“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Alexander Hamilton
Commitment to change means deciding what you stand for and then standing for it.
I know I harp a lot about values. They’re important in making choices against acting in anger.
When Alexander Hamilton said the above, I don’t think he meant the same thing I’m talking about here, at least not literally.
Values are the things in life that are important to you in the long run that we act on. The key to that statement is what I am talking about here. Commitment is having the drop of courage that allow us to stand up for the values we have chosen in life.
There are no half measures in this commitment. When we commit to a value, it doesn’t work to say that we’re committed to this value as long as x, y, or z doesn’t happen.
For example, it doesn’t work to live a value like having a loving relationship until it gets too stressful, or until thing don’t go our way.
On the other hand it also doesn’t work to buy the thought that we can be committed to a certain value as long as other people respect that value as well. Or that they have a certain value.
In that sense, flexibility helps in our living a valued life.
The willingness to commit to our values comes with a price tag. It’s difficult at times. We aren’t able to act the way our minds would like us to act in a given moment. We are forced by our own commitment to make choices that at times are uncomfortable. It’s easier to veer off our valued path for a moment to act in a way that quells our angry feelings. That may work for a while, but can also become a habit that leads to more suffering in our own angry worlds.
The choice to commit to a valued life is, in the long run, worth the price of admission.
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