Today’s Mandala Message: Make a Public Declaration
This week I’m working through Principle #54 “Keep Your Agreements”. I set my intention today to ponder the idea of publicly declaring the consequence if I do not follow through on an agreement to myself. Canfield suggested technique for those of us you struggle with keeping agreements with ourselves. He states: “What is so important in your life that you don’t want to give yourself an out? Make a public declaration of a consequence that you would find painful to pay and you’ll use the power of motivating yourself to take the action that you say you want to take but that you have been procrastinating. … The cost of having to deliver on the consequences is too expensive not to follow through on your commitment.”
Essentially he’s saying to make the consequence of not following through on your agreement far worse than the consequence of accomplishing it. For instance say you wanted to lose 30 pounds in six months. You could publicly declare that “if I don’t accomplish this goal by __(date)__, I will donate to my least favorite charity five of my favorite outfits that I was saving to wear when I lose the 30 pounds”. The idea is that the consequence(s) for _not_ keeping your commitment has to “hurt” and be made public in order for it to motivate you to fulfill your agreement. I’m actually pondering doing this very example. This consequence would most certainly hurt if I failed because these outfits are so cute and fun to wear.
A good mindfulness practice would be to ponder what consequence(s) would be strong enough, tough enough, to motivate you to follow through on your commitment(s).
So how about you? Would using this system of consequences motivate you to complete any of your agreements? What consequences would you devise? Are you willing to make a public declaration about them?
“Wisdom consists of
— Norman Cousins
the anticipation of consequences.”
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas
An Invitation
I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.
Mandala of the Day 