“How am I complicit in creating the conditions I say I don’t want?” Jerry Colonna from Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up
This quote shows up periodically on Linked In, and a google search yields many hits, often blogs or podcasts dedicated to the question. This idea is part of Step Four of 12-Step recovery programs: “Made a Searching and fearless Moral inventory of ourselves.” The Bible has numerous references to looking at ourselves with “sober judgment”. Whatever words we chose to express this idea, it is a powerful question that can stop us in our tracks. What parts of what "happens to us” do we own? How often are we truly willing to consider our part in what is “bad” in our lives?
I love the question, yet it is the second part of the authors question I like more. “And what am I willing to give up to stop being complicit?” This part is often overlooked. In fact a Google search on that yields only a multitude of hits focused on the word complicity. But what is introspection good for if not put to use? That’s what I love about the second part. It gets at the notion that we have patterns of behavior and habits that have contributed to where we are in life. Habits and behaviors are not innate – they can be changed. This idea gets us moving and encourages us to own our part in our lives.
What are you willing to give up to stop being complicit?
- Author
WouterRietsema
