Tag: commitment

Commitment…

This is a word that’s been in the forefront of my thoughts for a while now… Why does it seem more difficult for people to commit more now  than ever?

Commitment is an issue we deal with every day in almost every aspect of our lives. Relationships are built upon it, showing up for work, school, the gym a run, paying your mortgage… Endless!

Maybe it’s the fact that we have too many commitments — We have so many more choices now than we ever did and with choice comes commitment. Being overcommitted is a sure way to lose focus on some of our bigger ones. For example how many marriages or relationships are taken for granted while attending to the work, social, and financial commitments. How many of us quit on ourselves? Diets ended because it was easier to grab fast food on the way to pick up a child from soccer practice or the dog from the groomer? Who’s joined a gym in January and hasn’t been there since February because “life” just got too hectic? Does your day planner or google calendar look more complicated than the plans for D Day?

Believe me I don’t have the magical cure and some of what I’ve written I can’t totally relate to, being single and sixty-one I have different complications — Such as elderly parents, and a business to run. We all have our “busy” but what I’ve come to realize the “hard” way is by avoiding the number one commitment “OURSELVES” we’re never going to be any good at keeping the others.

Believe me if you are sick of being unhappy or unfulfilled and you are just going through the motions of the other commitments. Everyone knows it sometime before you realize it. So before you start looking to change where you live, your hair style enhance your mood with food, drugs or alcohol. Sit quietly for a minute and think about what is it you need? What are you passionate about? What drives you?

For me I love people, I enjoy teaching and helping people but it starts with me… My routine for keeping me at my best goes like this; I commit to daily meditation and a few lines of spiritual reading, routine exercise and I block off Sunday mornings as nonnegotiable time I run for at least one hour. There is also my martial art training. Again my situation is different, but can’t you get up 10minutes earlier tomorrow to sit quietly or however you’d like to feed your spirit?

Believe me commitments are always going to be there, so why not embrace the most important one your mental, physical and spiritual health! Because if you don’t you’ll never be able to commit fully to anything or anyone else…

Run on

G

A Fork In The Road..

We all are familiar with the child parent conversation of wants vs needs. There is an even more important distinction that we need to make and that is Want to’s vs Committed to.’s.  Being a master teacher in the martial arts I’ve had to face this “fork in the road” many times in my practice and in the practice of my students. Everyone wants to be a black belt but very few are committed to becoming one. Discipline and commitment go hand in hand, they are difficult teachers and humans are inherently lazy. We all want success, a healthy body, a meaningful relationship and all the wonderful feelings these bring. The question is; Are we committed to the work it takes?

I wasn’t always disciplined it started with my training for black belt. It  was obvious I wouldn’t get a black belt, just from wanting to be a black belt. I had to commit myself to training hard. This lesson has taught me the value of  commitment. Now when confronted with a desire such as writing a blog I ask myself is this something I want to do or is this something I’m committed to doing?  In the end you may have a lot less unfulfilled wishes and a few more wonderful experiences, because of the road you chose.

Frost said it best;

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in the wood, and I-

took the one less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost.

Chose wisely,

Ginnie