You Can Still Be Who You Wish You Were

             

I've noticed something quite interesting that happens at my work, each and every shift. (For those of you who don't know I work at a behavioral hospital) At the beginning of my shift, we go through something called "shift report" where the off-going nurse sits down and gives us an update on all the patients that have been on the unit that day. The nurse will vent her frustrations with certain patients who have been extra difficult or demanding and give other relevant information for us to know. Something unique for me though, was on one occasion, I specifically remember how the previous nurse had labeled this patient as sometimes being "manipulative". When I began to go about my shift this patient approached me and gave me a valid request, I fulfilled but I remembered reacting to it negatively inside myself, this women's perception...had become my perception. Even though this patient had done nothing for me to call them "manipulative", I already felt they were pushing my "limits" so to say.

           The reason why I bring this story up is because I've been reading a book lately titled "As a Man Thinketh" (good short little read) and it focuses on how we are the product of our thoughts. The book title is referring to the scripture which states Proverbs 23:7 "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." What truth there is to that statement! The core of what makes us..us..is our thoughts. Thoughts mold into habit...thoughts manifest themselves in our actions....thoughts mold into our character...our character is ultimately who we REALLY are. I love the realization I've come to just by monitoring my thoughts and the effect it has upon my mood, negative feelings certainly only follow negative thoughts and vice versa. 

              "A man's mind may be likened to a garden which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will, bring forth." - ("As a Man Thinketh") Our thoughts each day that we choose to dwell upon are the seeds, when we reinforce those thoughts through continued validation and rumination, those seeds break forth and grow into plants, which eventually are the garden of ideas and core values that make up our mind and soul. Are the plants inside our garden Thankfulness, Opportunity, Optimism, Light, Goodwill or are they Discontent, Problems, Pessimism, and Darkness? Everyday, whether we realize it or not, we are tending to our gardens, which plants or ideas are we watering?...which seeds or thoughts are we planting?...

            We can shape our circumstance through our thoughts. We can shape our environments through our thoughts and change it. You can still be who you wish you were, all it takes is the right gardening. I'm committed to prune and beautify my garden, for that is what God wishes us to do. Our minds are in our control, as well as our happiness. The Grass is Greener where you water it. Finally Awake.

Never Looking Back

"I had a dream so big and loudI jumped so high I touched the cloudsWo-o-o-o-o-oh x2I stretched my hands out to the skyWe danced with monsters through the nightWo-o-o-o-o-oh x2
I'm never gonna look backWoah, never gonna give it upNo, please dont wake me now
Oo-o-o-o-ooThis is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ifeOo-o-o-o-ooThis is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ife
I howled at the moon with friendsAnd then the sun came crashing inWo-o-o-o-o-oh x2
But all the possibilitiesNo limits just epiphaniesWo-o-o-o-o-oh x2
I'm never gonna look backWoah, never gonna give it upNo, just dont wake me now
Oo-o-o-o-ooThis is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ifeOo-o-o-o-ooThis is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ife
I hear it calling outside my windowI feel it in my soul (soul)The stars were burning so brightThe sun was out 'til midnightI say we lose control (control)
This is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ifeOo-o-o-o-oThis is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ifeThis is gonna be, this is gonna be, this is gonna beThe best day of my lifeEverything is looking up, everybody up nowThis is gonna be the best day of my li-ifeMy li-i-i-i-i-ife"

           I found this little gem of a song a couple of days ago at work, I love the lyrics and feel of it.  I don't know if any of you ever have this experience, but on occasion as I'm just casually thinking and reflecting about my life, I have a moment of clarity and it leads to such a great feeling of happiness for me. I had that experience again, today.  "And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come"Doctrine And Covenants 93:24                        These moments of clarity, I believe is when I begin to see "things as they really are", as the way God wants us to see life. I began to see clearly today that I am completely in control of the circumstances and outcomes in my life. I believe that is the way God wants us to meet every problem that we come across in our life, with confidence that we can make the right choice, with confidence that He will guide us, and confidence that everything will work out for our good. Our Father in Heaven put us here on earth to SHINE to all the world as a testament that we are his divine children, the greatest of all of his vast and beautiful creations, and how often I forget this.                         More specifically as I was having this moment of clarity, I realized in part the truth of this song's lyrics of "Never Looking Back". What a strange sight would it be to see someone walking up the street, but having their head turned completely around analyzing every past step they took. However, we often do this in life constantly living in the past of our decisions and bad memories. The Savior came to liberate the thing that is most precious to us, our souls, to free us from having to look back...in fact he is the embodiment  of "Never Looking Back". I don't want to waste this gift anymore, to wake up each day to the blessing of a New Day and New Opportunities to Have Joy.                        Friends! Let's not look back harshly on our past lives, past choices, past actions, but with faith go forward and live our lives. Learn and Never LOOK Back. God, our Father, Intended us to Live not to Exist. Never Look Back and go get the lives and blessings Our Father has promised us. God Exists and Hears Us. Finally Awake.

