What made Alyssa not commit to the eggs? I don’t know what exactly, but if I were to assume it would be this:  hesitancy.  First of all she has never made scrambled eggs, and with her perfectionist mother standing ‘above’ her probably felt less than supportive.  Second would be resistance.  She didn’t really want to make the eggs because her mom always does.  

When Alyssa is on the stage, in front of an audience or in front of a camera- she commits.  It’s her thing. It’s her home.  She has no mother standing ‘above’ but instead, if only in her mind, beside her.  She doesn’t hesitate because this is what she wants.  This is what she does. She is committed.

Can we commit to those things we don’t like to do, don’t want to do, don’t think we should do, are afraid to do?  Maybe commitment is what brings presence or maybe presence brings commitment.  Either way when we commit to something, without fear and resistance we get the job Done, and are completely free to move forward to the next thing.

I fully commit to the eggs when I make them.  I am not afraid of the eggs. I don’t worry about how they will turn out. I don’t need anyone else to make them because I like the way I make them, and it also helps that I have been told by several people I make the best scrambled eggs. I don’t think about how I make them.  I don’t even know why they are special. I just make the eggs.

If I started to think about how I made the eggs, analyzing it or got snooty about how great my eggs are, I can guarantee my eggs wouldn’t be as good.  Debra Winger wrote in her book, Undiscovered about the French high wire artist, Philippe Petit.  If he had a thought while he walked, he would be done, and he walked across the World Trade Towers in 1974.  

When we commit we don’t think.  We can’t think.  We just do; therefore we just be, therefore we become.  However there is also another way.  We can hear the voices in our head that ramble on about how we shouldn’t do this and we shouldn’t do that while we are doing it, but we don’t have to engage with the voices.  We can hear them and move forward with our commitment,  thus building our momentum to Commitment rather than hesitance.

It reminds me of a scene in a Beautiful Mind where Russell Crowe’s character,  who is tormented by voices, at the end finds that they are still there, acknowledges them but no longer does he engage with them.

Here is something else which intrigued me about Philippe.   When he was arrested for walking between the towers the judge asked him why he did it.  He said, “When I see three oranges, I must juggle. When I see two towers, I must walk.”  

Here is what I asked myself: What when I see it, I must do it? What is that for me? For him it is juggling and tightrope walking. For others it is: When I see a blank canvas I must paint. When I see a trail I must walk, run, bike.  When I see ____I must______.   

I imagine there are many things that will fill these blanks, but for now when I see eggs, I must scramble.   

Where in your life are you committed?  Where in your life are you not, but would like to be?  Is there something you long to do, but are afraid to do, hesitant to do?  

When you see what, you must what?  Answer it, and do.  

Namaste, 

Nikki