Salutations

This morning I awoke thinking about the New Year and what it will hold. I think about all the salutations that one would give to friends and family such as health, happiness and prosperity. The prosperity bit got me a little bit 'stumped' this morning because it feels like it is a hard one to 'count on' this coming year. I think we should still wish that for everyone but I wonder if people believe it. I do believe that my family will lead a prosperous life, but what is the definition of that. Is it just linked to money or is linked to all things that one is working toward in their lives. If it is the latter I believe that we all can find space this year to find gratitude in the things that ARE going well and to focus on those and hope that the financial bit will follow in due time. I am actually hopeful that I personally will be financially prosperous this year. I am working toward making money this year that I had not been my focus in the past few years.

On a similar topic, I've been following an inspirational writer named James Arthur Ray. He has a philosophy called "Harmonic Wealth". He proposes that to be truly wealthy you must have abundant success in 5 main areas: Physical, Financial, Relational, Spiritual and Mental. If you are highly successful in one area (say finances) but are poor in another (say physical) you will not be or feel truly wealthy....I can definitely grasp this concept and hope to put some thought into these areas of my life and see what sorts of aspirations I can have in each. I plan to put some serious thought into these topics in January, but in the short term here are a few achievable goals I have.

1. Put away the 4 bags full of toys, clothes and other 'stuff' from our trip East
2. Throw away the mismatched socks of 2008 (we got tons of new socks in our stockings)
3. Finish my 2008 photo album (I only need to put Dec pictures in)
4. Finish at least 1 book in January (I'm hosting a book club in 2 weeks so I have incentive)
5. Delete at least 100 emails in my inbox

All of these can be checked off by next week.

My husband and I had a nice long walk while we were on the East Coast. I told him that I would like to set a word for my year and I told him all of the 'things' I am working on. He came up with one that really can actually be quite pertinent to what I want...."unlimited". I'll keep you posted. So in the spirit of a New Year Salutation....here's to health, happiness, and PROSPERITY...to all I know and love in 2009!