GOODIES - LOVE IS Campaign/Arkansas/ What's Reel?/ Where's Bill?/ Aspirations - 1/7/11

[Smartmarriages]

- THE MARRIAGE COMISSION LAUNCHES ³LOVE IS² CAMPAIGN
The Marriage CoMission LOVE IS campaign launches Sat June 8th at 8pm with a
featured 60 second spot http://tinyurl.com/28moy33 during the national
airing of CHANGE OF PLANS (a film about adoption ) primetime movie on FOX.
The LOVE IS campaign was designed to serve the Marriage Movement to reach
the public and help connect them to resources for help. The CoMission has
high hopes both about the help of Walmart and Proctor and Gamble and the
fact that the Fox movie is expected to reach 7 million people.
If you have any questions or would like to become a Love Is Partner, please
email Andrea Lee at  Andrea.Lee at loveishere.com.
The CoMission will be partnering with FOX Family Movie Night on their
upcoming movie Dear Annie when they integrate the LOVE IS campaign into the
storyline of the show.

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- PRACTICE IN ARKANSAS
Hello, Diane:
I am retiring from my practice at the end of this year so there is a great
opportunity for a strong and experienced MFT that has some administrative
and organizational skills.  This is a thriving practice with over 6000
sessions last year and we have a great referral network in the area.  NW
Arkansas is a great place to live and raise a family.  More about our center
can be read on our website:  http://www.freshrootsfamilycounseling.com/
If you have a way of getting this information out to experienced
pro-marriage therapists I would appreciate it.
Dell Christy Tyson 
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- WHAT¹S REEL & THINGS TO KNOW
Two great new resources from the Dibble Institute to help you teach teens
and young adults about Marriage.

What¹s Reel: The Myths and Facts about Marriage
In 7 one-hour lessons, What¹s Reel teaches teens, often for the first time,
what¹s true about successful relationships and marriage. Engaging
activities, based on movie themes, help teens compare myths about marriage
with recent research. Šexamine their expectations about marriage Š.become
critical observers of mediaŠ identify good potential partners, and more.
Based on research from the National Marriage Project. Ready-to-teach course,
with manual, slides and worksheets (CD), posters. Sample lessons available.

Things to Know Before You Say ³Go²
Powerful questions to ask before you give your heart away. This compact box
holds 76 cards, each with a challenging question that helps young people
clarify their values, dreams, and intentions for their romantic
relationships. Their answers provide valuable insights about their past
relationships, help them evaluate a potential partner, and assist them in
understanding why a relationship may (or may not) be working. The
accompanying book explains the importance of each question and suggests
areas for future exploration.

For more information and to order the award-winning Dibble Institute
resources: http://www.DibbleInstitute.org
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- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BILL?
Many of you have asked how you can reach Bill Coffin, recently retired as
Marriage Specialist at ACF.
Email: BillCoffin68 at gmail.com  (BillCoffin68 Œat¹ gmail.com)

---------------------------------

- New Year¹s Accomplishments & Aspirations
Mike McManus, January, 2011

Pollster George Barna reports that only 41 percent of Americans will make
New Year¹s Resolutions for 2011.  And of those who made resolutions in 2010,
only a quarter report any ³significant, long-term change² as a result.

Perhaps some fresh thinking is needed.

In our home, each of us sits down on New Year¹s Day to make two lists:
Acccomplishments for the previous year, and Aspirations for the New Year.
We write them down in a notebook, that we pull down each year. Thus, we hold
ourselves accountable.

What makes the ritual fun is re-reading old Accomplishments and Aspirations.

One of my first entries was in 1967, looking back to 1966: ³Became a father
­ and loved it.²  Less wonderful: ³Gained 20 pounds² in that first married
year! Among my aspirations for 1967: ³Lose 10 pounds!²  Of course, with my
wife¹s cooking, that was not achieved.

Each year I aspired to write a book, but did not do so until 1993, 25 years
later! Another goal that took several years to achieve was to buy our first
house.

When our first son was four, his Accomplishment was, ³I learned how to write
my name,² and there it was at the top of the page, ADAM.  He hoped in the
New Year ³to have another baby.² His second brother, Tim, was born that
year. Adam confessed, ³Sometimes I don¹t eat my food, but I will.²

I just spoke with Adam, now 44, who went to a New Year¹s Eve party where he
got 20 people writing their ³Dreams² for the New Year.

By 2006, a four-year-old granddaughter, Olivia, said she learned how to do
somersaults, graduated from a crib to a ³girl bed,² and ³got a baby in
mommy¹s tummy.² Her little brother is now three. Olivia¹s goal for 2007 was
to learn to swim, which my wife helped to teach her.  Last year she won
several swim meets.

The tradition continues.

Barna reports that the type of resolutions that are most popular focus on
self-oriented changes, such as losing weight and the next most favored goals
are financial, such as getting out of debt. About five percent cite career
goals.

Only one percent said they hoped to get closer to God.

One year my wife became a blood donor and set the goal to ³rededicate myself
to becoming an enabler, encourager, listener and doer for those in need of
love, time and my energy and warmth.²

That¹s the Christian woman I was blessed to marry.

Opposite her aspirations for 2004 was a Dear Abby article she saved that
began with resolutions adapted from the original credo of Al-Anon, a support
group for families and friends of alcoholics:

JUST FOR TODAY,             I will be happy. I will not dwell on thoughts
that depress meŠ

JUST FOR TODAY, I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct
those things I can correct and accept those I cannot.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires
effort, thought and concentrationŠ

JUST FOR TODAY, I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be
kind and courteous to those who cross my path, and I will not speak ill of
othersŠ

JUST FOR TODAY I will do what is right and take responsibility for my own
actions.

Finally, Abby re-published the famous Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi with
the most eloquent re-statement of Christian aspirations ever written,
published 800 years ago:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to
console.

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

May your New Year be a blessed one for you and those close to you.

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