I would like to
practicum to include two parts. Initially I wanted to improve my journal
writing. I am inconsistent at best when not assigned. As I was researching
journal writing I noticed my patriarchal blessing and read through it. I was
hoping to find a suggestion to write my life history or the mention of
recording my life, but it doesn’t. Instead this caught my eye, “I bless you,
dear daughter, with happiness. You are a worthy young girl. The Lord wants you
to be happy, more happy than you have been at times.” Although no longer young,
happiness is a chore for me. It is not my habit. Therefore, with permission I
would like to keep a journal of the experiences and feelings of happiness I
have. It will be beneficial to read articles about happiness and gospel living.
I will look for and learn from other happy people. I plan to write these feelings on my blog. I
plan to learn the habits of journal writing and happiness at the same time.
In
a talk by Elder Benjamin de Hoyos of the Seventy we are taught that happiness
is a condition of the soul. He said, “Life is good, if we live in such a way to make it so and happiness is
the purpose of the gospel and the purpose of the redeeming Atonement for all men. He then states
that it is in “wanting to” that we can learn of God and be happy.
As
I try to understand happiness I have looked at other people and have questioned
if they were “born that way.” As with all others I have experienced difficult
trials. I have kept a mental list of them so I can use when I need to defend or
justify unhappy feelings. Then several years ago a widowed sister moved into my
ward. Her husband had recently passed away. She was left with three sons to
raise on her own. She had married her husband and moved here from Italy, so
English was her second language. In her heavy Italian accented comments in
Sunday School or Relief Society she reflected this tragedy in her life. Two years
later her comments still reflected this tragedy. It was at this point I
realized she was stuck and was in the habit of defining her life based on this
experience. It was then that it clicked that I too was stuck and in the habit
of defining my life by sad events. I believe happiness is not genetic, but
learned and practiced. Again from Elder Hoyos in relation to happiness, this joyous state comes as a result of
righteous living. If I understand
Elder Hoyes, righteous living brings happiness. I have the gospel and I am
practicing my religion, so why am I so gloomy?
The
Family Home Evening Resource Book states that a journal is a continuing record of meaningful experiences
that affect our lives. We are therefore individually responsible to
record the events of our lives. President Kimball said this, “Those who keep a
personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily
lives” This aspect of journaling is a direct blessing for obeying the command to
write our experiences in journals. A suggestion as to the actual writing was
given by President Kimball, he said, “Your journal should contain your true
self rather than a picture of you when you are ‘made up’ for a public
performance. … The truth should be told, but we should not emphasize the
negative.” Therefore journaling is a record of our experiences, helps keep the
Lord in our remembrance, is a command, and should reflect our true selves.
Two songs are
sometimes combined together and it is called a mix up. My question is what
happens when happy experiences are mixed up with journaling?
My plan is to
1.
Journal
every day.
2.
Read
3 articles on the subject per week.
3.
Find
and talk to 2 happy people every week. Report in my journaling who I talked to
and what I learned from them.
4.
Look
for the tender mercies of the Lord every day and include my discoveries in my
journal writing.
5. Pray for success in my practicum.
5. Pray for success in my practicum.
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