  Spiritual
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What part do other people play in your life? Do they inspire you to do good? Does being around them make you want to be a better person? This week's Spiritual Newsletter is about heroes and role models...
kittiara |
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The leaves are falling from the trees and temperatures are dipping below the freezing point. Weather predictions forecast rain, and even some snow is possible for tomorrow. The shops are overflowing with chocolates. On this side of the planet, these are signs that the holiday season is due to arrive.
Is it really that time of year again? Where have the months gone? Maybe it’s old age creeping in for me, but I feel it was only a few months ago that we had the Christmas tree up in our house – a few months, not 11 of them! Soon it will be 2009, another new year, and I’ll be looking back at what 2008 has brought me.
I’ve stopped making New Year’s resolutions a few years ago, but I do still tend to make a list of what I would like to happen the coming year. There isn’t much difference between resolutions and plans, I suppose, because neither of them tend to work out. Perhaps the problem is that I seem to look at a new year as though it almost were a living entity, or at least as though it has a personality all of its own… that a year can be a good one, a lucky one, the year where everything will fall into place for me, instead a bad year where everything keeps going wrong. It’s not like that, of course. Time doesn’t work like that, and life has its ups and downs that are unlikely to have anything to do with luck or “lucky years”.
When I pondered this topic, I looked back at the last few years and I realised that each year may be similar in having those ups and downs, but over those years there has been a lot of change in my life, and a lot of it is mentally and spiritually. I tried to pinpoint what exactly brought this change. It isn’t as if I had gone on a grand journey or quest; the circumstances I’ve been in have been pretty consistent. There have been some big challenges in my life, so the experience that comes from those might have something to do with it – we overcome, learn and grow. Still, I think that the largest impact on my life comes from the people I know… those I look up to and those who, for some odd reason, seem to look up to me.
I’ve never been into hero-worship. Even as a child, I never had anyone I considered to be a hero, someone I tried to be like (apart from a spell when I thought Hannibal from The A-Team was really cool and I begged to have my grandmother’s leather gloves so I could play that role in make-believe games… an embarrassing phase which was mercifully rather brief). As a teenager I was irritated that the musicians I liked were pressured into being role models… I didn’t need a role model; I just wanted to listen to good music, which is what they were there for. I still believe artists should just do what they are good at, and that they aren’t responsible for people’s behaviour.
I do think, upon looking back, that we are influenced by those who are around us, and even by those who touch our lives briefly. If those influences are negative, it makes it more likely for us to follow a negative path, at least for a while. If those influences are positive, it makes it easier to go down a positive road. If my English teacher in high school did not encourage me to write, because he thought I had potential, I might not have been inclined to do so. Nobody else encouraged me back then, but it helped that someone believed in me. On the other side, if I hadn’t tried so hard to impress the cool kids in my class, I would have probably spent a lot less hours in detention!
When pondering the last few years in my life, I realise I am blessed to know some people who are simply genuinely good human beings. They’re the kind of people who are always there for others, who care and share, who are always willing to offer a helping hand and who would give you their last slice of bread if you needed it. I think that subconsciously I’ve tried to be more like that, and though I’m nowhere near as selfless as they are, I think (hope!) I’m a better person now than I used to be.
Getting in touch with my grandfather, last year, who is a man of unshakable faith, has helped my faith grow a bit stronger as well. For him there are no doubts, no matter what life throws his way he simply takes it in his stride and carries on. I admire that, and the beauty of his faith, and the love and care he shows to others. There’s a part of me that says, “I want to be like that. I want to help people like he does. I want to believe like he does.” I guess, in a way, I have a role model after all.
I’m trying to be a better person not just for myself, but also because I have a younger sibling who, in a strange way, always seems to have looked up to me. Hopefully, by being a good person, and becoming a better person, I can be a positive influence in her life, and hopefully I can be a positive influence on the people around me. I can try…
Who knows… when I strive for the best, 2009 may be a “lucky year” after all.
kittiara
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For this week's Newsletter I have chosen a selection of items about heroes, as well as an item about faith, which caught my attention. I hope that you will enjoy them!
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| |  | My Hero (E)
Whether young or old, we all have a hero.
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The Spiritual Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to contact us! 
Usually, I use this section of the newsletter to post feedback from readers as well as my response to them. This week, I will simply post the feedback and say Thank You! I was worried that my newsletter might have been slightly controversial, and your warm messages made me smile and filled me with hope. So, thank you, to each and everyone who wrote in .
dkdoulos - Hi Kittiara, great newsletter! In my view, to ask "which faith is correct" is the wrong question. The faiths you mention all have a supreme being as the author of their faith. They all direct their adherents to do justice, love mercy, live without judgement, etc. I think the better question for all of us is, "does this faith make a positive difference in my world?" Our faith needs to change us for the better. If it does that, then maybe we can talk about it being "correct." Just some thoughts.
~~~
KimChi - First thank you for featuring my children's song in the newsletter. Secondly, as a response to your discussion of various religious doctrines.... "So mote that be!" "Aho!" and "Amen!" 
~~~
spidey  - Very nice & respectful newsletter! I personally believe that no one religion has it exactly right, and I don't believe it's possible to be exactly right. I don't believe humans can know the will of "God" or whatever higher power there is. I think you're right - focusing on those values is definitely a good thing! Great newsletter!
~~~
THANKFUL SONALI back on Jan 4  - Beautiful newsletter! I agree that finally it's all about being good and kind. Incidentally, I'm a Hindu.
- Sonali 
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Lauriemariepea - hi, kittiara--
what an inspiring newsletter--thank you! i've been sitting here thinking since reading your article about faith, asking myself what i have faith in.
i am not a religious or even spiritual person, but i do have faith--my faith lies in humanity.
what inspires me about our species in the face of our capacity for ugliness is the dichotomy we carry within us--the potential for both cruelty and kindness, baseness and beauty. whenever i experience a work of art, or witness an act of generosity, i feel inspired--each instance of Good is evidence of someone working with intention to make the world a better place--if only one small act at a time. when i think of the millions of tiny acts, from a simple smile to the ceiling of the sistine chapel, my well of faith fills to overflowing.
thanks so much for your thoughtful newsletter.
~~~
granny - Siyo Kittiara,I wish to say thank you from my heart for a beautiful letter. I think you said very well, a discription of a good faith no matter what that faith is,to love,honor,and respect each other as humans.And even if one has NO "faith"/religion, when we learn to accept each other JUST as we are,then will there be peace on Earth,and only then.
adadoligi oginalii
granny
~~~
I wish you a wonderful week, full of joy and inspiration .
The Spiritual Newsletter Team:
larryp, Sophy New Year  , kittiara
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Spiritual: November 12, 2008 Issue [#2713]
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