I had been feeling a bit lost since turning 40 last fall and wanted to do something intentional to reclaim my own priorities and sense of self. Inspired once again by author Gretchen Rubin, I completed a quest to identify my own personal commandments. I. It was a great experience and I strongly recommend you give it a try.
For some inspiration, here are the personal commandments I came up with for myself:
Be the light.
Choose the bigger life.
Consider the impact.
Do it now.
Do the right thing.
Embrace.
Have fun first.
Lean into discomfort.
Let it go.
Look forward.
Look up.
Say yes.
Each of the items are very meaningful to me, and in the next 12 weeks I will be sharing insights about each one of my personal commandments. While it's not a perfect list, it has already helped me start this year off better than any other year in memory in terms of both fun and accomplishments.
If you'd like to identify your own personal commandments, ask yourself some or all of these questions over the course of several days - and write down your answers:
What is most important to you?
What do you want more of in your life?
What do you want less of?
Who do you want to be?
Where do you want to be?
How can you accomplish these goals?
Once you have answered the questions, look for common themes in your responses and start to create your list of commandments. Continue to revisit the list periodically until you have something you love, and then post the commandments where you will see them regularly.
And if you're willing to share your commandments, please send them to me at christin@christinsmithmyers.com. I'd love to hear from you!