Just Who Will You Be?

My life is a little on the chaotic bend right now...... new job challenges, health challenges, personal growth challenges, etc... Nothing more than anyone else is going through, but challenging for me nonetheless. The hardest part is not being able to control everything, to just let things happen as they need to.

I just read Maria Shriver's new book, "Just Who Will You Be?" It's a quick and easy read, 91 pages of double spaced writing (but I am still counting it towards my goal - it balances out the 400+ page books I've been reading). It's really insightful and I enjoyed it. The premise is that we shouldn't be a label or just one thing..... we don't even have to know what we are going to be, but we have to be open to it. What a great read as I'm dealing with some of the issues that I'm dealing with.

At the end of her book, she has a pledge. It's hers, to help her remember who is she and who she wants to be. She challenges the reader to create their own pledge. But I love hers - it's so powerful, that I'm stealing it for myself.

Maria Shriver's 10 Things She Pledges to Herself from "Just Who Will You Be?":

1. I pledge to "show up" in my life as myself, not as imitation of anyone else.
2. I pledge to avoid using the word "just" to describe myself. For example, I won't say, "I'm just a mother," "I'm just a student," or "I'm just an ordinary person."
3. I pledge to give myself ten minutes of silence and stillness every day to get in touch with my heart and hear my own voice.
4. I pledge to use my voice to connect my dreams to my actions.
5. I pledge to use my voice to empower myself and others.
6. I pledge to serve my community at least once a year in a way that benefit other people.
7. I pledge to ask myself, "Who am I? What do I believe in? What am I grateful for? What do I want my life to stand for?"
8. I pledge to sit down and write my own mission statement.
9. I pledge to live my own legacy.
10. And I pledge to pass it on.

Thanks, Maria.... I needed that!! Tell the Governator I said hi!!