Commit, But Don't Be Consumed

by James Greenshields, a two minute read. 

Have you ever been consumed by something – maybe it was a thought, a job you were doing, a belief that something was going to happen?

It’s an interesting feeling to have, isn’t it. If you’re anything like me, your mind races and it’s hard to remain in the present moment. I can analyse a situation from every angle and then reappraise it the moment I finish, as if the situation had changed since last I thought about it. It doesn’t have to be to the level of acting in an ‘obsessive compulsive’ manner - which causes behavioural issues and high level stress – but it holds the mind hostage.

We are a consumer society, but I want to suggest we are the ones who are being consumed.

Underpinning all of this ‘consumption’ is a belief system – a set of paradigms feeding our minds – which keeps us tied to a way of thinking, a way of life.

To accept beliefs without question is to render yourself powerless, without choice.

For me consumption had its roots in commitment.

With every strength in life comes the ability for it to become an Achilles heel. Commitment is one of those things that can very quickly, without conscious awareness, become blinding.

Have you ever committed to something that was never going to go anywhere? Or something that at your gut level you knew wasn’t a good idea? But once you’re committed aren’t you in for the long haul? Boots and all, as the saying goes.

For a very long time I was under the belief that to be committed meant I had to be consumed by the thing I committed to.

This may seem very extreme, but I had no idea this was my belief at the time. What would simply play out is that my mind would be constantly thinking of the subject. I would be constantly talking about it at any opportunity. I would be judging anyone else involved as to whether they were thinking as I, in other words, as consumed as I was.

This all started out relativity benignly. From an early age I held loyalty as one my tenets of life; one of my biggest values. In my eyes to be loyal was to be 100% committed to something or someone. And the flow on from that was, I allowed myself to become consumed by that to which I was displaying loyalty. Blind loyalty, blind commitment; helps no one, especially the person doing them.

To release ourselves from their grip we need to have to courage to question the way we’ve been doing things; the way we’ve thought about things. And that can be scary, because aren’t you then invalidating yourself?

To ask yourself, “Are my associated beliefs in relation to this commitment the truth for me?” can be incredibly freeing.

By letting go of the habit of being consumed, commitment to those things, which are aligned with who we really are, allows us to get what we want. What we truly want, not what we’ve been led to believe we do.

But to get the answers about what we truly want and then commit to a plan of action to achieve these goals first requires the ability to step out of what you are currently doing and look at it objectively - to question the reason you have been doing things the way you have.

“This is the way we’ve always done it” simply causes stress. Stress in part is resistance to the present situation because of ideas about the past or future.

To over-commit causes stress; to under-commit is a result of confusion and fear.

To commit to that which is aligned with who you are is to allow yourself to get what you want in life. And with it brings a deep sense of purpose and harmony.

So ….

Let go and let it flow.