From Complacency to Commitment

Welcome to 2024!

I’m ready to start the year with some powerful questions for both of us.

Are You (am I) ready to be fully alive? Are you ready to express your own unique genius more boldly? Are you ready to be more ‘you’? Are you ready to finally wake up to the fact that you are what you’ve been looking for? Are you ready to enjoy this ride called life in a greater way?

I love this poem and have shared it often:

Life is not a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving
safely in a pretty and well-preserved body.
But rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out,
chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, and loudly proclaiming:

Woo Hoo, What a Ride! "

What does it take to live from that fully alive place?  One of the things it takes is commitment. 

Are you ready to sign on the dotted line?

You sign on the dotted line when you buy a house, when you purchase a car, and even when you get married. Your signature shows that you made a commitment to those things.

But are you willing to make the commitment to living fully and to do whatever it takes to do so? Can you make a commitment to your own spiritual unfoldment? Can you make a commitment to listen to your own inner wisdom? Can you make a commitment to honor and value yourself even without any external validation? Can you make a commitment to asking yourself “What do I want?”

A commitment is more than simply having a casual relationship or being involved with something, A commitment means you are all in. How committed and involved are you in living life to the fullest?  In transforming your life?  In taking the steps needed to help make your dreams come true?  How much time and effort do you spend in your spiritual practice, whatever that looks like for you? Or do you seem more committed to your fears, troubles, self-doubts, and excuses? What activities, beliefs, behaviors, and thought processes do you spend most of your time on?

Let me give you an example of commitment: The chicken providing the eggs in our breakfast is involved. The cow providing the milk in our breakfast is involved. However, the pig, providing our bacon -- now, the pig is committed!

The self-improvement journey isn’t for the faint-hearted. It takes strength to flower. It takes determination to blossom. It takes commitment to move from toxic to tonic. But here’s the good news! We are uniquely and magnificently made! Everything that we need is already within us! Everything! If a change is going to come, bring it on!

If living fully means being in a meaningful, sacred relationship and you’re still alone, then how committed are you to becoming the person who can be in that relationship? If living fully means a vibrant and healthy body, what evidence do you have in your life that you are committed to your health? If living fully means embodying greater meaning and deeper joy, what limiting ideas have you released to step into your greater experience? Have you been committed to your spiritual growth?

Talk is cheap – and easy. Walking the talk is a bit harder. I think it simply that we forget. We forget who we are; we forget our purpose; and we forget our commitment. We think that life is how it is and that’s it. It’s easier to slip into the old patterns. We don’t do it on purpose, but complacency takes up residency and we soon find we are not living our commitment.

WE SIMPLY FORGET.

Like Author Howard Thurman wrote in For the Inward Journey:

Despite the dullness and barrenness of the days that pass, if I search with due diligence, I can always find a deposit left by some former radiance. But I had forgotten. At the time it was full-orbed, glorious, and resplendent. I was sure that I would never forget. In the moment of its fullness, I was sure that it would illumine my path for all the rest of my journey. I had forgotten how easy it is to forget.  There was no intent to betray what seemed so sure at the time. My response was whole, clean, authentic. But little by little, there crept into my life the dust and grit of the journey. Details, lower-level demands, all kinds of cross currents –nothing momentous, nothing overwhelming, nothing flagrant – just wear and tear. If there had been some direct challenge, a clear-cut issue, I would have fought it to the end, and beyond.  So, in the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of God, my heart whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or foul, in good times or in tempest, in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed.  Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve.

How about if we have a virtual handshake? Let’s keep fresh before us our moments of high resolve and get support, whatever way that looks, to keep them fresh! Think about a prayer partner, a mastermind group, or even a coffee buddy. Or maybe even the Mystic's Playhouse. You could also create something new for yourself to help you remember.

Only you can say whether or not you’re ready to make a commitment to yourself. Only you can sign on the dotted line. But if you are ready, buckle up, hold on to your hat and be prepared to say “Woo Hoo!  What a ride!”

Meet Janet

Women find Janet to be a trusted guide and mentor, so they hop into her mystical and fun world to design a life of meaning, fulfillment, and passion. Why? Because most struggle with putting everyone else first, playing small, and feeling like a fraud. Janet helps them crush their excuses so they can move beyond the negative voices in their head and unleash their purpose, unmask their self-confidence, and uncover possibilities that they have been blind to.

Bottom line: You need to say “YES” to yourself to live the aligned life that is calling.