JUST A THOUGHT: The One Day Commitment

Let's be honest, commitment is scary for most of us.

Especially when the commitment we're thinking of making will in some way alter the way we've been living until now.

The familiar is comfortable, like a pair of well worn slippers, and we don't really want to go through the pain of breaking in a new pair.

So I say: don't commit.

Commitment is a fallacy because there's no such thing as forever in this life; life is impermanent and that's a fact.

Committing to doing something forever generally feels overwhelming. It can feel impossible.

And it is impossible. None of us can commit to doing anything forever.

Because:

1 - How long is forever?

2 - Who knows what tomorrow holds?

The commitment that the today version of us makes, might not be relevant to the one-year-from-now person we become.

The idea of forever can be the very thing that makes us feel as though we can't commit because it looks like such a large cumbersome thing - as though we're expected to navigate our lives while carrying a bulky package.

So I say again: don't commit...to forever.

Do it just for today.

Because just for today, you can. I can. We can.

Committing for today doesn't mean committing for tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that. That's too much to think about. 

It's just for today.

And if tomorrow you want to do the thing that today you committed not to do, fine, go ahead. You didn't make a commitment about tomorrow, you made it for today.

Today is the only thing that's real.

And just for today, you can do anything.

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Just for Today

(excerpt)

by

Frank Crane

Just for today, I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today, I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that "most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my "luck" as it comes, and fit myself to it...

Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody except myself.

Just for today, I will have a quiet half hour all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today, I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.