Promises to Yourself

Whenever you begin a new chapter of your life -- a new school semester, a new job, a new year -- it is the perfect time to sit down and set some goals for yourself. What do you want to accomplish in the next six months? Where do you want to be? WHO do you want to be?

Also, make a list of promises to yourself. Promises to strive for health, balance, and happiness with every ounce of your being.

I read an apt quote by Annie Dillard the other day: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

How are you spending your days -- and, thus, your life? It can also apply to your thoughts. How we spend our thoughts is how we spend our lives, as well. How would your characterize your thoughts and self-talk? Are you building yourself up or bringing yourself down?

Here are some promises I am making to myself this upcoming school year. Maybe they'll work for you, too:

- I will surround myself with positivity.
- I will think positive, supportive thoughts about myself and my dreams.
- I will surround myself with nurturing, driven, creative, optimistic, intelligent people of integrity, who love me for who I am and yet also push and inspire me to be better.
- I will, as John Wooden says, "make friendship a fine art," and I will choose relationships that make me feel happy, fulfilled and whole.
- I will not get overwhelmed by everything I have to do -- by all the details and to-do lists of everyday life, as well as the enormity of my dreams -- but instead will seek confidence and support from all of the things I have done and learned thus far, with the support of those who love me.