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Lucy Di Marino

To live from awareness of our inner wisdom, to be guided by it in supporting and expressing our wellbeing, is to allow ourselves to flow with life so that we can learn to evolve and transform with it. This is the practice of conscious self commitment, of creating routines and practices that enhance our lives and maintain and support our health whilst remaining flexible, adaptable and guided. We have all experienced the joy and sense of rightness that come from trusting in our intuition and ability to flow over doing what is expected or is habit or thought to be right. It is when we turn towards our ability and natural inclination to practice conscious self commitment, to do what is best for our total wellbeing when the limited mind would direct us otherwise, that we expand beyond the limiting beliefs that lead to perfectionism, stagnation, struggle and fear of change.

When we trust in ourselves to flow with life, to adapt, to live intuitively, creatively, practicing conscious self commitment, we discover within the strength, confidence and resilience we need to meet challenge, to find joy in the decision to commit to living well that is guided by self love. Conscious self commitment is a way of being that honours our wellbeing, is in tune with our instincts and intuition. Self love and the conscious self commitment that results from it, is a celebration of our truth, it allows us to recognise how capable we are, how imaginative, creative, innovative, adaptive and inspired, how able we are to respond to our needs, to commit to creating practices and routines that serve us and move on from or change them when we are guided to, in self love, operating from knowledge of our potential, our resilience and our innate wellbeing.

Self commitment, when practiced in, from, with self love, allows us to reflect on where we are in life, how aligned we are with our truth and to continually take steps towards supporting and expressing our wellness, to keep waking up to our wisdom so that we are able to replace unhelpful beliefs with truer ones, recondition our minds and bodies to health, balance, coherence, recover awareness of our healing capabilities and actualise our innate confidence and power.

Discovering the joy of conscious self commitment is the result of allowing self commitment to be an act of love, of self support, of self trust and self reverence.

Conscious self commitment is born of and facilitates connection with our ability to live well despite the self imposed limitations we may have identified with and deferred to previously. As we come to reflect on and forgive ourselves for past misunderstanding about who we are and what we are capable of, we find that our capacity for reflection, growth, evolution and insight is limitless, as is our potential for loving ourselves enough to live instinctively and intuitively. Conscious self commitment is the result of our power to change and grow, to learn about ourselves and treat ourselves well. It is the opposite of punishment, criticism, rigidity or stagnation, it is ease and flow and self respect. When we refuse self criticism and self punishment in favour of expansion, unfolding, relaxation, we discover over and again the wisdom within to live well so that we are patient and loving with ourselves when we notice we are caught up in fear and resistance.

This does not mean that we are not working or producing, exploring our limits and endurance, rather that we are doing so in a way that as far as possible, best supports us on every level in the moment. Sometimes this will override preference or what seems most practical and if we allow ourselves to be open, to even enjoy practicing flow, we will find that we are innately adaptable, flexible, able to treat ourselves well. Healthy change occurs for us when we practice self love and self trust. When we rediscover self love and allow it to guide us in how we live, we are able to take a gentle approach to improving our experience and allow ourselves to feel good no matter where we are on our journey or what past thinking claims is right or wrong with it.

When we live this way, we know when to rest and when to push, when to stick with something, allow it to evolve or be replaced by something new. Conscious self commitment is self discipline in awareness, the practice of doing what is good for us in the moment, guided by our wisdom rather than limited thinking about what we should be doing and how. The limited mind may be habitually judging the progress we are making in life, deciding on how well we are living, where we are failing, not doing well enough, not where we should be and when we trust it, not only do we not recognise how far we have come but also what resources and capabilities exist within us that can guide us towards a more balanced and healthy experience. Recognising that we are always learning more about ourselves as we live, that we are always gaining deeper insight into what approaches work for us means that when we notice we have been swayed by past thinking, we liberate ourselves from feeling discouraged by allowing ourselves to turn in a new direction.

If we are letting ideas about what we should do or what the limited mind directs us to, get in the way of what our inner wisdom guides us to, we are missing out on living in a way that feels lighter and more effortless, practicing self commitment with awareness and love.

So often we are unable to see how far we have come in life because we are busy assessing if we have come far enough and we will never have come far enough when we operate from self judgement, self criticism and self doubt. When we start to recognise that we are inclined towards health and healthful living and that we get to choose how we feel about it, we find that when we make good feeling conditional, when we measure our worth via limited concepts of success, when we get caught up in ideas about where we should be and what we should be doing, we miss out on the joy and clarity of self acceptance, self love and presence that guide us well. No matter what we are working to achieve, when we approach life from the space of wholeness and wellbeing and our innate inclination towards joy, life is simpler.

Success is not a measure of our worth. Success is defined by us, as is the standard we measure it against. We are not born with ideas about what we should be doing in life until they are programmed in to us and until this happens, we enjoy a fluid approach to exploring, experimenting, learning and enjoying. We can allow ourselves to move beyond the conditioning and programming that direct the way we take part in life, the routines and practices we create, how flexible we are about them and how we view our progress. If we centre in the truth of who we are, free flowing, adaptable and engage and follow our innate desire to be at ease, to have fun, to play, we take steps to move beyond what is known to us and discover a way that is so much more enjoyable.

