H.A.L.T.

H.A.L.T.

Lately, I haven’t been thinking a lot about my goals. That’s okay, I have ‘em and there is probably time. Instead, I have been thinking about my commitments. One of the reasons is because my physical well-being has been so in my face lately, my spoons of NRG have changed so much, and I am finding that I just don’t give a rip about some stuff that matters when I feel differently.

Huh.

Some of my intentions have stayed strong. My intention to be present and aware. My intention for personal growth. My intention to positivity. My intention to teach. My intention to enjoy peace at my core. No trouble with those. They are pretty much habits now.

At the same time I am finding myself going through periods of feeling crummy. It may be queasiness, or muscle stuff, or apathy-inducing fatigue, or several other rather unpleasant experiences. This is the time for my commitments to shine. While I am making sure to get good rest, I also have cause to be up and at ‘em for at least several hours a day. Sometimes I will notice that I am all hunched over. Usually I am also, then, feeling down to go with the posture.

Why do I choose to be positive? Why do I choose to look at the bright side? How does my positivity serve me?

One of the things I am bringing a commitment to is my posture. When I am hunch-y, I feel hunch-y, crunchy, down in the mouth, and I notice every little thing that feels off or bad.

When I shift my posture to an uplifted stance I feel better. It is easier to notice what feels good. I can commit to feeling good even when I feel crummy. Good is relative in a bunch of ways. Instead of thinking, “Gah, I feel so crappy.” I can choose to ask, “How do I feel good today?” and shower my mind and body with a good Creative Question. It is a simple, mechanical fix that works.

When I am feeling crummy day after day, I can let it become a feature of my internal landscape, a new set-point so to speak, and riff off of that point. Maybe I don’t feel great compared to my pre-cancer days, but I can feel great relative to yesterday. Or this morning.

How do I choose to feel good? How am I healthy? What makes me resilient?

I can be aware of my posture, and remember that “upright and relaxed” will always improve my sense of well-being. If it’s available, getting sunshine in my eyes will also help, and often requires looking up. I don’t mean stare at the sun, but I do mean let it shine on your face, and indirectly flood your eyes.

I can remember the phrase, “H.A.L.T.” or “Never let yourself get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.” Any one of those can bring us down, and a combination of them can be devastating.

If my discomfort is being particularly annoying, getting into my head is a good way to take a break. A good book, or movie, or puzzle, or chat about anything other than how I’m feeling,  will often distract me enough so that I stop feeding the discomfort attention, which makes it stronger.

Being committed to things makes us creative, especially when our commitment is challenged. That creativity can often help us grow emotionally, giving us more confidence, a stronger sense of capability, a sense of being competent.

How have I changed from focusing on what I don’t want to making commitments for what I do want?

© Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 10142014

Acting As If

Acting As If

The commitment card came up again this morning. When they are showing up close like that, I usually take it as an opportunity to delve deeper into what these particular Creative Questions can bring us. In this case, I want to look at our emo-habits and commitments.

We know we have a big ol’ emo-habit cookin’ when we say, “That’s just the way I am.”

We are never “just that way.” We are in a constant state of flux. Our bodies are constantly renewing on a cellular level, We are growing stuff like hair, nails, skin. We are having new experiences, even if we feel like we are in a rut. Each encounter is new, each interaction has potential to go in other directions.

What we are saying when we say, “That’s just the way I am,” is that this is what I am committed to, irrespective of whether it supports me.

“But, but, but...” I hear you say. The point is, do you believe that a person can change how they think, or not?

Why can I choose? What makes me explore my own self? How do I decide?

Sometimes we think that it is easier to stay as we are, or as we think we are. We consider ourselves, then, almost as two-dimensional beings, without depth, without free will. We may feel like our circumstances have us trapped in a life we don’t particularly like.

