No one is perfect. Indeed, expecting perfection is a barrier itself. Because you are human, you will certainly make mistakes. Grant yourself the right to be human and therefore imperfect. Acknowledge where you went wrong, but also remind yourself of all the right moves you made before. And let go of those negative messages that travels through your mind. Discard them and throw them out. Tell yourself you succeeded before and can succeed again. Instead of taking a long, self-destructive detour back to square one, forgive yourself and get right back on track.

Without forgiveness you see every misstep as evidence of inadequacy. When that happens, your self-esteem drops and halts your progress. You get stuck again. But you do not want to be stuck anymore. So, do the very best you can. Practice will. Take one step at a time and reward willpower successes. Employ temptation alternatives and still be prepared to mess up once in a while. Also, be prepared to forgive yourself, restart your engine, and get moving once more on the road to bigger and better change.

Any way you look at it, change requires commitment. You have to commit yourself to take the first step and you have to commit yourself to pursue your goals until you reach them and you have to commit yourself to maintain your new way of life. Most importantly, do the best you can to get what you really want out of life.

Here's my contract that I created for myself(feel free to pass it along and use it for yourself).

I (your Name)______________

Will (your goal)______________

This contract affirms my commitment to accomplish this goal by (date) _________. I plan to honor my commitment one step at a time. If I should make a mistake or give in to temptation, I promise to ask for forgiveness, forgive myself and get right back on track. My signature below confirms my intention to get unstuck and go after the life I sincerely desire and richly deserve.

Signed______________

Dated_______________

Life is keeping our minds in perfect peace. You have to put your will and desires in motion. Remember that after God, you control your destiny. It's up to you to forgive and let go.

Angela M. Thomas CPC

www.AngelaMThomas.com