"The Promise" ~ Writers Island

DECEMBER 6, 2007

Usually...
when I receive a prompt to write,
the ideas, images, and feelings just flow...

Not so with the promise...

I've struggled with this one all week...

[Rambler](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a0ca0df914e6beb5f43d271/5b6e1f401c8655a69cf9259c/5b6e24a11c8655a69cf9da5e/1533944993062/?format=original) said to me that this is because when you are so close to something, you sometimes just can not write about it...

He said promises were important to me.

He is right.

I have made so many important promises throughout my life,
gave them my heart and soul,
and then broke them,
or had them broken back at me...

Now...

I promise to pay my taxes, my mortgage, pay off my credit card each month... but are these really promises or contracts??? What is the difference?

I promise to follow the traffic rules and regulations of driving. Please tell this to the police officer who gave me a ticket four months ago, claiming I "rolled" through the stop sign???

I promise to take myself to my [dance practice](http://www.transformativedance.com/) every Sunday morning, for it is the place where I pray through movement and stretch myself to be more present in this life...

I promise myself to not make this dance practice a have to. That if I need to sleep in, sink into my art studio, curl up on the couch on a Sunday morning... then that is OK too...

When we wrote our marriage vows, second marriage for both of us, my husband and I promised to give each other the best we had to offer, and to allow the other to change, and to not make the other responsible for the other's happiness... We promised to pursue our own spiritual lives and growth and then share them with each other. We promised to be kind to each other and to listen... and we promised to share our love with each other and watch it change and grow...

There are now very few promises I make, or accept. I've lived long enough to trust that me, or the person making the promise, is doing the best they can in the moment. But I'm wise enough to know that most promises are impossible to keep... all we can do is show up in the moment and live from our hearts, or from whatever force is moving through us in the moment...

Photo: The last of the ginko leaves now falling on my early morning walks.

© 2007 "The Promise" for [Writers Island](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a0ca0df914e6beb5f43d271/5b6e1f401c8655a69cf9259c/5b6e24b41c8655a69cf9dbbf/1533945012187/writers-link-the-promise?format=original)