I Promise Myself …
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• To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.
• To make all my friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature I meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
• To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.
• To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.
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The Optimist Creed (1912) by Christian D. Larson (1866 – 1955)
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Reblogged this on The Milieux Project and commented:
A great creed to start the new year with. JA
This is such an encouraging piece to look at in the morning; it can really change your outlook on the day ahead. “To make all my friends feel that there is something in them,” is my favorite line. Everyone needs to be uplifted every once in a while, and you did just that for everyone who reads this post!
Thank you so much, I’m glad it has inspired you! I think it’s good to pick a line and think about it for a day or a week. ATM I’m using ‘To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.’ That really helps when things are getting you down a bit. Also, ‘To forget the mistakes of the past …’ is a good one! 😊
The line you mention is one I haven’t used so much but it is a great thought and has a healing effect on both parties.
Love this! Will try and search for a printable as well, or may borrow yours to design one for myself 🙂
Yes, it’s one of my favourite ‘positive thinking’ aids, that’s why I posted it. I mentioned in the comments that you should see a ‘print’ button. If you click that, you can save it as a PDF and manipulate it in any way you see fit, adjust text size, import graphics etc. etc.
I love this!!!!
That’s great! As I mentioned in the comments below, I made this post to have the text of The Optimist Creed in a nice printable format. I printed it out and put it somewhere prominent. My idea is to pick a line each day to work on. Hopefully before long I’ll have memorized the whole thing!
Incidentally, when I first came across the idea of being enthusiastic about other people’s success, a number of years ago, it was an alien concept to me. I think, like many people, I begrudged others’ success, but I’ve taken that on board and it definitely helps me feel happier!
This is inspirational! I like, “To give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.” There’s a lot of depth to that!
I think it’s great. One of my favourite lines is ‘To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.’ Also, yes, the line you mention would be good for a lot of people to bear in mind! Thanks for commenting!
The line you mentioned is also great. Each line is significant and holds great day-to-day inspiration.
Definitely. Glad you share my enthusiasm for The Optimist Creed!
This is the first post I’ve made on my blog that wasn’t actually written by me!
I had a lovely version of The Optimist Creed, printed in colour and framed, taken from thesecret.tv, Rhonda Byrne’s website. My picture got mislaid during a recent house move so I went to print another, only to find that it no longer seems to be available there.
Then I looked online for a nice printable version – in vain! So I made my own. The Secret’s version had changed Christian D. Larson’s prose to the first person (I promise myself etc.) which I actually really liked, so I’ve included that modification. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind!
The way I personally printed it was to click on the print button below the post, then I selected ‘open as PDF’ on my printer’s menu. Then I highlighted the text in the PDF and copied and pasted it into my word processor. Then I increased the font size and fitted it onto one page. I also printed it on yellow paper, so it looks very smart. It’ll do until my original version turns up anyway!
I recommend printing it out and displaying it somewhere prominent. I hope you find it as inspirational as I do!