Our path may not be linear, our progress may unfold at a slower rate than we had hoped for, we may not get the results we planned to and still, if we treat ourselves kindly, if we reflect with curiosity and are open to trusting our instincts and intuition over what we have been taught, shown, conditioned and programmed to do and follow, we strengthen our faith in ourselves, we recognise our courage, we feel uplifted by our choices, grateful for the ability to experience a new outlook and inner discourse. Being flexible in life can feel confronting and challenging when we are used to operating from a limiting mindset, however, resistance to what is rather than allowing our wisdom to guide us in responding to life with creativity and innovation, never helps us. When we are committed to self realisation, self inquiry, self support, we are able to take a big picture approach, knowing that patience, self trust, self love and the clarity and peace of mind wisdom affords us serve our highest good.

Conscious self commitment is the act of choosing to do what is best for us in every moment, intuitively, simply, with patience and love.

We do need to rush in our leaning and evolution, we do not need to be busy to be moving forwards in life. This does not mean that we do not honour our commitments or live according to a sense of time, rather that we have only the moment we are in and when we are present, centred, in truth, we tune in to the eternal, the limitless, the joy of life and we feel well because of it, more flexible, more in flow, less inclined to rush and more conscious of our choices and actions. We do not feel rigid and tense from a clear and fluid state of mind. We can release what prevents us from embracing our ability to be present, grateful, graceful, connected, at peace. If we operate from presence, in presence, we make conscious self commitment out habit, overriding and reprogramming the subconscious programmes that are not serving us.

We can begin by considering the areas in which we feel able to be more flexible, more open to adapting to life and more comfortable dealing with challenge. As we become more fluid, we can reflect on what approach will best serve us in the areas we feel uptight, stressed or rigid. This is a practice of living well and so we do not have to throw out what works for us, simply commit to doing what we intuitively know is best in the moment. If we can remember that all of our experiences are created within us and that we have the wisdom to live well, when past fears and feelings come up, we can centre ourselves in the awareness of our spiritual health and wholeness, affirming and trusting in our ability to allow past experiences to pass so that we can process and move beyond them.

All we need to do to experience something new is change the way we think about what we are thinking about. When we stop judging the way we have been operating and release past expressions and experiences without struggle or judgement, trusting that we are always being guided towards engaging and expressing our innate joy, ease, grace and gratitude, we realise our wellbeing, we change the way we respond to the thoughts that flow through our minds, we know we can decide what we think, we have faith that we can feel and do differently and we allow ourselves to explore conscious self commitment, recognising it as a powerful and positive practice and never something we use to make ourselves feel less than, lacking, unworthy or unable.

Thinking differently about how we live, our routines, our progress, our achievements, our goals, allows us to be inspired, tuned in to our needs and highest desires and to follow our wisdom.

It is in this way that we get to enjoy life; exploring and experiencing without measure, without struggle. This does not mean we will be at peace all of the time, it means that we know the option for peace exists within us even when we are experiencing something other which helps us to navigate less peaceful experiences more successfully, knowing they are not all that are available to us in the moment. Meaning exists where we assign it; what meaning we assign to our experience in life is up to us. This is not to say we are not interested in the why of things, rather that we do not complicate them. If we surrender to a greater awareness, we find that we know what is good for us, what feels like health to us, we consider our experience when we feel unclear and allow ourselves the grace to process it and move beyond it. We get to have fun, enjoying a sense of ease and contentment, a state of peaceful happiness, without concern that we do not deserve to or that in joy, in ease, in happiness, we will not achieve in life what we want to.

All we really ever want is to feel well and so feeling well is the most successful we can be. When we feel well and think well and live well, we change our minds about what we want and how to create it, able to work towards realising our dreams in peace and presence, mindful, conscious, purposeful. The idea that when we relax we stop achieving can be let go of. In the space of contentment, we do not lose our appetite for life, we are awakened to a new experience of it, more engaged with it, more alive to it. When we begin to realise what potential lies within us for joy and peace, harmony, transformation and creativity, we live more intuitively, less and less directed by unhelpful ideas about what we should feel and do in life, free and inspired to explore something other.

Contentment allows us to explore and experiment with life from a state of peace, appreciation, gratitude, love, it does not prevent us from achieving. It allows us to be gentler, to make things more simple, which can actually lead us to doing more in the world, to being more productive and effective and efficient because we are less limited, more interested and curious. Self realisation is an experience of expansion beyond ideas that bind us. In the space of connection, appreciation, joy, we are content, we are aware, we are engaged, we are open and we live more freely and fluidly because of it. Achievement from contentment is lighter, more enjoyable than it is from thinking that tells us we have to feel unfulfilled to achieve. When we are living from wellbeing, we realise this and it guides us to do well in life in a way that we do not realise is available to us when we are not.

Conscious self commitment is healthy, inspired intuitive commitment to living well, adaptive, creative, innovative, in grace, ease and flow.

