Introspection to Integrity

"The understanding of self which comes with introspection provides the responsible leader with one of the most fundamental attributes of effective leadership- integrity. In the meaning here intended, integrity implies that a person has developed over time, a consistent ordering of his systems of values, attitudes, and goals. In common terms, he has come to know his own mind, conscious and unconscious, and for what he stands and for what he will fight."

-J. Douglas Brown as Quoted in "You've Got Charisma" by Lloyd John Ogilvie, p.48.

The Flash of Human Intelligence

"Project the look on a child's face when he grasps the answer to some problem he has been striving to understand. It is a radiant look of joy, of liberation, almost of triumph, which is unself-conscious, yet self-assertive, and its radiance seems to spread in two directions: outward... inward.... This look is the sacred.... It is the steady, confident reflection of that light that you look for in the faces of adults-particularly of those to whom you entrust your most precious values. You look for it in the eyes of a surgeon performing an operation on the body of a loved one... you look for it in the person of the man or woman you marry."

"That light-bulb look is the flash of a human intelligence in action; it is the outward manifestaion of man's rational faculty; it is the signal and symbol of mans' mind. And to the extent of your humanity, it is involved in everything you seek, enjoy, value, or love.... The desire to vanquish that look is the desire to break man's spirit."

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. p.304, by Ayn Rand

"A quite remarkable definition of success..."

"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness- simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and , above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain. By the proper use of experience and thought one can draw much from oneself, by determination and patience one can even restore one's health... so let us live life as it is, and not be ungrateful."

George Sand in Og Mandino's "University of Success" pg. 11

The Emotional Complex of Busyness

"One could conclude that busyness is a fantasy, a story we live and talk about. When we say we're busy, we're really saying that we're caught in an emotional complex where our will is trapped and we're not free to do things we might wish for ourselves. One effect of this complex is to keep us divorced from nature, which asks for contemplation and other unproductive activities....

One simple way, then, to re-enchant our lives is to divest ourselves somehow of this "busy" complex. We might do work that we love, give up the futile task of proving ourselves to anyone, keep money within perspective, and do whatever is necessary to enable us to walk away from our work and activities if our soul requires it."

The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life by Thomas Moore p.6

The Law of Cause and Effect

"Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind... what we sow is what we reap. And when we choose actions that bring happiness and success to others, the fruit of our karma is happiness and success."
Deepak Chopra "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success"

Think about it... what is the true power of:

a compliment
a hug
a smile
trust
commitment
kindness.

They are truly infinite. Seriously, try it today, go give someone a compliment on their shirt, tie, shoes, and ask them where they got it, or tell them one thing you appreciate about them, you'll be amazed. Live the principle of giving.

"Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6:38

If you want to create a frenzy of good things in your life, start giving good things away today, compliments, smiles, peace, kindness. If you want affection, first give affection, if you want attention, first give attention. You can seriously create a positive cycle/frenzy of good things if you give first what you would like to receive.

Try it.

"Strive instead for happiness..."

"Do not aspire for wealth and labor not only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love, and most important, to acquire peace of mind and serenity."
Hafid in Og Mandino's "The Greatest Salesman in the World"

The Greatest of all Games

"Life to me is the greatest of all games. The danger lies in treating it like a trivial game, a game to be taken lightly, and a game in which the rules don't matter much. The rules matter a great deal. The game has to be played fairly or it is no game at all. And even to win the game is not the chief end. The chief end is to win it honorably and splendidly."
Sir Ernest Shackleton

Downloads4Charity, I support it cuz I started it!

Hey folks, this is a worthy cause. Click on the "get this widget" button and install this on your blog, and get your friends to do the same. Anyone who gets their downloads through this widget will have 3% of their purchase given to charity, its a charity downloads project, pretty cool. It just has to have lots of exposure. So if you feel inclined add it to your blog and facebook and make some money for the kiddies. The Make-a-Wish Foundation is an awesome charity... people cry all the time because its so awesome! thanks y'all.

Learning, Growth, and Pain

M. Scott Peck:

"Those things that hurt, instruct."

"My assertion that this world is an ideal environment for human learning suggests the possibility that it might have been constructed by God for that purpose... we're here to learn and be prepared."

"While we cannot create our own souls, we can steward them well or badly. In the choice we make to grow, we can become cocreators of ourselves, whereas when we resist growth, we are rejecting the role of being cocreator with God."

"Those who are most healthy learn not to dread but to actually welcome problems."

*All from the book, "The Road Less Traveled and Beyond" by M. Scott Peck

A Tribute to The Greatest Principle

I spy a principle... it's fruits are clarity, liberation, knowledge, freedom. It takes the most energy to live, but returns the most in joy/faith/light/progress. It frees us from fear, darkness, and some pains.

