To own your actions is a false start: we all justify our actions.

“I was fooled. I was angry. I had to do it or else worse things would have happened. I did it to protect others. It was in my nature. It was right. I believed.”

After seeing the destruction spread from your actions, the temptation is to 1) not act anymore or 2) to overreact in the opposing direction.

Reasoning, while helpful, has the danger of 1) creating excuses and 2) solidifying the burden into motivating purpose.

The issue of owning what you do is the chain of responsibility that can weigh you down, warping your nature. Beyond owning our actions and learning from them, we must also be able to disown them (negate their influence).

partial idea from James Islington