Somewhere inside we know that we do have free will, and that we feel like we have somehow traded it in for familiarity, because abandoning our free will for status quo is rarely a barter we make for joy or fun or peace. Sometimes we feel as though changing our perceived status quo would create such upheaval that we are afraid to try.

And so we commit to living a life of sorrow, or misery, or fear. We bring to bear all the amazing skills and creativity and resources we have to maintaining thought patterns and habits that bring us down, keep us small, hold us in. Poor we.

We decide that other people are different from us. That the people who create positive change in their lives have some mysterious thing in their character that we don’t have, that we have a fatal flaw that holds us back.

All we have is a strong commitment, based on beliefs, which are just ideas we give credence to.

What am I committed to? Where do I put my energy? What do I believe of me?

Sometimes we need to decide that we will act as if. Act as if we deserve better, act as if we are worth it, act as if we matter. This can be a surprising effective thing, acting as if. When we do this, we access more resourceful parts of ourselves, and can find new strength, new vigor, new abilities, even.

How have I changed from feeling trapped to committing to living my life?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 08142014

Assessments

Assessments

Lately I have been paying a lot of attention to where I am committed. I used to wonder about that, until I came to recognize that all I had to do was look at my life. I have put together a list of questions that I use. Some are Creative Questions, some are for information gathering. I tend not to use them all at once, but to look at one or two from time to time, especially if I am not feeling all that on track.

Have I chosen to take responsibility for my life? Do I recognize that I am living the perfect life for where I am right now? Do I own that? Do I own that I am responsible for how I feel, for what I do, for where I am?

How do I feel? Am I peaceful? Am I content? Am I happy? Do I feel like I can choose? Have I changed from letting bad feelings run the show to choosing to feel good? Do I feel like I am living my natural life of easy and fun?

How do I occupy my time? Do I feel productive at the end of the day? Do I feel accomplished? Do I feel like I have made good choices? Have I changed from feeling like I waste a lot of time to deciding what I am doing?

Who do I spend time with? Do I feel a mutual support? Do I feel like we are working together? Do I feel challenged in a positive way? Have I changed from having friends I don’t like to being thrilled with the people I love?

How do I take care of myself? Do I feed me well and often enough? Do I drink enough? Do I enjoy moving my body every day? Do I get enough rest? Do I address my spiritual, financial, and social needs? Have I changed from putting myself last to being sure I am in good standing with me?

How do I feel in my environments? Am I comfortable? Do I feel peaceful? Is my space one that brings me joy? Have I changed from hating where I live/work/play to loving my environments?

How do I take care with my loved ones? Do I pay attention to them? Do I listen and remember what they tell me? Do I help and support them as I can? Have I changed from feeling annoyed by them to finding compassion and patience?

Have I set myself measurable goals? Do I spend  time on them regularly? Are they meaningful to me? Do I count my small successes as well as the big ones, and let myself feel successful? Have I changed from ignoring my accomplishments to savoring my good feelings?

Do I practice being aware of me, my stuff, my surroundings? Have I slowed down enough to keep track of my possessions like my car, keys, wallet and cellphone? Do I pay attention to my promises? Am I mindful of my actions? Do I notice when I am feeling distracted and pull myself back? Do I give myself some time to think?

Giving myself a little time from time to time to think about these things helps me move forward. It is especially useful for me if I am feeling stuck. I tend not to look at more than one or two at a time because if I do the whole thing I will often choose to beat myself up for being such a suck. May you find them useful.

How have I changed from being committed to things that do not support me to enjoying my best efforts?

(c) Pam 2014 all rights reserved 08032014

How to Commit

How to Commit

I’ve talked about our superpowers before. Superpowers are what we get when we pay some attention, and do a little cultivation, with some basic life skills. For example, our creativity gets more accessible, more limber, when we use it every day. Likewise, our ability to make good decisions improves as we practice deciding. And our decision superpower goes hand in hand with developing our intuition, which is just learning to listen to our belly brains. There is a ton of information processed there, and fast, so practicing our skills in reading that information will serve us well.

