Why context matters:
Our emotional brains make our decisions through conditioned, patterned responses to triggers and cues. Even when we make a “conscious” choice, our emotional brain is driving the process, because our reasoning supports our underlying values.
What is context:
Everything that is.
Everything that actually happened, including the things that were said which includes of course the stories that were told.
Everything that can be.
What is accountability.
The word accountability comes from counting, from telling the story. Accountability is nothing more than identifying what actually happened and – when we can know – what caused it to happen.
What is not accountability: blame, excuses, defenses. These are the language of helplessness (personal dis-empowerment).
Responsibility.
Responsibility comes naturally from accountability. The word comes from response-able, meaning able to respond effectively. Of course this means responding to what is here now, and to the context which is here now.
The Serenity Prayer
There are a lot of ways to build strength and power in choice. It starts with accepting what is, and then recognizing what we can choose and what we cannot. This simple prayer,
God grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The Courage to change the things I can,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
Elephants and Economics 