Affirmation · “The Subconscious Says Yes”
Promise Yourself
Set a fixed optimistic and other-regarding attitude at the start of each day by reciting Larson’s twelve resolutions, so the whole day’s thought, speech, and conduct run from that stance.
Each morning, slowly recite Larson’s twelve “Promise Yourself” resolutions — be too large for worry, talk health and good to everyone, see something in everyone, look to the sunny side, expect the best, be glad at others’ success, forget past mistakes and press on, smile, improve yourself instead of criticising, think well of yourself and prove it in deeds. Carry the one or two that fit today’s test through the day. Resolve a stance, don’t demand a result. Review at night and resolve again.
What it is
The single most famous Larson text: the twelve “Promise Yourself” resolutions he placed at the very head of Your Forces and How to Use Them (1912) as the keynote for the whole book. Optimist International adopted the first ten lines, word for word, in 1922 as “The Optimist Creed,” which is why most people meet it without knowing its author.
As a practice it is a standing daily affirmation regime: a fixed set of resolutions, recited each morning, that installs an optimistic, benefit-finding, and other-regarding attitude before the day begins — distinct from a wish-affirmation (“I am wealthy”) because every line is a resolution about how you will hold yourself and treat others, not a claim about what you will get.
Larson’s twelve, as printed: “Promise Yourself — To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticise others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear; and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”
The Method
- Recite on rising, before the day starts. Read or speak the twelve resolutions slowly each morning, in order, so the attitude is set before circumstances begin pulling at you. (Larson’s wider rule, from Ch. V: “say to yourself a thousand times a day” what you have resolved — repetition is the installer.)
- Mean each line as a present resolve, not a wish. Each begins “To be…”, “To talk…”, “To make…”, “To look…”. You are resolving a stance, not demanding an outcome. Larson elsewhere: “He who is his best develops the power to be better.”
- Carry the keynote lines through the day. Pick the one or two that most answer today’s challenge (e.g. “too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear”) and re-sound them silently whenever the day tests them.
- Bias speech outward. “To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet” and “give every living creature you meet a smile” are acted, not just felt — the creed is meant to show “not in loud words but in great deeds.”
- Convert criticism into self-improvement. When the impulse to criticise rises, route it back into line nine — “give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticise others.”
- Review against the creed at night (consistent with Larson’s broader regime): where did you hold the attitude, where did you drop it, resolve to hold it tomorrow.
Source & Lineage
Your Forces and How to Use Them (1912), printed as the epigraph to Chapter I, “The Ruling Principle in Man.” Optimist International adopted the first ten lines as “The Optimist Creed” in 1922; it remains in use worldwide, which accounts for its frequent mis-attribution to “Anonymous” or to Optimist International.
Christian D. Larson (1874-1962), New Thought author and founder of the New Thought Temple in Cincinnati. → (larson christian d).
Common refinements
Reciting on autopilot. Twelve familiar lines glaze over fast; slow down and actually take each as a resolve for today.
- Using “the sunny side” to bury real feeling. Optimism here is a working stance, not a ban on grief, fear, or honest assessment. Feel what’s real, then choose the constructive response.
- Treating it as a getting-affirmation. It is about conduct and bearing, not acquisition; pair it with action (“great deeds,” not “loud words”).
- Criticising while reciting line nine. The line is a redirect — catch the criticism and turn it into self-work.