Why can I choose, What makes me decide? Why can I trust my gut?

All our superpowers are awesome, and make our lives easier, including our superpower of commitment.

Oh, baby, that’s a big one. The most amazing things have happened as the result of making a commitment.

When we make a commitment from the heart, we are insisting that the universe align in our favor. The universe, our universe, likes to align in our favor. It likes to give us what we really want. It may take a while, it may happen in an instant, but for the most part, what we are really committed to, we will achieve.

Why do I commit? What makes me choose? Why do I own my commitments?

When I look at my life, I see my commitments. Am I committed to peace or chaos? Am I committed to celebration or condemnation? Am I committed to anger and fear or the flow of life? Am I committed to owning my power, or being a victim? I need to look at the direction I’m moving in, not the static situation. Am I committed to making things better? To making the best of my circumstances? To enjoying my life as it is?

How is the present moment perfect? What makes me enjoy the now? How do I commit?

Commitment makes things happen. It focuses our energy, and give purpose to our activity. Before we start to cultivate our commitment, we may find ourselves committed to the strangest things; how many waking hours can I spend in my soft addictions, like TV, video games, computer time, over-exercising, chatting, and whatever your favorites are.

When I am not accomplishing the stuff I think I want to do, I am committed elsewhere. My unconscious mind, that seething mass of secret, wacky material, will make my commitments for me if I don’t make them for myself. That’s how I end up eating a big bag of chips in a day, or having food corrupting in my fridge. This kind of commitment is not our superpower. I have to choose my commitments to make that happen/

What am I committed to? Why do I choose my commitments? What makes me decide?

I cannot commit without goals. A goal is a dream with a plan and a due date.

A trip, a degree, a book, a new look in my home, a new habit, a new friend, a deepened friendship, a savings account, a new hobby; there are a thousand thousand things we can choose to commit to.

How have I change from committing to things I don’t want to choosing my commitments?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 05262014

I Should Be Committed

I Should Be Committed

Here’s a wacky thing to try. Look at your life to see what you are committed to.

Really.

The way our lives go show us where our commitments lie. The longer you’ve had a particular situation going, the deeper your commitment.

Are you committed to abundance, or paucity? Happiness or misery? Clarity or confusion? Well being or suffering? Lovely relationships, or trying, difficult ones?

This is a key that will help us open the door to more freedom.

Really.

I’ve got a nice example for you. For years I wanted to be a writer. I wrote a lot, but it was mostly entries in my journal about how depressed I was, what a failure I was. I wrote several awful novels, short stories, and poetry. I had several columns that ran in local papers for a while. I struggled and struggled. I was deeply committed not to writing, as I thought, but to failing as a writer. It was clear from what I was doing.

Then I made a commitment to write my truth to you, to share the wisdom that I’ve channeled, or learned, or something, and to write it out in small chunks, in clear language, with specific how-to type instruction, so that you could try it, too.  And to reinforce my choosing to live my glorious, natural life to the best of my ability.

Lo! My commitment to that has resulted in my writing to you every day for over a year. I wake up looking forward to my meditation on pulling the Creative Questions card that will best serve us today, Then, I contemplate the card until I find some point of resonance, then I write, then I publish.

I am regularly amazed that I have done this every day. It doesn’t matter how I feel, I just do it because I am committed.

I now have many such places, where my commitment was to horrible crap I hated, that made living my life super challenging and ugly, and I took responsibility for that commitment, changed it and got almost instant results.

Weird, huh.

I was committed to misery, to finding anything I could to make me miserable.  There was not a silver lining for which I couldn’t find a cloud.

Now I am committed to happiness. That means, for example, when I wake up feeling like, uh, heck, I find reasons for why my life in the moment is sweet, I make minor course corrections, and usually within less than an hour, I’ve got my cheery back.

How have I changed from being committed to a life I hate to committing to a life I love?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 01242014