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This week: Looking Ahead Edited by: NaNoKit  
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2016 has been a tough year for many of us. All we can do is look ahead...
This week's Spiritual Newsletter, then, is all about moving on and hopefully shaping a better future.
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As we reach the end of 2016, I think it is fair to say that it’s been a pretty tough year for many. Every year has its ups and its downs, of course, but I know that I am far from the only one who has found this one draining, and who is pretty desperately hoping that 2017 will be a whole lot better.
It doesn’t work like that, of course. We can mentally mark periods of time by giving them a beginning and an end and a convenient number, but events are always in motion. Whilst it would be nice to think that as the clock strikes midnight in each nation there will suddenly be peace and harmony and an end to anything bad, it’s not going to happen, is it? Still, I cannot help but look forward to a fresh start. To a period of time in which we can collectively breathe a sigh of relief, and relax, and work towards something better. So, if 2017 is going to be it, that would be great.
We’ve got to look ahead, after all. I’m one of those people who tends to cling to the past. Who can all too easily allow it to affect the now, and who will drag it into the future, and in many respects that is never a good idea. The past may shape us into who we are, with each experience adding something or taking something away, but there is a general tendency to especially carry around the bad, the pain, the fear, and whilst that is understandable it can often lead to more bad, more pain, more fear, leading to a cycle of hurt... and for what? It is better to learn one’s lessons and move on. Which, yes, is one of those pieces of advice that is easy to give and a lot less easy to put into practice.
If we don’t look ahead, though, then what do we do? Let’s say, for example, you participated in NaNoWriMo this year, and for one reason or another you didn’t make it to 50K. Isn’t it better to give it another go next year than to tell yourself that this recent experience means that you are incapable of completing such a project? Maybe you tried your hand at poetry and it didn’t work out. Why not attempt a different prompt, a different theme, a different form rather than declare yourself a non-poet? If I look back at my old poetry, I cringe. But it was a start. No doubt, if I look back at my current poetry in years to come I will shake my head – I know that I have so much to learn still. We grow, we evolve, and if something is worth working on, that’s what you’ve got to keep on doing.
So it is in all aspects of life. We can feel discouraged. Lose faith – in ourselves, in others, in general. Sometimes our entire belief systems are shaken. Rather than allow that to wear us down, we can see it as an opportunity. If questions are raised, let’s find the answers. If analysis is required, let’s analyse, let’s learn – as long as we don’t fall into the trap of overanalysing everything, this can be a healthy process that can turn us into better people, stronger people, people who are capable of facing the future.
I am going to take a chance here and just come out and say it – collectively, we are not in a very good place right now. I don’t believe that I am the only person who feels that we are tiptoeing along the edge of a series of events and we can go either way... we can head towards the above-mentioned peace and harmony, or we can head towards the exact opposite and I, for one, prefer that first option. 2016 has made me feel all too often that we’re going in the other direction.
Let’s look ahead, then, and make some choices. We’ve all got to make them. Some like the idea of New Year’s resolutions, and that’s an option. Others don’t like to define their goals as such and that is fine, too. I have set myself some goals for the New Year: I want to get back into shape, do some things I have been great at avoiding for a good while, graduate, get onto a Master’s course etc.... personal things that differ from person to person. I am also setting myself the goal of being the best person I can be. Nicer. Kinder. To let go of past grievances and move forward.
Now, I don’t want to seem all high and mighty, because I seriously have no grounds to be. And we each have to make our own decisions. And I might well fail. Wouldn’t it be great, though, if the world was just a little bit of a nicer, kinder place for us all? That would really be something to look forward to.
I wish you a Happy New Year!
NaNoKit
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Spiritual: December 28, 2016 Issue [#8050]
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