, lessen the burden of it. Simply the act of acknowledging your share of the
blame (whether you think you've done wrong or not) reduces the
onus laid upon you. Not only is it seen as a
mature and
virtuous thing to do, but you also trivialize the implication when you readily accept it instead of vehemently denying the
burden, i. e. making it seem less
important.
Your own
thoughts,
feelings, and
moods have a
conscious and
subconscious effect on others'
perception of reality. You give off subtle
hints all the time without even noticing,
hints that other people pick up on, perhaps even without their conscious
knowledge, experiencing them as
feelings or
intuition. Ergo, your own
perception of reality influences
others.
Behold the demonstrative hypothetical situation!
Billy, a 17 year-old high-school student in upper middle-class suburban America discovers his parents are going out of town on business. You've most likely heard, experienced, and seen in movies thousands of similiar scenarios. One aspect in particular of Billy's domestic desecration is significant to this story. Billy's parents, being affluent, suburban yuppies, have a large collection of expensive virgin wine bottles who've never experienced the tender touch of a corkscrew. Billy and his friends gleefully deflower some of the bottles, throw aside their wooden hymens, and gloriously liberate the libations within.
This scenario repeats itself about three or four times before Billy's parents discover, to their horror, that their collection of liquid trophies has diminished rapidly within the past few months. As they're sitting in the den, gesturing toward the empty slots in their wine rack (now resembling the gap-toothed smile of an eight year-old) and discussing the fate of the alcohol, about which they've hypothesized correctly, (they're not very observant, but they're also not entirely obtuse) Billy happens to walk through the room on his way to the kitchen. His mother, with a fire in her eyes like a young star's birth, locks her gaze on Billy, her head swiveling, and the following conversation ensues:
Mom: (very stern) Billy! Have you been drinking our wine!?
Billy: (continues walking as he speaks non-chalantly) Yup.
Mom: (at a complete loss, stares for a moment into empty space, the raging star in her eyes takes this opportunity to doubt it's existence and it winks out like a dying flashlight. She recovers her ground after Billy has left the room) Get back here!
(After a brief conversation, Billy manages to soothe his
parents and goes on to lead a great
life and win lots of
money and
prizes.)
Billy, by taking
direct responsibility for his actions, not only threw his
wrathful mother off guard, but he also saved himself the
tedium of lying and or making excuses which usually serve only to make situations like this worse. (
your mother knows when you're lying) Not only that, but by astonishing his parents with behavior they didn't expect, he removed the focus of their immediate thoughts from the vacant space in their wine rack and focused it on his current behavior.
When you simply accept responsibility like this, you take a blow, but you pop the
balloon instead of swelling it. It's like someone is attempting to
beat the shit out of you with a
2x4 and you give them a
gun with no bullets and run away.