Fabulous Five

Almost a week into my chosen practicum for my Book of Mormon class. Another day of feeling like I am headed in the right direction. Work and school today. Home for dinner and American Idol with Bill. It is late and I must get to sleep. I read Helaman chapter seven at work. I posted on the discussion board. I met with Amanda for a couple hours. I can go to sleep happy.

Day Four

     Today was a work day. I left work planning to go to Jamie's house to help her clean out a room for Harvey to stay in. She called in the middle of the morning to say she wasn't going to be able to get the room ready for him and he will need to go to a motel. Bill is still refusing to let him come to our house. We called him this evening and he is on the train, on his way here. Harvey makes me sad. I don't want him to be like this.
     I think about being happy a lot during the day. As I read the scriptures and try to improve myself, I feel less discouraged. Nothing has changed in my life. I still work in Scottsdale. I still get up too early. I would love my wages to be doubled. I have now read two of the three articles I plan to read this week. Both articles say the same thing: Happiness comes from obeying the commandments. In an article Happiness it is worded this way, "As we seek to be happy, we should remember that the only way to real happiness is to live the gospel. This has never been more true for me then when I went to see my brother after not getting together for many years. He was nearly unrecognizable, his face swollen, legally blind, shaky, needing help to get from room to room. I attribute the difference between us to our religious convictions which dictate our behavior. Alma 41:10 says, Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
    I held my first interview today. I have been afraid to strike up a conversation, not sure how to start. I will get comfortable as I complete a few. This interview was with Brynn, my eleven year old granddaughter. She is a member of the church, active family. I asked her on a scale of one to ten how happy she was most of the time. She said she was a 7-8. I asked her three things that make her the most happy. She listed, in this order: 1. Dance 2. Friends 3. Clothes.  I asked her what she changes when she is unhappy and she said she listens to music. The last question I asked her was what the happiest time in her life, so far. She said it was performing at the Holiday Bowl this past December and anytime she has been at Disneyland. This was an easy interview. I think Brynn will change her answers as she grows older, but for now she is a typical kid. I see her as cheerful most of the time. She is very helpful all of the time. She has confidence and is very sweet. I can use her as an example in my quest for happiness.

Day Three, Miracles do Happen

     Last night felt crushing as the Harvey project consumed time and space. After reading Helaman 3:35, Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation...I decided to fast and pray for a solution. I prayed to know if putting Harvey in a motel at $40 a night was the correct solution. I went to bed and slept peacefully through the night. I woke up to the alarm with a peaceful feeling. The crushing pressure of the night before, was no longer present. I prayed before taking my shower again asking for assistance with the decisions to be made. As I went through the day the feeling of peace did not leave me. The day went quickly and I did not feel the usual drive to eat. At one point I told myself that food is overrated!  Upon arrival at home I changed into my running clothes and headed out on my 3 mile run. The time I spend running is the best time of day. My body is working and that causes me to think more clearly. I often work out an aggressive feelings that have built up during the day. Also as I was run my thoughts turn to gratitude and testimony. Today I was again thinking how grateful I am for my healthy body. As I ran today I thought about what I would say in a testimony, if I was at testimony meeting. I thought about the incredible feeling of peace I have had all day. I believe this experience is what it feels like to lay my burdens at the Saviors feet and have him carry them for me. Too often I am begging for him so take away what I perceive as hard in my life or I want him to tell me what to do. In Psalm 55:22 it says, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. By fasting and praying for confirmation of a solution I believe I felt the rest he promises when faith is exercised. I have felt a peaceful happiness in my heart all day, which is the kind of happy I am looking for.
   I read my first article on happiness last night as I went to sleep. I did not bookmark it and can't find it today!  Will be more careful so I can record the articles I red.

Day Two Blues

      Whenever I start a diet, day one is a shock, but I am full of enthusiasm for the changes taking place in my life. Then on day two I question what I have committed to and already want to quit. It is a crazy cycle I have to talk myself through. At work today I was on the look out for anything resembling cheer or happiness. Once I arrived home the phone calls and texts started up in connection with the Harvey project. I was determined to read part of my scripture assignment, but it was very difficult to feel the spirit. I read the talk Good, Better, Best on Sunday by Elder Oaks. In the talk he quotes the scripture that says, Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. I am trying to be happy in the midst of crushing circumstances. In Helaman 3:34 it says the more humble part of the people suffered great persecution, and did wade through much affliction. Verse 35 says nevertheless the did fast and pray oft and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility. As I read fast and pray oft I wondered how often oft is? My desire is to do whatever it takes to feel the rest Jesus Christ can give me. I think I will be happy when I am there.

Happy is as happy does.

        Today is the first day of my practicum. My biggest worry is that I will forget to do it! Change always takes effort. Last Saturday Jen and I ran the Color Run in Tempe. We received two temporary tattoos in our goodie bag. The small one said The Color Run, which I applied to the top of my hand on the day of the race. The second one was bigger and it said...HAPPY, in bold black letters. As I've gone through the day today I thought about where to use it as a reminder. I thought about my arm and my leg. My arm would be obvious to me and a lot of other people, whereas my leg might not be obvious enough.
       As I listened in church today, I was heard the word happy a couple of times. As I read a couple of chapters in the Book of Mormon I read about contention and peace. At the end of the Super Bowl there was a lot of happy people and a lot of sad people. I also thought about questions I will ask my two interviewees.
      I had a couple of happy spontaneous moments today. One was when I bragged to my family members about the math test I aced last night after a lot of studying. I love to learn and love to get good grades. Knowing I do well on something gives me happy feelings. My work is stressful...I look for other peoples mistakes and get written up on a report when I miss those mistakes. I keep suggesting a report to keep track of our success in finding mistakes. I need to find a different job. The second happy feeling was when I apologized to my visiting teacher for being short with her on the phone. It took me three days to get the courage up and I apologized via text. I just knew I couldn't face her at church today without sending an apology. She was very kind and respond with a thank you. I am sincerely sorry and I won't feel awkward around her. Doing the right thing makes me happy.
     

