Journal Prompts #21: On Keeping Promises
Bringing in the heavyweight champion of words...'promise'
There is something about the word ‘promise’ that feels sacred. It comes with weight or feels like it should only be written in golden ink - never, ever pencil. Perhaps the dot on the ‘i’ is in the shape of a heart and remember the ‘pinky promise’?
Why is that?
Somehow and somewhere, we all got together and said this word will mean more than the others. And let it be so. There are promise rings, pinky promises, so many songs about promises and more about broken promises, this one being my favorite.
NOTE: I feel like author and linguist,
would have some choice words on the weight of this word (psst, her new book ‘The Age of Magical Overthinking’ just hit the shelves I cannot wait to read it!). Amanda, thoughts?The other day, I spoke on instagram about the power of keeping promises to myself as I have recently been going to a small gym in my small town and have a promise to myself to have a garden with an arch with vines on it. And how so damn good it feels when you do what you say you will do. I also shared that I feel this is not dissimilar verbiage from the language of setting goals but people seemed to run with the promise wording way (way!) more. Rhetoric is so fascinating. Humans are so fascinating.
So we will run with promises to explore in our journals this week, prompts below…
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Grab a pen. Grab a journal or piece of paper.
What promises have you made to yourself? Are you currently keeping your promises?
What happens when you break a promise to someone? And what happens when you break a promise to yourself? Are your answers starkly different or similar? Discuss (with yourself).
What is something you would be a full pinky promise for right now? And can you go make that promise with and to someone? Was it to yourself, you do have 2 pinkies….
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RESOURCES:
WATCH: Take These Steps to Start Keeping Promises to Yourself x Mel Robbins
READ: Why I Don’t Make Promises on Medium
QUOTE:
“When you break a promise, you break someone's hope too.” -Garima Soni
LISTEN: What is a Promise?