Accountability, when you’re young, can be just a word, something seemingly harmless. However, when you’re an adult, and you begin understanding what accountability actually means on a much deeper level, it can become scary. Accountability makes you responsible. It makes you liable. It means that you must stand by your words and actions—which for many can be hard, which can also make it scary. No one wants to fail. Most people don’t want to be responsible for project failures at work, or for the mistakes they could make in life that they won’t see coming.

But part of what I’ve found so liberating about becoming an adult is finding conviction in my decisions, being proud of the work I put out there, and accepting accountability for it. I consider it a solid rule that if you are unable to proudly stand behind your words, work, and actions, then you shouldn’t do them. I’ve learned the beauty and strength in having the confidence to be myself. This means being proud of my thoughts and actions. And if I’m not, if it’s not something I’d feel comfortable putting out there to the world, then I won’t do it. (I’m not talking about mistakes. We all make mistakes, and that’s okay.) I’m talking about the moments that really matter and the goals we set for ourselves.

In other words, accountability is one of my new life mantras. Getting past the fear of standing behind your actions should be, in my opinion, a pivotal part of growing up and becoming a responsible adult. And an important part of facing accountability head on is knowing your true self. No one has complete and total self awareness, but we can always get to know ourselves better. For me, like with most other things, it comes back to meditation. For me, meditation is one of the greatest ways to gain self awareness and therefore face accountability head on. Perhaps, if you’re truly afraid of accountability or if you’d like to gain courage to face it, making it your mantra or goal for an entire Monroe program would be a good idea. If not, it’s always something you can work on at home for fifteen minutes or so every other day for a while.

But part of what I’ve found so liberating about becoming an adult is finding conviction in my decisions, being proud of the work I put out there, and accepting accountability for it.

In fact, I love and rely on meditation because it does generally make me comfortable with myself. In order to gravitate more towards accountability, I simply begin meditating with the intention of knowing myself better and getting comfortable with who I am. I’ll set that intention for several weeks as I learn more about myself and become fully comfortable with my goals, intentions and desires. And when it seems relevant, I’ll make a list of my overall goals I’d like to achieve—things I’d be proud to put out there—and I’ll begin working towards them in life. The more we know ourselves and what we want, the easier it is to be accountable for the actions we take to get there. And better knowing who we are can help us stand behind our words and beliefs.

I fully believe that long-term meditation with clear goals can make us all better, more aware, and more connected people. I believe that being able to accept accountability in life is a large part of this. If this speaks to you, I encourage you to try out a Monroe program in the near future with a goal of accepting more accountability for your life and learning more about your total self. You may very well be surprised by the amount of meditational breakthroughs this brings you.