What I want to remember to do:
1. Always give my best effort.
2. Do the right thing, even when it is hard.

Book of Mormon Practicum

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.

Book of Mormon Lesson 3 Activity 1

How to Prepare for Our Battle Against Satan

Alma 43:19-22,38  The Nephites had been prepared for war with shields and clothing to protect them during battle.

                                We protect ourselves from temptation through prayer, scripture study, and obedience.

Alma 43:23          Moroni sent men to communicate with Alma desiring that he inquire of the Lord if they go defend themselves against the Lamanites.

                                We can listen to and follow the counsel of the prophets.

Alma 43:26          The Nephites gathered together in battle to defend their lands, country, rights, and liberties.

                                We can exercise our right to vote, be involved in our communities to elect the best candidates and to enact laws that protect freedom and morality.

Alma 48:8-9        The Nephites fortified their cities by building forts and embankments. They placed extra men for protection at their weakest places.

                                We can                 fortify ourselves spiritually by reading scriptures, obeying commandments, serving others, etc. We can evaluate our weakness and double our efforts to improve those areas.

Alma 50:1            Between wars Moroni did not allow the people to stop making preparations for war. They continued to fortify all the cities against the Lamanites.

                                We are always obeying, praying, reading…even on the days we are feeling righteous. We do not take a break from strengthening ourselves, our testimonies, our resolve, our character…

Alma 59:9            Moroni sent reinforcements to the city of Nephihah as he recognized it is easier to retain the city than to fight to retake the city if it fell into the hands of the Lamanite.

                                A doctor once told me it is easier to keep weight off, than to take it off. As I exercise and diet to take weight off I recognize how true his words. It is so with any aspect of our lives. Any time we allow an action to become a habit , it is an uphill climb to remove the habit.

Understand the Enemy and His Strategy

Alma 43:7-8        Zarahemnah provoked anger within his followers against the Nephites with the intention to gain power over both his people and place the Nephites in bondage.

Alma 45:24          They grew proud because of exceeding riches. Did not walk uprightly before God.

Alma 46:8-10      Forgot God. Committed iniquity. Followed Satan. One wicked person has influence on others. Deceives through flattery. Desires to destroy the Church, liberty which is God given.

Alma 53:9, 60:15-16         Involved in iniquity and had dissension and intrigue among themselves. Unrighteousness within leadership and fighting within.

1.       Alma 60:23 & Alma 53:21

2.       Alma 53:21 This scripture states that because a certain group of men were taught to keep the commandments of God, they were men of truth and soberness. This scripture describes the two thousand stripling warriors. They had great faith and attribute their spiritual strength to the teaching of their mothers. I relate to this scripture from two angles. First, as a mother it is my desire that my children live lives of faith and pass their love of the gospel on to their children. My greatest heritage will be a righteous posterity. And second, as I mother it is first my responsibility to know what I teach to be true.  Elder Neal A Maxwell said it this way, “the mothers first had to know ‘it’ in such a way that the young men, observing them closely and hearing them(as is always the case with children observing parents), did ‘not doubt’ that their mothers knew that ‘it’ was true” (That My Family Should Partake [1974],58-59) Just as in placing the oxygen mask over ourselves first if the plane is in distress, I must know and live the gospel before I can teach and share with others.

Alma 60:23 I learned a life lesson last semester in my New Testament class. At the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples that one of their company would betray him. Upon hearing this, the apostles did not look suspiciously around at each other questioning which one would do the crime. Instead they asked the Savior, “Is it I?” From my point of reference, the Twelve are nearly perfect, now and then. My first thought was, why would they ask that? Surely they would know if they were involved in a plot to betray. Then when I put myself in their place and asked myself if I am capable of that sin or any other, I realized their humility in asking, “Is it I?”  I have used this question numerous times when I am in a situation where I am defending my behavior. If I simply ask myself, how I contributed to the situation, I have not yet had a time where I could have been more patient, more helpful, more sincere, etc and the negative situation may have been improved or eliminated. From this ongoing inner cleansing I am learning to be more Christ like. I believe I must improve myself first and most.

3.       A. Valiant for courage

B. Strong and active

C. True in all things

D. Sober

E. They were taught the commandments and kept them

F. Had faith in God

G. Did not fear death

H. Upheld liberty

I. Honored their mothers

J. Obeyed with exactness

K. Firm and undaunted

L. Protected by God as they fought with strength

M. Trusted in God

O. Prayerful and received answers to prayers

P. Remembered God from day to day and to keep His statutes continually

Q. Had faith in prophecy

R. Preserved them after receiving many wounds

The youth of today must be valiant just as the stripling warriors were. They must learn the commandments and follow them. They must follow the ways of the world in their standards. They must avoid pornography and addictive substances of all kinds. Those that set a goal to serve a mission and begin preparation at an early age will receive spiritual blessings.