“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”                                                                                                                                      ― Joseph Smith Jr.

Happiness is a Choice

This is me acting like a fool. This summer I have decided to go on a campout on a month in a means to redeem my eagleless self. It started when I thought about wanting to go on a campout a month ago while I was working the night shift, and it has snowballed into me buying scout shirts and making up merit badges. It is quite ridiculous but I'm so glad I decided to do it. Happiness is a choice.
        If you're like me and when you hear "Happiness is a choice", you most likely think one is talking about simply changing your perspective or being more optimistic, which we sometime think (like me) that is a little bit of philosophical baloney. Although I go think that perspective is a big difference maker, I would like to take a different thought on "Happiness is a Choice".
      In my room I have a quote printed out that says "I'm so glad I decided to leave the house today." I think that is completely true. God has given us the great gift of agency to be able to choose to not only change our perspective but to ACT. Happiness comes from making those small decisions to act to become happy, whether its getting up out of your bed and visiting a friend, deciding to go to the gym, or to a social event. Most times before we make those small decisions, we have the strong urge to stay in our "comfort" zone, we have thoughts to just stay in, not talk to that person, or to not address what is bothering. The difficult part of happiness is being able to overcome those doubts and negative thoughts and feeling and being able to ACT, ACT our way to Happiness.
      Friends, that is something I have been learning in my life and more and more, is to give up those doubts, fears, "comfort" zones, and to become what God wants us to be and that is someone who is Happy. He has invited us to act and not to be acted upon, we are the masters of our destiny and the captains of our soul...the real question is do we have the will power to take the wheel and chart the course of life that we have control over. We do. I know it, and I hope we can continue to get better at overcoming those thoughts and fears and ACT for ourselves to be happy! I know I still have to make progress in this area but I hope to one day conquer myself in this dept. Have a Good Week Friends....and LEAVE THE HOUSE!

Taking out the Rumination

                 

Taking out the Rumination.

                If you look for it...it's everywhere.  You'll find it littered in almost every conversation, in all different scenarios. Whether it be a walk through the mall or in your own home...most times... out of our own tongues. It's like clouds in the air, it's their all the time but most of the time we don't even notice them. What am I alluding to?

                 Rumination. (I get my vocabulary point for the day!) Rumination in simple terms is either conversating about or mentally dwelling on our problems. Ahh But it doesn't stop their...not only is rumination dwelling on your problems either socially or mentally but it's dwelling WITHOUT moving into problem solving. Rumination is a cancer of a happy soul and life. It's such a counter productive way of thinking but we do it pretty much all of the time.

                How many times a day do we think about our problems? For each time you think about your problems do you also tie a solution with that thought? (If you're sometimes like me, you dont) Step back and think about that...how crazy is that?! Imagine your cable going out on your T.V. and just sitting for days..weeks...months... and just thinking about how much you hate not having cable, how horrible the situation is, how sad you are because you don't have cable....yet...you never call the cable company? That seems like pure insanity to most of us...however we do it often in our personal lives. We immediately stew and visually reproduce our problems over and over again in our mind until we feel like dirt, but we take our time in moving into the realm of thought such as "Well, what should I do to fix this?"

                Their's an excellent example of this in the Book of Mormon: 

18 And it came to pass that as I, Nephi, went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow, which was made of fine ^asteel; and after I did break my bow, behold, my brethren were angry with me because of the loss of my bow, for we did obtain no food.

 19 And it came to pass that we did return without food to our families, and being much fatigued, because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of food.

 20 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly, because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness; and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did ^amurmur against the Lord.

