Do you keep promises to yourself? Big promises? Little promises?
Do you trust that you’ll do what you intend to do, or do you know – in the back of your mind – that it’s going to slip through the cracks?
The anatomy of a broken promise
When I was younger, I would constantly make big promises to myself – promises that would change my strongest habits, go against my strongest limiting beliefs, or even my nature. And then I’d feel like a failure when I couldn’t make it work, gave up, or gave into temptation.
When you constantly break promises to yourself, you let yourself down and emotionally beat yourself up. You dig yourself into a hole of self-defeat, sadness, and create a strong lack of confidence in yourself. It can be a symptom of (and worsen) low self-esteem and low self-love.
You can find yourself in this self-defeating cycle of control and rebellion.
And it’s a two-fer, because typically those promises reflect change we want to see in our lives, like eating healthy, sleeping better, and exercising more.
What to do with all those broken promises
How do we get out of this cycle?
Start small.
Make an easy and small promise to yourself. And just one of them. Don’t supersize a promise by picking something easy but then demanding that you do it every day for the rest of your life.
Buy 1 apple and eat it or take 1 short walk.
And when you’re tempted to break your promise – out of habit or rebellion – notice and try to keep it anyway. That’s why we made it an easy promise.
Each one you keep is a deposit into your personal account. A small deposit that tells yourself that you do care about you, you do deserve good things, and you can trust yourself.
It might take some time. It might take a lot of time. Your bank account might be far in the red.
But with every 1 apple eaten, 1 block walked, or 1 chapter read, you’ll make deposits. And even though they are simple things, they are significant things. Keeping promises takes practice. And just as broken promises can erode faith and love, fulfillment of (even the tiniest of) promises builds them up.
Personal victories
Besides gaining trust in yourself, you’ll learn what makes a good promise and what doesn’t. Your tiny personal victories will lead to bigger personal victories, and then to big public victories.
When once you may have privately broken every promise to run – now you are publicly crossing a marathon finish line.
But first you have to get that account out of the red and into the black.
First you have to learn to trust yourself and love yourself enough to do the things that will make your life better.
You deserve it. You just don’t know it yet.
Sometimes I need to hear this. This time it comes from a friend. Thanks.
You’re welcome, dear. I was a little nervous about broaching this topic, but I think it’s important.
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Christmas since his election by denouncing the suffering of people of Gaza – taking shelter in tents from the “rain, wind and cold” – and by calling for the guns to fall silent in Ukraine.
[url=https://mellstream.com]мелстрой казино[/url]
On Christmas Day, the first US-born pope, offered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing (“To the City and to the World”) from the balcony of St Peter’s, surveying a world speckled with conflicts from Yemen to Myanmar, and calling for compassion towards those who have fled their homelands to seek a future in Europe and America.
[url=https://mullstroy.com]mellstroy[/url]
Leo, who was elected on May 8, said Thursday that Jesus Christ is “our peace” because he “shows us the way to overcome conflicts, whether interpersonal or international. With his grace, we can and must each day our part to reject hatred, violence and opposition, and to practice dialogue, peace and reconciliation.”
[url=https://mullstroy.com]мелстрой казино ссылка[/url]
The pontiff began by asking for “justice, peace and stability” for Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Israel and Syria. Later, he said that, by becoming man, “Jesus took upon himself our fragility,” allowing him to identify “with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza.”
Leo celebrates Christmas Holy Mass at the Vatican.
Leo celebrates Christmas Holy Mass at the Vatican. Yara Nardi/Reuters
Leo holds an incent burner at St Peter’s Basilica.
Leo holds an incent burner at St Peter’s Basilica. Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
The pope’s first Christmas since his election took place in wet and cold conditions, but that failed to deter large crowds from coming out to hear his message.
Earlier during Mass, he asked how, at Christmas, “can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold.” With more than 400,000 homes destroyed during Israel’s war against Hamas, Gazans are being forced to choose this winter between living in tents exposed to the elements or living inside buildings that could collapse any minute.
“Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” Leo said. He quoted an Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, who called for peace to blossom “like wildflowers.”
Related article
The acting Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa attends a morning Mass at Saint Catherine’s Church, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
Christmas celebrated once again in Bethlehem but West Bank suffering persists
Later during his Christmas message, he called for compassion towards those “who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent.” He offered Christmas greetings in different languages including Italian, English, Arabic, Chinese, Polish.
Since his election, Leo has highlighted the plight of those suffering of those in Gaza, and has been outspoken by calling for the better treatment of migrants. In his first major interview in September, the American pope voiced concern over “some things” happening in the country of his birth, highlighting the significance of a letter his predecessor, Pope Francis, had sent to US bishops earlier this year, rebuking the administration’s deportation plans.
мелстрой ссылка
https://mellstream.com