"Some may regard the quality of character known as honesty to be a most ordinary subject. But I believe it to be the very essence of the gospel. Without honesty, our lives... will degenerate into ugliness and chaos." Gordon B. Hinckley, Seer *the opposite of ugliness is beauty... opposite of chaos is order.*

"At first it seems that telling the truth is more uncomfortable and difficult than telling a lie. And it is just this conviction that leads us to lie in order to hide our weaknesses and avoid giving explanations or getting into trouble- out of laziness or perhaps out of fear. Yet it is falsehood that in the long run is more difficult and complicates our life....

"Not only is honesty compatible with genuine kindness, it is the very basis of kindness.... As long as you are not living in the truth, you cannot really communicate with others, you cannot have trust, you cannot relate. As long as you do not call the hard realities by name, you are living in the land of dreams." Pierro Ferrucci, "The Power of Kindness"

If you can live a second of truth, you can live a minute of it... and an hour, a day, and a lifetime... then you will have nothing to hide and you will have no burden forever.

A Thought on Purpose

"Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. with the majority the bark of thought is allowed to "drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction."

James Allen in As A Man Thinketh

Take this in...

This will knock your sox off:

Hubble Photos

There used to be an argument about whether the universe was expanding or contracting. I side with the expanders.

Purpasire... the strength of meaning

Some thoughts on productivity.

Since I've been out of school for over 4 months, I am experiencing down time like I never even imagined existed. I've learned that the following three give meaning to life:

Purpose
Desire
Passion

Combine them and you have the word: purpasire.

These unlock the key to happiness.

Those who have no purpose do nothing, have nothing to work for, they live an inert, unimportant life without influence. Purpose provides access to the imagination, it leads to creation. Purpose, in each moment of the day connects your present with your future.

If you have a desire, that is worthy, the universe gives you permission to follow it, until you attain it to the last particle. If it is worthy, then it is worthy of your thought, time, emotion, will, strength, and life. A worthy desire awakens ultimate genius.

Passion causes your whole being to become involved. Your mind, heart, toenails, eyebrows quiver with energy when passion drives you in the moments of your life. Passion is the soul of meaning.

Live for something.

Do you like music?

I started a new blog today, its for those of us who love music, its designed to bring the best, new, undiscovered music to you. Anyway, take a look if you dare to see how cool it is, and how cool the bands are that I put on there.

theemoproject.blogspot.com

An Amazing Book

I'm finishing this book this week, "The Book of Secrets" by Deepak Chopra.
A deeply spiritual book, I have found myself becoming more philosophical and deep as I read and think of what it is teaching. A lot of it is even cross-reference-able to the scriptures. Anyway, its VERY COOL. Some teaser snippets:

About living with passion: "When you do anything with passion, you express every aspect of who you are. Passion releases all the energy you posses.... What drains energy, strangely enough is the act of holding back (p. 247)."

About materialism: "Nothing in [the material world] is essential. The only personal stake worth having is the ability to create freely, with full awareness of how reality-making works.... Being a creator is more important than the whole world (p. 27)."

On randomness: "Nothing is random- your life is full of signs and symbols (p. 103)"

Anyway, its awesome, click here or on the picture above to see the half.com
listing for the book, its a good one if you're into perspective and progress.

Cast the Pod

So, I'm not even sure how the heck we got this done, but if you want to hear some money impromptu podcasting click here to hear some of the best advice and good times you have heard in a long time. It even has a rest hymn and... well anyway, its TNT (Tiffany, Nikki, Tommy) podcasting at its best. Its rowdy.

The Kidz

My first week home doesn't really need an explanation, just take a look at the attention I'm getting... and this video clip... its enough to make anyone jealous and make you young again.

A Fireside Talk

Though my blog may look like some religiously overzealous creation, don't take it that way, I just only put things here that really matter to me. So, I'm speaking in a fireside next Sunday, and this is what I just finished, and it came with a lot of power to me, so I share it with you, its short but I learned a lot from it. And its not polished, but its pretty much a breakthrough for me to realize some of the things I realized while preparing it. Many of the ideas come from "6 Events" by Stephen Covey and others can be found in the scriptures. I only put it here because I wish everybody I ever met understood these things. Read it yo.

