Committing

What are you committed to? Your partner and family? Your neighborhood? Your job? When you think of being committed to something, what does that mean to you? How do you feel when you think of your commitments? Light and joyful? In line with your purpose? Heavy and dark, resentful? What is your dearest heart’s desire? Have you committed to realizing that yet? For many of us, commitment is a dirty word. Somehow, we have the idea that a commitment is akin to a jail sentence, that we are giving something up when we commit. Why on earth would we commit if it meant that we were less for it? And how do we commit without feeling like it diminishes us or impinges on our freedom? I can see some of you already giving me that look. You know what I’m going to say, don’t you. It’s all about choice and attitude and habit. If I have the habit of complaining, whining, and looking for the crappy side of life, if my attitude is that you suck, that you’re crazy, you have it out for me, or are going to turn on me, or won’t be there for me, or expect too much of me, then my commitments will be made with resistance and resentment. They will impinge on my sense of freedom, not because of the commitment, but because of how I’m thinking about it. Oh, yes, it always comes back to that, doesn’t it. I am responsible for how I think, feel, and behave. My choice. Think about it for a moment. Does my attitude toward you change who you are? If I think you are bad person, does that make you a bad person? You’re the one on the inside, you tell me. Does my thinking that you are a good person make you good? My attitude creates my environment. If I view the world as a burden, my shoulders will ache, my feet and knees will hurt, my heart will be heavy. If I have the attitude that we are all doing our best as best we can, that tasks are neutral, or even possibly fun, that opportunities for me to be my best self are all around me just waiting to turn into joy, then my commitments come lightly and sweetly. How could commitment enhance my freedom? Why would my commitment fill me with joy and delight? How do I know you are doing your best? Make the commitment to stop whining for three days. Or a week. Or this afternoon. Notice how you feel when you want to whine. What is the desire underneath? What do you really want? What would happen if you asked for what you really wanted? And what would happen if you committed yourself to being your highest self? Why do I commit to me?