Monday, November 26, 2012

Catholic New Years Resolutions

As promised, here are the spiritual, mental, and physical resolutions I am going to work towards this liturgical year, with the intention of having a substantial start by Christmas:

Spiritual


-To spend an hour of uninterrupted time in prayer and meditation-


Mental


-To spend at least one hour reading and one hour writing a day-


Physical


-To do weight and aerobics training daily, six days a week-



Now, these are the big goals.  On each Sunday of Advent, I will post the baby goals that I am going to work on reaching during the upcoming week.  I hope you all are thinking and praying about your goals, and getting ready to TRAIN!!! this Advent!


First image from www.turnbacktogod.com
Second image from www.fotosearch.com
Third image from www.medicinenet.com
I do not support or recommend the above links, they are simply listed as picture sources.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Time to Train!!!

All right!  Here we go!


As all of my regular readers know, I have a horrible tendency to get stuck in a cycle that goes like this:
  1. Get tired of being lazy and accomplishing nothing
  2. Decide to do something about it
  3. Make a list of outstanding goals and steps to turn my life around
  4. Stick to the list for about a week
  5. Start to get overwhelmed and tired
  6. Start slacking off
  7. Forget about the list
  8. Start failing again
  9. Repeat
Unfortunately, ever since starting this blog, my failure to stick to my goals has become very obvious.  I honestly have the best of intentions, and do not want to fail, but there always seems to be something in the way.  



Well, it's time to change that.  After listening to a new Matthew Kelly talk entitled, "Don't just try, TRAIN!" I realized what I needed to do.  I make lists, set goals, create schedules, but rely on the adrenaline to help me succeed.  Instead of making practical plans that I can implement with my current schedule, and which can eventually help me improve, I write out expectations which are too high, and then try to reach them- instead of training to do better.

So, this Advent, I am going to start training, and I'm inviting you all to join me!  We'll call this "Catholic New Year Resolutions"- because the Catholic liturgical calendar begins again on the first Sunday of Advent.  And, they are year long resolutions, because that is what training implies.  When a person trains, they're working to gradually change their lives for the better, with the intention of maintaining the goals once achieved.  For example, if my goal is to start reading the Bible every day, once I've successfully read the Bible regularly and finished it, I don't stop since I reached the goal, I keep going, start it again, read over the passages I found difficult, keep working- because as long as I am human- there will always be room for improvement, because I will never be perfect.  Or, if I want to start working out, once my body reaches the appearance and physical fitness level I dreamed of, I can't just stop exercising or making healthy eating choices, I have to maintain certain habits so that I do not lose what I've finally achieved.



Here's what we're going to do!  First, pick one spiritual, mental, and physical goal you want to reach this year.  For example, maybe you want to pray a rosary a day, read a book a week, and run a marathon.  Those are big goals, but don't worry, we're going to take it slow.  Second, tell a reliable friend, relative, advisor, about your goals, so that you have someone to keep you accountable.  If you want, you can leave a comment telling me about them, and we can also help keep each other accountable.  Third, create reasonable baby steps to help you be on your way considerably by the time Christmas comes.  So, to use our example, decide that by the second Sunday of Advent, you want to be praying a decade a day, and by Christmas, you want to be praying two Rosaries a week.  For the mental goal, by the second Sunday of Advent, be spending at least fifteen minutes a day reading, and by Christmas, a half-hour a day.  For the marathon, by the second Sunday, be running every day for at least thirty minutes- even if it's just a jog, and by Christmas, be able to run a 5k.  These are very small goals, but they are huge steps towards reaching the big goals by next Advent.

As the weeks continue, I'll post encouragements, personal updates, you can comment about your progress, and I'll share the other fun things I'm doing to prepare for Christmas.  The goal is to be able greet the baby Jesus on Christmas without being ashamed, knowing you are truly trying to make yourself worthy of His gift.

What's your job this week?  Do the three things listed, and start implementing them.  Then, next week, we'll be going full-force!

Today, I'm going to pray about what I need to improve, make a plan, and I'll post it tomorrow.  I'd love to hear what you all are planning as well!



Get ready, get set, it's time to train!!!



First image found on Pinterest, originally from www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com.
Second image found on Pinterest, originally from infobuissoniere.over-blog.com.
Third image from zenoferica.blogspot.com.
Fourth image from addicted2success.com.
I do not recommend or support the blogs listed above; they are simply listed as the sources where the images above were originally posted.

Monday, November 5, 2012

One Word Reason to Vote for Romney

In lieu of a "Music Mondays" post, I wanted to make sure I posted about the upcoming election.

Here is a one-word reason to vote for Romney tomorrow:

Life

For the lives of the children being killed every day...
For the restoration of the American right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"...
For the sake of the life and culture of the country...
For the lives of the many jobless Americans...
For the life of the Catholic Church within America...

And for a return to the glorious life this country used to know, when it celebrated its identity as "One Nation, Under God," when all religions were treated (almost) equally, when we weren't afraid to defend our country, when we were proud of what the country stood for, when we didn't have a President who apologized for (what used to be) the greatest nation on Earth, when the price of college and gas wasn't so high, when the debt wasn't so large, when polite behavior was taught and adolescents were taught how to be upstanding men and women, when Lee Greenwood was able to sing the words "'Cause I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free," and when we could breathe easy, knowing we were in good hands.

Will Romney-Ryan restore the old glory of America, and put an end to all the evils that have become a part of our tainted culture?  No, but he will work to provide America with a better future, placing America in God's hands and bringing back a hope long gone.

Please, vote pro-life, vote pro-God, vote Catholic.

Dear God, have mercy on this country if we put that man in office again!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Reboot

First of all, Happy All Saints' Day everyone!!!

Now, down to business.

My life is finally beginning to slow down, and so this neglected space will once again be receiving some attention.  I still would like to, eventually, return to the schedule that I re-introduced back in August (and then became too busy to keep).  My goal is to be on this schedule by Advent.

Also, I plan to do a little blog updating, so I may be messing with different looks, backgrounds, fonts, etc, so do not be alarmed if "A Catholic Teen's Perspective" starts to shift appearances.

Thanks to my followers for hanging in there with me; I was thrilled to see that I gained a few readers despite my spotty posting.  I sincerely hope that you all will enjoy the increased activity in the coming months.

I hope everyone has been having a great Ordinary Time, please take time to research before you go vote (for Romney) this week, and get ready for the reboot of my blog!