"The Most Important Thing"

Today I’m taking a huge risk in accepting this short speaking assignment. It is a great risk because I know that there are probably some of you here who are what we like to call “Investigators” and there are some of you who are what we call “Members” and others of you who we would call “Friends”. But for the next ten minutes I want to wipe that all away, I want the window of your understanding to be clear and transparent, your heart to be open to being taught by the Spirit, who is God. For the next ten minutes, we will see ourselves as we really are, you are, each of you, children of God. And that is all that really matters, you are part of His eternal family, He is the Father of your spirit, you are His child. And you are His. He has claim upon you by the simple fact that He is your Eternal Dad, and you can have claim upon Him if you obey the Gospel of His First Son, who came to earth and was called Jesus, who lived in the Meridian of Time, was raised by a man named Joseph and woman named Mary. He came to earth, taught us, organized a Church with Apostles and authority, suffered for us in a Garden called Gethsemane, and spent his last mortal moments nailed through his hands, wrists, and feet to a wooden cross on a hill called Golgotha. He was buried in a tomb, but raised his body up three days later by a power which was given to Him by His Father. This is the frame of reference from which I invite you to look with me for the next ten minutes. It is through the eternal perspective of who you really are in relation to God and His Son who created this earth, and desires to save every creature in it.

Not only is The Atonement of Jesus Christ the most important of all on this earth, but for us it is the most important through all of eternity. But to understand this event we need to remember that it reaches out to claim every soul who ever lived on this earth, and it reaches out to claim every soul who ever lived on any of the worlds that our Father ever created. A personal encounter with this Great God of the Universe is recorded in the Book of Moses… it says:

“[Moses] beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof. And… Moses called upon God saying: Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them?.... And the Lord said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me. And by the word of my power have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth. And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten…. For behold there are many world that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them…. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words. For behold, this is my work and my glory- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

The Atonement of the Messiah is the most transcendent and most meaningful event in the entire whole universe.

If I could I would explain to you each instance in my life in which the Atonement of Jesus Christ has saved me, healed my heart, made me feel safe, brightened my day, comforted me, brought peace to my heart, lightened my heart, lifted my mind, forgiven my sins, or connected me to The Father, through The Son, by the Holy Ghost. But those instances are too many to be counted. I mean, it would be like trying to sit here and tell you about each time my heart beat, or my lungs breathed, or my eyes blinked. And I have to add that its my personal belief that those small events: a heartbeat, a breath, an eye blink only mean anything because The Son of God loved us enough to suffer to the maximum extent for our growth, our happiness, and our eternal life. And that each moment and each heart beat is a gift, coming out of that Great Sacrifice. After all, it was He who in the beginning gave us each life, and it is He who gives the ultimate meaning to that life.

With that in mind, I want to end by sharing with you some insight of the identity of that Christ, that Messiah, because understanding him helps us to understand ourselves. Because as we come to understand the life of the Savior, it show us our true value, and we believe more the words, we read that say, “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.” And we understand what the Savior was trying to tell us about us when he said , “Father I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” And as He told the Nephites, “I came into the world to do the will of the Father…. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me…. And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me…” So as I started by asking you to wipe away any labels, or preconceived notions of who you are, I am now asking you to be at the same time centered in Christ, and centered in yourself, only because it will remind you that when the Savior said or did anything, it was for you, it was to show you who you are, and to remind you how much you are loved by that God who created you. So as I share a few teachings of the Savior, feel free to indulge in a spiritual Christ like self-centeredness, and for a moment realize and understand how important you are in the plan, and why Jesus taught us the following:

“I am the true vine… abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

“I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. I am that bread of life.”

“I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

“I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

“I am thy shield, and thy exceedingly great reward.”

“I am God.”

Who then are we:

“Ye are my friends… Ye are the salt of the earth… ye are the children of light.”

Now seeing Christ for who He is, and us for who we are, we see ourselves for who we can become. And make no mistake that this is real, and this is true, and if you follow the Gospel, this will be you in the end of eternity, if you are faithful.

“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also. This is eternal lives- to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.”

And so with that said, we all are reminded that this is the root of the Gospel, and this is the most important thing, that each soul comes to know God, and to know the worth of their soul. And when we or the missionaries invite you to study some scriptures, and pray to know of its truthfulness, that our real invitation is to help you to come unto the Christ, who is the Son of God. To come to know Him in reality. To understand yourself, and to receive eternal life, and eternal joy, and eternal happiness.

I personally invite you to always pray, to always study the word of God, to seek and to keep seeking always, the truth. You who are recently acquainted with the Church, I plead with you to never stop searching and never stop learning about this Work because it is the work of God. If you never stop searching, and if you are sincere, you will know it and you will share it too. Take time each day, to understand yourself in a Christ-like self-centeredness.

I know that these things are true, that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most important of all events to ever happen in the whole universe. That Jesus is the Son of God, and He lives. That this is the work of God, He started His work again through Joseph Smith, and He gave the Book of Mormon to us to teach us of the reality of our worth and our relationship to Him. There is a prophet today, and we can follow him as the Lord speaks through Him to teach us how to be happy forever. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

'The place whereon thou standest is holy ground...'

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; And only he who sees takes off his shoes.” - Elizabeth Browning

If you want to read a really short, supercool talk click here... its called "Seeking the Spirit of God."

And then go watch an episode of "Planet Earth" for the full effect.