I read about writing a personal mission statement and how it can be a great source of energy for personal growth. So I started writing my own. It describes a set of beliefs, values, principles and behaviors with respect to: my self, people in my life, my work, and my marriage. I will share the "self" part. 

Self

I value integrity and self-respect; living my life in congruence to my values, to who I really am, out of respect for my body, mind and soul.

I value personal growth, evolutionary learning through self-reflection, and participating in other people's growth (through non-judgmental support, discussions and experience exchange). I believe that life is a continuous learning process, and that the personal growth that results from it is one of the things that makes it worth living.

I believe it to be essential to take reflective and meditative time for my self; to re-group, re-gain peace and get back in touch with my self. I find it important to reflect and re-evaluate daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and whenever seems appropriate, where I am, and where I want to be.

I believe that food serves primarily a function to nurture my body and keep it healthy, and therefore I value light, balanced, healthy and moderate eating. In addition, I believe that food and alcohol are great source of enjoyment, and I value them playing enjoyable but small part of my life. I believe that my body and my mind use the signals of satisfaction to let me know when to stop, so I take it as a maxim to "stanem kad mi je najsladje" (stop when I feel satisfied).

In fact, I believe that food and alcohol are just one of many more sources of joy in life. I value play, fun, rest and self-care activities. I find it important to have them integrated in my daily life. I also value enjoyment in physical activity and exercise. I believe our body wants to move, and that it will be grateful when we integrate moderate (no pushing), diverse and enjoyable exercise in our life; it will make me feel better, more stress-resistant and overall more ready to live a full and balanced life.

I believe in flexible rules for living - all the values should not be translated in strict rules that allow no room for me to be human. I will do my best to live my life in accordance to these values, but I will accept that I am human, make mistakes - and that this is all just part of the continuous learning process that life is. I believe in treating my self as a pupil, as a learning child, with love and patience.