The questions made me aware of how often I actually do make promises to myself. “I am going to eat less carbohydrates. I am going to pray more. I am going to stop allowing others to diminish me. I am going to live a healthier lifestyle. I am going to love. I am going to spend less money. I am going to stop judging others. I am going to live more simply.”
Perhaps, part of the reason I break the promises to myself is simply because I make too many. It might be better to make fewer promises—more important promises—and make myself accountable to those until they have become regular patterns in my life. What is abundantly clear to me is that if I make so many promises to myself that I cannot keep any of them, I will continually find my soul feeling as empty and inadequate as a bone dry arroyo in the middle of a desert summer. But, if I can make two or three promises and give attention to keeping those, I will find wildflowers springing up in the desert of my soul.
What are the promises you are making to yourself and how are you keeping them?
I generally categorize the promises I make to myself; diet promises, relationship promises, those for myself, like making the time to meditate, to pray. Then I begin to loose them in the conversations of my mind. The list grows or changes focus and I forget or reformulate the promise I have promised this time. Maybe choosing one, even one from each category, and writing it down to see it every day would help. The sense of wellbeing I get when I do keep my promises is worth whatever it takes to make it happen.
Posted by: Cindy 6/12/2008 6:37:33 AM
I think it is especially interesting how easy it is to break promises to myself, when I take my promises to others very seriously.
Posted by: Julie 6/11/2008 10:52:02 AM
I agree. Many a time I find myself making up for my lack of consistency with the promises I make by thinking \"well, leastways I have the will to change\". This was a reminder of how important promises really are, and what it represents to keep them within, and around us.
Posted by: Angelica 6/11/2008 1:32:01 AM
This is an interesting subject and I found it really struck home. How many times in a day do I promise myself that I will attend to long- overdue projects; i.e. note writing,over-due calls to special people, yet somehow find ways to break those promises.Perhaps I should make a short list daily and concentrate on keeping the promise no matter how large or small. You are so right in saying failure to keep our promises to self leave the soul dry and so empty. I must ask myself too, will I be granted another day in which I can keep those promises' I have always made the mistake of thinking I can accomplish all I set out to do;most often those promises to self. Need to realize that often little is better than more.
Posted by: Misty 6/10/2008 2:52:10 PM
This is so good; I too am guilty of making promises to myself then finding I fail to keep a large portion of them. It makes good sense now, to perhaps lessen the list and concentrate on the more important ones such as regular meditation time and searching my own soul more honestly.
Posted by: Barbara Lee 5/27/2008 6:32:11 AM
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