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

Committing to Choice

Committing to Choice

The commitment card came up again today. Yeah, commitment. Where do I put my energy and efforts?

I love looking at semantics, my own because of the power they have to flip me this way or that, and ours to see what burns us, and what spurs us.

I used to be into “self-help” because I felt too damaged to wanna go public with needing help. I know, it was pretty sad. Now, the phrase I like is “personal growth” and get help all over the place.

I’ve learned to look around me to see what my commitments are. I’ve learned to pay attention to my tiny choices, you know the ones that, baby step by baby step, take you away from your good intentions until you can’t figure out how you got where you are, or how to get back.

Tiny choices.

We start the moment we wake up, before we open our eyes, we often have a thought, make a choice, about how we are going to address our day. The crazy thing is, that thought is often both unconscious and a habit. I think that’s amazing, for all our love of the idea of freedom.

I will never be free while I am enslaved by my unconscious habit thoughts. As long as I have thoughts that say life is hard, or I can’t, or I’m not enough, or things don’t go my way, or whatever my favorites happen to be, I’m subject to the whims and fancies of my unconscious mind.  

When I start my morning with a Creative Question like, “Why would I have a good day?” I get my unconscious mind thinking on something new and supportive. If I continue to ask variations on that Question as I go  through my morning routine, I start looking for ways that I’m having a good day. Chances are, those things were there, but since I was focused on my bad day, I didn’t count ‘em. Maybe I didn’t even see them.

When I was first getting started, I had Creative Questions posted all over the place. I wrote them on my bathroom mirror in eyebrow pencil, I put them on sticky notes and put ‘em by the door to see when I left the house, on the dashboard of the car, on my monitor at work.

And I wrote them out. Well, I still do that. Why do I, Pam, have a good day? Why do you, Pam, have a good day? Why does she, Pam, have a good day? How do I, Pam, have a good day? And so on.

Tiny choices.

Why do I choose my commitments? Why do I choose my attitude? How do I choose my state of mind?

We like to think that our moods, our state of mind, is somehow not in our control. That it’s because we had a bad day, or we are in a challenging relationship, or something else outside of us. When I make the commitment to take responsibility for my emotional well-being, I can choose to start feeling better.

How have I changed from feeling buffeted from feeling like I am at the helm of my emotional boat?

(c) 2014 Pam Guthrie all rights reserved 01262014

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We Should Be Committed

We Should Be Committed

I’m gonna lay some powerful stuff on you today, my dear. It’s about commitment. It’s not what you think.

It’s not what I thought.

In the dark ages, I felt adrift and lost. I felt aimless, and crazy, and miserable. I felt like I was a great, disgusting bag of nasty, and that, among all the other faults I had, I couldn’t commit to anything.

Boyoboy, was I wrong.

I was super committed. I just didn’t count it.

I didn’t count it because who would be crazy enough to committed to living a life of misery? Uh, me. I was so committed, I devoted hours every single day. At the same time, if you had told me you thought I was committed to misery I would have been, you guessed it, miserable. Plus, I would have hated you for saying that to me, and that would have made me miserable.

All that commitment. Wowzers. If I put all that energy into living a nice life? Oh, wait. I do. I am. What a difference the right commitment can make.

We are all committed to something. If you wonder what you are committed to, look at your life. Are you committed to stress, or peace? Are you committed to satisfaction or complaining? Are you committed to having a good day, or slogging through a crap day.

Why is it just that easy?

When I am committed to stress, I talk about how stressed I am, I look for stress-relief, I practice stress, I try to de-stress. When I am committed to peace, I talk about feeling peaceful, I talk about how nice feeling peaceful is, I look for moments in the day to connect with my peaceful core, I practice staying peaceful in interesting circumstances.

When I am committed to complaining, I seek faults and weaknesses. I look forward to spending time with my bitch-buddies to complain with them. I feel a surge when I get something good to complain about. When I am committed to satisfaction, I seek solutions and resolutions. I look forward to sharing my successes with my successful friends. I feel accomplished in some way every day.

When I am committed to slogging through a crap day, I feel awful when I get up. Everything goes wrong, The loaded toothbrush falls on the floor, or worse, the car won’t start, or the bus was early. On and on, one thing after another. When I am committed to a good day, I wake up refreshed, clean and sanitize the dropped toothbrush, and call the auto club, or read while I wait for the next bus, appreciating the chance. I look for the good, I find silver linings, and my day blossoms with interesting stuff, and fun, and at the end of the day, I feel good.

I get what I am committed to. All I have to do is decide and commit. Over and over, but that’s how I got in that old mess before.

How have I changed from unconscious commitment to choosing my commitments with love and care?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 12122013

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