MY RESPONSIBLE JOURNEY by FAROUK A. E. UHLEME
Farouk has been part of THE RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL process since October 2008. He is today a valued member of the Responsibility Coach Student Team within Goodwood Medium Prison and it is such a great privilege for all of us to work hand in hand with him!
He is one of the first coach students to have an official (DCS staff) as a test client. Very exciting as this truly shows a door opening to availing oneself as a student regardless of the circumstances of life... in this case an offender offering guidance to a case officer.
MY RESPONSIBLE JOURNEY
My mentor, Karina Andersen, wrote in the introduction of her book ‘The Responsible Individual’ I quote: “The journey of responsibility is about taking ownership. It is about understanding with all of your being, that absolutely nobody holds the answer but you. The moment we can embrace this, it will be given”
I really do not think nor feel that there is a better meaning to be given to the concept of a responsible journey than the above. However, that is her truth and we all have our own truths.
What then is my truth on this concept of responsibility?
My truth is that I am part of a world that pulses with consciousness. A door is being opened to this great reality and it behoves me to enter as a Being freed from fear and filled with love. This is my responsibility. This is my truth.
I wake up each day, open to the emptiness of my Being. I know nothing. Understanding that my very first thought, feeling and deed determines my experience.
Long before now and in my learning times, I am still learning. I have often been blindsided by different events and experiences in my life, and I tend to rely on old coping skills because the root of the established pattern of this behaviour is part of my emotional strategizing from very early on. It seem that these responses are hardwired into me and they offered themselves as the first-line of defence in whatever way I chose to use these coping mechanisms to move past the painful or challenging experiences in my life. This was my pattern.
It is so fulfilling, how it has been possible for me to suspend judgement of each and every experience and encounter. The possibility of this can perhaps be attributed to or through silencing the chatter (noise) inside, allowing for the experience of whatever it is to grow me responsibly.
I also listen to the continual backdrop of noise inside and outside of me so as to come to a place of awareness - of finding meaning and giving value.
Today every new breath I take reminds me of my place and my relationship with this beautiful planet I call home - a part of the puzzle, uniqueness in the whole. Every new breath I take provides me with a deep respect and love of life and for all other of its inhabitants. Moving from within, reminding me of my place in humanity to fulfil my destiny as a heart-centred light being. This is my responsibility. This is my journey.
In my journey of responsibility I have learnt that challenges are my mirrors and are there to guide me, to allow me to access those areas in my life I have always dreaded accessing, to attend to areas in my life that I have been blindsided to.
I have learnt that a responsible journey is not one of a determined destination but one of embracing every single moment in its richness, of finding meaning in every single experience.
I have learnt to impart richness to each and every experience I have. I have learnt to re-activate my appreciation of the small things, the seemingly irrelevant details of living. I have learnt to turn each moment into a jewel, one that reflects my light in a myriad of ways. I have come to understand that I am the essence of pure perfection...
This is my responsibility. This is my journey. My truth.