We free up energy operating this way. Whether we are able to use it to play more, work harder, heal, dream, plan, envision, in contentment, in peace and happiness, connection, appreciation, wellbeing, we are uplifted, we are dynamic, we are energised by a healthier way and because we feel better, we do better, able to practice conscious self commitment, having compassion for ourselves when we past thinking occurs that struggles against us doing what we are guided to for our optimum health. This is not always something we find easy. If we are generous with ourselves as we relearn and remember how to flow with our instincts, how to live according to our intuition, we come to know that we can rely on ourselves to be responsible in our choices so that we are at peace with making changes as we need to.

If we feel unnerved about the idea of being fluid and flexible, we might recognise that on some level we are operating via coping mechanisms that are not serving us well now. What have we been trying to prove, show or protect by being fixed and rigid? How can we change our approach at a pace that feels safe and healthy and natural? When we give up unhelpful ideas about how we should live, we find that conscious self commitment is a loving practice of patience and acceptance, the commitment to being responsive to our needs and to life, gently and simply. Every time we remember this, we relax more deeply into presence, we loosen up, we are more at ease in the world, with ourselves and those around us. We are all doing our best to live well from our understanding of who we are and how life operates. When we do the work to remind ourselves that when we feel restricted, constrained, limited, we have the option to think new thoughts that will make us feel differently, we empower ourselves to change our minds and enjoy a healthier understanding because of it.

As we begin to flow more with life, practicing conscious self commitment, we open up to new perspectives and experiences, we realise the possibility that exists for us to live differently. We have within us the ability, the capacity, the propensity to recover a sense of who we really are. What exists before, beneath and beyond our habitual behaviours and familiar experiences is always available to guide us. Every decision, action, choice we make sets us in a certain direction and on a certain path and if that direction is facing away from contentment, we feel it. As soon as we start to experiment with not defaulting to past thinking, not dwelling in familiar feeling, we do feel more peaceful, we do feel more powerful, we do feel inspired to turn in a new direction. This is a habit of being we need to practice as much as we have practised every other.

Being guided back home to ourselves and allowing this when we come up against past thinking that would direct us in another direction, is peace, is love, is health, is relief, is release, is recovery, is restoration.

We can direct the energy of life in any way we please and if we trust in, turn towards and practise defaulting to our spiritual wisdom and wellbeing, that exist before, beneath and beyond our limiting beliefs, we become more aligned with an instinctive knowledge of our potential, take charge of the way we create and experience life and make it our default to consider the direction we are looking in. We are powerful beyond the comprehension of the limited mind. We can commit to living well without the tension or stress, rigidity or seriousness we may have come to believe are necessary. We can grow and evolve, gently, lightly, joyfully. If loving ourselves into realisation of our innate health and wholeness is the only commitment we make, we will be radically changing our lives for the better.

When we are led by wisdom, we allow every tension, every tightness, every hesitation, every fear to be lovingly released, knowing that we can investigate it if we feel called to, reflecting and processing or simply letting go, because we are operating from a new conditioning, a new programming, an easier way of being. In softness, stillness, presence, flow, we see beyond the familiar to a way of living that truly makes sense to us, we naturally practice conscious self commitment because we love ourselves, because we are invested in operating from wellbeing, returning over and again to our truth, living in a way that is truly right for us. Relaxed, present and trusting in ourselves to live well, allows us to feel whole, to recognise our unique and individual needs and desires and explore how we might meet and achieve them.

Operating from self love does not prevent achievement, it predicates it. It allows us to live well without measuring our worth against where we are in life and what we are doing, without getting caught up in outside measures of success. When we are no longer interested in taking seriously the thinking that wants us wound up, run down, repressing, obsessing and are at peace with practicing our ability to flow with and adapt to life, we realise that nothing will ever be right or good enough from a mindset that tells us peace is not the right way. Practicing peace does not need to be complicated. Allowing ourselves to be at peace with making different choices than we had planned to, as we need to, in order to best serve ourselves, gives us permission to change our approach to self commitment when it does not feel easy, intuitive, guided, healthy. We let go of standards not meant for us and we recognise that striving for perfection is based on a limited understanding of what makes us feel well, operating from wisdom and guided to be intentional and aware in our approach to life.

We deserve to live well and feel well and be relaxed and healthy as we go.

The sense of contentment that arises when we flow with life is available to us in every moment and when we practice self commitment in a way that enhances rather than diminishes our experience, we are able to consider, reflect, process and evolve, having compassion for the tension, tightness, fear, doubt we have carried, built our way of life upon and in reaction to and felt blocked or bound by. We are not here to be perfect, we are here to realise our spiritual perfection. We do not need to worry so much about what we are doing, only reflect on whether it is an authentic and genuine expression of our truth and when it is not, consider how we might better align with our innate wisdom, grace, ease and flow. When we live this way, we discover and enjoy a sense of wellbeing that encourages us to explore what we can achieve when we commit to making life as easy and enjoyable as possible which liberates us on every level and in every area.