Growing Through Grief: Commitment
By Angela Clement
What do you think about when you hear the word commitment? What comes to mind for you? When I think about it I think of my work in education or the beautiful commitment I made be Blaine’s wife. I continue to make commitments as a mother and now a grandmother. Many things have changed in the past two years, but maybe one of the biggest things that has changed is realizing more commitment to myself. This has been a “game-changer” for me. For many of us, grief brings forth a re-evaluation of what is truly important in this life - a shake up like losing your loved one will do that.
About a month ago I decided to make a commitment to do something called the Miracle Morning. I encourage you to check out Hal Elrod at miraclemorning.com. His book convinced me that if I could do the miracle morning for 30 days it would become a habit but not only that, I would see huge benefits in all aspects of my life. The concept is really simple. Basically he suggests you do 10 minutes each of silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading and writing. The whole process takes 60 minutes. Now I know some of you are going to say I don’t have that kind of time, that’s impossible or maybe you think you don’t do meditation so this isn’t going to work for you. I had some reservations too! The book is great at helping you with all those.
Since I have started doing the miracle mornings, my days have been more focused. With better focus, I am finding that I don’t waste as much time. Instead of getting on my phone and scrolling through random things when I open my eyes, I am actually doing something productive. I find that by visualizing my day I set myself up for things to go more fluently and efficiently. I do not doubt that in the sixty minutes I spend in the morning - committed to me, I am making that back in productivity and just more enjoyment in my day. The bonus to all of this is I am in a way better place to make true commitments to others that I value in my life.
Now, I would like to say I easily committed to the miracle morning and I have been consistently doing it every day since I started but it hasn’t been quite like that. I have learned that commitment to building a consistent practise takes time. I really had to be patient with myself as I integrated this routine into my day. Some miracle mornings became a miracle afternoon! Sometimes I had to shorten the duration on a busy morning. Hal says if you are on a time constraint one day you can do the whole process in 6 minutes. One minute for each. I’ve done that. I have also completed part of it and then finished it after an interruption. The whole point is that when it didn’t go the way I planned, I really had to give myself the grace to do the best I could and then start over the next day without all the judgment that might have stopped me all together. I’ve committed to implementing this and I have to say it has become something I really look forward to. I believe the miracle morning will be a lifetime practise. Part of commitment is having the patience to accept some days things won’t be perfect. Each day you continue to put forth the intention and effort, you are honoring your commitment to that practise and more importantly yourself.
I feel like I could also apply this to other things I choose to implement into my life. The commitment to eating well, getting enough sleep, drinking more water, strength training and the list goes on.
How do you want to show up for yourself? What commitment can you make to yourself that will help you? How can you love yourself enough to make that the priority and to allow yourself the time and the patience to gently implement that practise the way it works for you? It doesn’t have to be perfect to be profound. Love, Angela healingenergy.world