I once had a roommate who made a promise to himself to abstain from a particular vice for a period of time and then actually kept that promise.  I remember thinking that was really odd.  I respected him for it, but the way I saw it a promise to oneself never had to be kept because there was no second party to offend. 

It would not have occurred to me to make a promise to myself.  Is that even possible?  Isn’t a promise defined by commitment to another?  New Year’s resolutions are rather like promises to ourselves.  How many of us keep those?  If I make a promise to myself it’s just as easy to release myself from that promise. 

So now I’m wondering.  Do you make promises to yourself?  Do you keep them?