One of my favorite newsletters that I actually read (you know how there are some that you skim and some that you read? This is one that I read) is Lisa McLeod's Forget Perfect. It's usually full of several articles, and although I hate having to click through the email newsletter to get to the article on the website, I find myself reading every article anyway - they're that good.
This recent edition (along with such gems as "Can You Change a Person By Honking," which starts out with "Thank you for honking. How stupid of me to pick the hottest day of summer to allow my car to break down in the middle of the road. I hadn't noticed the smoke spewing . . .") included "Thou Shalt Not Think For Thyself" in which Lisa talks about how we respond to positive words much better and more effectively than negative ones. She recommends David Simon's book The Ten Commitments in which he replaces the Ten Commandments with a corresponding Commitment.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” is replaced with “I commit to truth.” “Thou shalt not commit adultery” becomes “I commit to love.”
Lisa states, "The difference between a commandment and a commitment model is both subtle and staggering as the same time. It’s about externally driven rules versus an internalized spiritual model. In commandment mentality, as long as I don’t take the witness stand and tell lies about my fellow suburbanites, I’m OK. But a commitment to truth requires a lot more action on my part."
She's absolutely right about the subtlety and the staggering nature. I like the idea of having commitments - commitments I make to myself and others, rather than just being told, "Don't do that." And - this is SO BIG for me personally - I am then responsible for my actions. Sure, I was responsible not to commit adultery or not to bear false witness or steal, but those were specific actions that didn't require much thought (aka responsibility), but if I make a commitment to love, to the truth, to abundance, then I have more decisions to make and considerations of my actions.
Therefore, I commit.
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