I love how Nephi responds to all of this:

23 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did ^amake out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my ^bfather: Whither shall I go to obtain food?

              So..the whole family is breaking down due to the bow and arrow being broken, even Lehi, the prophet, begins to murmur against God. Here in the woods...across the ocean...thousands of years ago...what do we find lurking in this Book of Mormon story...Rumination. Everyone is sitting around thinking about how bad their circumstances are, without moving into problem solving. And what does Nephi do?...He goes and just makes another bow out of wood. problem solved. Nephi was a problem solver, he never delved into the land of self pity or made a small journey to despair, he simply solved problems.

             The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about solving problems. About looking our problems square in the eye, humbling ourselves, and with the help of the Lord overcoming our problems. As we go about moving into problem solving in Christ's way, he will make us into the happiest person we ever conjure up in our imagination. Joseph Smiths said the whole object of our existence is to be happy...so let's decide to fix those things that are stopping us from being so! If you don't like something about yourself, your environment, your life, you can fix it!...We are children of God and powerful beyond measure. I hope we can all stop complaining, fixating, dwelling, and ruminating on our problems. Let's fix them. I love the Gospel because it is the blue print of how to solve problems correctly and be happy in life! Let's determine to be more like Nephi in 2013 and Change those things that are keeping us from living the life we want to live!

              

My First Post! Boom.

Element Number 1: The Holy Ghost

           I have officially entered the blogging world. "One small step for Todd, one giant leap for blogger.com"...I'm pretty sure that's what Armstrong would say if he were here in Provo with me right now. haha Well, I've decided that it would be a good idea to have a platform where I can share the things, testimony, and principles that I have learned in my short sojourn here on Earth so far. So buckle up kids, and I hope this benefits anybody who reads this, I know it will benefit me. My mission president said the best way to invite the spirit was to bear testimony, that piece of advice has really stuck with me.

         A main reason I've chosen the Holy Ghost as the first topic I wanted to share about is because of the PROFOUND impact it has on my life. When I first experienced feeling the spirit in my life, it totally changed my personal views, and how I went about my life. From the first day I experienced God answering my prayers to this very day it has effected almost essentially all of my decisions. That really is the power of the Holy Ghost, the power to change the human heart.

         The first time I recognized and experienced the Holy Spirit in my life was in the MTC in South Africa. Previous to my mission I had lived a fairly good life but definitely not one in line with somebody who truly has been converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I entered my mission, without a testimony, however I was willing to work. I remember that I was for once in my life dedicating myself to God and service, and I prayed to Him that I might know if what I was doing was true. I promised I would work hard if God told me it was true. He did, I remember one of the following days being in class and experiencing the feeling of the Holy Ghost for the first time. What a GREAT feeling, I never wanted to be without the feeling of the Spirit from then on. My conscience was awakened and I felt bad for everything I had ever done that I hadn't even though about before...haha because in my life I knew now God was there, and the things I had done in my life were wrong. For me that was so huge for me in my life, just to know that God was there. I KNEW GOD LIVED. I knew he existed. It changed me forever.

          Since then I have felt the Holy Ghost many times after in different situations and for different reasons. I hope one day I can become an expert at having Him with me and knowing what he would have me do. I just wanted to share one more thing about the Holy Ghost I have learned. I believe righteous actions invite the Holy Ghost. Someone might be thinking "That's not very profound"...thats because it isn't. haha The reason I share that, is because I love feeling the Holy Ghost but often feel like it can only come in special occasions or when I'm completely pure. However, I believe the Holy Ghost is just waiting for to confirm our righteous actions, if only we would DO them. Too often our priorities are messed up, whether it being wasting away in front of the T.V. or other time wasters. If we make righteousness a priority in our life, the Holy Ghost will make a priority of being with us. I fail so many times at thinking about doing good things, but not doing them. Often I let my current feelings control me, but I've learned if we put away our feelings, and just exercise our agency the blessings of the spirit will reward us for going against what our natural man would have us do. 

         Well, Hopefully I'll be on here regularly to share the things that I know and learn. I hope we can all share our testimonies with everyone. In fact I challenge anybody who reads this to bear their testimony of the Gospel in some form throughout the coming week. Jesus Christ Lives.

Love...Todd

P.S. Are their anythings that have helped you invite the Holy Ghost in your life? I would love to hear!