  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline  
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Do you have any goals for this New Year? Do you have anything you'd like to achieve over the next twelve months? This week's Spiritual Newsletter is all about New Year's resolutions...
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As the old year changes to a new year, many people tend to see this as a fresh start, a clean slate. New Year’s resolutions are made, sometimes to be kept, other times to be broken after a while. It’s fascinating, really. After all, every day, hour, even minute of our lives can be used for this fresh start, if so desired, but for some reason we choose January to give our goals another go. Yes, I say “we”, because I’ve made a few resolutions of my own.
The topic of this newsletter is hardly surprising, I suppose. I tried to resist writing about New Year’s resolutions, but in the end I gave in. The reason is that I couldn’t help but wonder how many of our goals this year were set because we feel we ought to. When watching some television over the holidays, the advertisements between shows were inescapable. Before Christmas, the ads told me to treat myself, indulge, because I deserved it. On Boxing Day (as December 26th is called here in the UK), I was warned about the weight I must have put on over the holidays because I probably indulged too much, and told about how I should be slimmer, shape up, be prettier, fit in more, and how if only I spent my money on such and such products I might just become as perfect as the models prancing around on my screen.
This again, is hardly surprising. It’s how the commercial society we live in works. Internet ads inform me that I should whiten my teeth, about products to lose weight fast, about how empty my life is without all the latest must-have gadgets. Newspapers and magazines show me what a woman should look like, even if those ladies tend to be airbrushed because even the most beautiful model in the world is simply not perfect enough. If I were easily influenced, I could find myself aspiring to be something that’s impossible, and such aspirations can only lead to unhappiness.
There’s nothing wrong with aiming to lose a few pounds if we are, indeed, overweight and unhappy about this. There’s nothing wrong with being determined to exercise more if that’s what we truly feel would be beneficial to us. Improving our health can improve our minds, lift our spirits and give us more energy to achieve other goals.
However, we shouldn’t feel pressured into resolutions just because we’re made to feel we’re not good enough the way we are. We’re not all built to be a size 0, and the other way around, we’re not all built to be curvy. The pressure on those of us who are naturally slim is just as big as on those of us who don’t naturally look like your typical fashion model. We’re not all made to be Olympic athletes, or top business men or women. Most of us are fine, just the way we are, and perhaps what we should be striving for this year is the acceptance of ourselves instead of trying to be what we’re not.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have goals, or shouldn’t have dreams. It’s good to have those and to work towards them. I feel, though, that they should be goals and dreams we want to aim for because they’re what we truly want to achieve, instead of targets set for us by society, business and the media.
If we keep striving for something which may be impossible for us to achieve, will we ever appreciate what we have, right now? Will we appreciate the beauty of others, when they don’t 100 percent conform to an unrealistic ideal?
I think it’s time to be kind to ourselves. By all means, follow your dreams… just let them be your dreams, not nightmares forced on you by others.
Happy 2010  .
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A poem about living your dreams, and not being too disappointed by failure.
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A poem about keeping your dreams alive no matter the odds.
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And for those with plans for 2010:
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The Spiritual Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in!
~~~
Incurable Romantic - Kitti,
You keep right on questioning, and writing these columns as you have been. I've enjoyed each and every one of them.
Thank you so much for your encouragement, as always! It's so appreciated .
~~~
salliemoffitt - Thank you for another insightful newsletter. I agree with you that by questioning the status quo, we grow and learn as human beings. If we never ask questions, how can we learn the answers? Great topic, Sallie
Thank you so much, Sallie!
~~~
AL - I was WONDERING why I was getting reviews for this old thing all of a sudden! Thanks! 
Yups, I do tend to dig up older items from time to time.  I should really notify people more often, but I tend to get caught up in my search for items to feature. Maybe I can make that one of my resolutions .
~~~
Zeke  - Come on asparagus isn't so bad. You should reconsider. The whole thing about a spiritual view in my opinion has to do with faith. Faith is knowing something is true without any proof.
Zeke
*Shudders* But it's asparagus!  . And yes, I have a lot to learn still about faith. I admire those with true faith, and hope that I will discover it for myself one day.
~~~
violet - This is quite a sad but this is common to all races. We have in our family an adopted brother.
We adopted him when he was only two days old. And now he's mature and asks the same question although he's learned that God set him for a very special purpose to be in our family, yes even to the rest of the families of believers.
We pray for all who are in this situation to trust God. God bless.
Your adopted family member sounds like a very blessed person. I am glad that he's found such a wonderful family, and such love
~~~
Budroe - hello, my friends. I believe it is true that we do develop attitudes and beliefs as we grow older. There comes a point when it's all been said, after all, on a given topic. But your question leads me to want to tell you that I personally think that is when adults become the most dangerous! Be willing to throw your beliefs up into the air every once in a while. That's where new thought, and new conviction comes from. Learning IS fun, but it can be a very hard task, too. Be well, safe, and happy. Thanks for a great NL
Thanks so much for your words of wisdom. I fully agree with you!
~~~
A. M. Browning - This was my first time to read a "spiritual" newsletter on WDC. I wanted to say that I am one of those Bible-reading people but I do not consider myself to be "religious". I have a relationship with the God of the universe, the one true God and that is what makes me different. I wanted to say that I agree with and love the fact that you, the editor, questions things. I teach my kids to do just that. I don't want them to believe what I believe simply because I tell them too. I want them to ask the same question you asked your grandmother, "Where does God come from?" My daughter even asked me, "How do you know God is real if you can't see Him?" That's what I encourage. I even encourage it in the Sunday school class I teach. Searching for your path is a good thing...just be careful where that search takes you. Thank you for your transparency and honesty. I may not always agree with what you write, but that's okay! I love to be challenged in what I believe!
Thanks so much for writing in! You sound like a wonderful mother, and a great teacher! Thanks so much as well for your kind words. I hope you will stop by again in the future, and that you will find my editorials enjoyable .
~~~
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Spiritual Newsletter Team:
SophyBells  , northernwrites, kittiara
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Spiritual: January 06, 2010 Issue [#3486]
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