Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits asks a good question today: How Can You Take More Responsibility Over Your Own Actions?

It’s a good question and worthy of some discussion, specifically how can you take responsibility for your actions in your marriage?

It’s easy, especially in the heat of an argument, to want to blame whatever is wrong with your marriage on your spouse. After all, they started it, right?

Tell me if any of these sound familiar:

- You got into a huge fight over which way the toothpaste should be squeezed. Personally, I’ve always said it should be squeezed from the bottom up - anyone who doesn’t agree is a lazy slob.

- The kid(s) whine(s) all the time. If your spouse wasn’t such a nag or didn’t whine so much themselves, then you wouldn’t have to hear it all the time.

- The fact that you have to do all of the work in regards to paying bills and budgeting really irritates you, but your spouse has no follow through, so you’re stuck with it.

Now, in all actuality, these situations can be completely different if you take personal responsibility for what you can change, and what you cannot. Even if you can’t change anything about the situation, you can change your attitude.

I’m not going to give recommendations on how I would change these situations. Instead, I invite you to comment yourself.