Imagine the following scenario: A woman buys her lunch every day from a fast food outlet near her job. After some years, she finds herself 30 pounds overweight, and feeling unhealthy and lethargic. So what does she do? She chooses to bring a lawsuit against the fast food outlet, claiming that the food served there was the cause of her being overweight and in poor health.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? The only thing more absurd than the story itself is the fact that it is not fiction. There are people who have sued fast food chains for causing their weight problems.

This is an example of one of the ways in which many of us spend enormous amounts of energy trying to deny the undeniable and universal fact that we are all ultimately responsible for our own choices and our own lives.

How much easier would we make it for ourselves if we could accept this fact rather than resist it? But how can we embrace the truth: that we are living the lives we choose to live, that we are enjoying or suffering the consequences of our own choices, and that blaming others for our problems and shortcomings is nothing more than a comfortable fantasy?

We must acknowledge the truth of our lives, however unpleasant this may be. If we are overweight, in a bad relationship, in a dead-end job, we need to accept that this is where we are, at this moment in time.

If we don't accept the truth of our situation, it will be impossible to figure out how we arrived in this place where we do not want to be. And there is usually only one reason: We made choices, and these choices were based on our thought patterns at the time that we made them.

The good news is that our thinking and our choices are changeable. Nothing is set in stone! There is time to right the wrongs.

We have a responsibility to ourselves and to the world to stop blaming those around us and start looking inside ourselves for the answers. Yet changing our thinking is only the first step.

Once we have mastered the art of positive, creative consciousness, we have the ability to make choices and choose actions that will enhance our lives and bring us closer to our purpose and destiny.

Imagine that a woman decided that she was unhappy with the extra pounds she'd gained after many years of eating fast food on a regular basis. Imagine that this woman took the time to really understand and accept that she – and no one else – was responsible for her eating choices. Having acknowledged this fact, she then decides to make the changes in her lifestyle to become the healthier, slimmer person she wants to be.

Instead of looking to blame someone or something else, she's now chosen to make the changes necessary in her thoughts and actions to create the life they want.

It is not an easy road, but it is the only worthwhile path to take. Personal growth depends on taking responsibility for your life, no matter how good (or bad) it may seem.