"How do we bring ourselves into account?"

How do we bring ourselves into account?"
Answers:One woman tried something new. She always kept a journal which she reviewed periodically to review the growth and struggles of life. This year she decided to try an experiment when she received a new journal from herniece.
On pilgrimage she learned from a member of the Universal House of Justice that we do not bring our negative qualities to the next world but only positive attributes. "
The soul carries with it divine attributes and spiritual qualities to the next world, but cannot take with it bad qualities for badness has no existence of its own; it is only the lack of goodness." (Adib Tahirzadih, The Human Soul, p. 13)

This person had always considered bringing herself to account was to reflect both the positive and negative aspects of the day.
She felt that she was very good at seeing the
negative aspects of herself and thought she would attempt to only write about the positive aspects of bringing herself to account each day.
At first she felt very doubtful, and decided to give this experiment one year to try it out. Two months later, she reflected that each time she reviewed the journal it uplifted her soul.
She perceived how it simplified and purified her attitude when she looked back on past events and how encouraging it was to her spiritual journey.
Focusing on her inner and outer accomplishments now serves as a basis to give her strength to do her service and to validate her own value. She encourages us all to try this.
This quote from Velda Piff Metelmann, Denmark, demonstrates this explicitly."
To bring oneself to account is essentially to find one's strengths, abilities and nobility so that one can value these attributes sufficiently to use them for others. One cannot advance on the spiritual path on one's drawbacks - just as one cannot invest debt for profit. We need to be conscious of ourselves as God's creation - noble beings, capable ofreflecting His Glory - in order to act well. Any set of books that shows only liabilities and does not include assets is useless. Even if, when we evaluate our lives, our faults seem overpowering, still by the grace and mercy of God, we can go forward. Each soul is unique, with a precious, individual point of view, a way of seeing and speaking no other soul can do. If we withhold these inner gifts, it is the whole of mankind - the Cause of God itself - that suffers.
The Cause will triumph without us, but our note in the great orchestra of life will not be sounded."Dorothy Baker, Hand of the Cause of God, said: "I tell myself that one's powers must be turned to creative impulses, not to negativity even of oneself. Lingering on one's frailties is pure egotism." ( Ilona Weinstein,Tending the Garden, p. 84)

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A local 5th grade class has come up with a wonderful way to bring themselves to account each day and to strive to better serve others. The class decided to have each student keep a journal of the good deeds he/she had done. Each day the student would enter something they had done that they considered to be a good deed. The goal of the class was to have many good deeds at the end of the year. Now, mind you, nobody is judging these good deeds - they are private and confidential journals. The children aren't rewarded for quantity or quality of these deeds and nobody isencouraging boastfulness. Each day the students sit down to write in their journals and think about what they did that day. No doubt they are excited about the good things they have done, and disappointed in the opportunites they have missed. Even better, throughout the day they are more conscious of the opportunities that pop up - opportunities to do a good deed. And there is one more thing these students have learned - they feel good about themselves when they serve others. And that makes me feel good, too! Kendra Steel, Topsham, Maine, U.S.A. **********************