@ Lenn – Actually, this was one of the times when I thought the movie was superior! It’s a rare occurrence but I really felt that way here. Granted, I am not a huge fan of Palahniuk’s style and much prefer his ideas to his actual writing. So that’s my own bias. =)

Oh, and did I mention there is a nude beach scene? Oh god of all the things to cut out for film… /cry

@ saundra – I don’t know Flylady! What is that?

@ Sarah – “I am fearless” is *really* good. I think I’m going to steal that one!

@ sj – I’m totally with you on the cheese factor, it’s what kept me away from this sort of stuff for so long. But man, it works! So cheesiness be damned. I like your attitude of embracing it – over the top cheesiness like writing on the bathroom mirror (which I’ve totally done). Love it!

Also, regarding the a/theism and claiming your own rituals, what game-changing realization! Talk about empowering. =)

I’m having a hard time with family issues so for that I will go with
“I am moving forward and creating my own healthy family.”
Simple, but works.
As far as a more generic, applies to my whole life mantra, I may have to rip off some famous ones here and come up with something like
“I am unconquerable. I am not afraid of anything or anyone. I am the master of my fate, I am the captin of my soul.”

:-)

I love this! I’m gonna be SUPER cheesy and write it on my bathroom mirror.

a little of topic but… I’m a recently freed by calling myself an agnostic, from a very conservative religious background and sometimes I miss the verses that were used for encouragement/bettering one’s self purposes, and I love that you can not believe in a god AND still have something like this. haha, my journey is slow and sometimes I’m a little retarded in thinking one group of people get to ‘claim the rights’ to different ideas… so it’s nice to realize “oh! i can no longer say i’m a christian AND still have encouraging mantras! saweeeet!” :-)

Definition #4 is perhaps the least confusing… unless we start talking etymology.

At the “This too shall pass” folks up there, a friend of mine has that tattooed on her wrist :)

For me, I’m going with “I am fearless” for now. I may switch to “I love you” at some point too. I hear it from others enough (because I am blessed), but I’ve been thinking I need to hear it from myself too lately.

<3 Good timing with this one. Thanks, Sayward.

my mantra this month i think will be
You are confident, and you are worth it

“Sun is warm. Grass is green.”

I definitely think that humility is important, as long as you also have self-confidence. Too many people, women especially, confuse being humble with being to selfless or even self deprecating, which I think is what Catt was getting at. You can love yourself and meet all your own needs and still be humble! But that idea is foreign to many, and definitely confused by our culture.

For me, there is a clear distinction between pride and arrogance. Pride is healthy – I can be proud and still be humble. I do not think arrogance is healthy as it operates in a framework of competition, and I prefer to think in a context of cooperation. But at this point I think it’s just semantics, as I agree with the essence of erosan’s point – maybe just not the exact words he used.

@ Ria – You ARE worthy, you ARE valuable, and you DO have purpose. That’s the damn truth! I’m gonna check back at the end of the month, and you better be believing it by then! =D

@ Melissa & MathTutor- I’m so hard on myself too. So, so hard on myself.Realizing I didn’t have to be perfect (I mean *really* realizing that) was huge, so liberating. I still struggle with it but it’s getting better. Luck, ladies!

@ Minna – Yay! haha

@ ellie – Girl, you can make that mini mission #2! ;-D

@ RK – “I am immune to criticism” – I like that.