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Fortune Cookie #2
In physics, there’s a principle called the observer effect. The observer effect is the disturbance of an observed system by the act of observation. Simplified, the act of watching a thing changes the thing. I’ve been watching my life for happiness and I’m seeing it. Not only around the next corner, but now, every day. It’s in the small things. I cannot adequately express how happy fall weather makes me. Snow in the mountains, rain in the valleys, sweaters in my wardrobe rotation. And the crisp, clear air? People, this is the best season. Hands down. 2. I listened to hours of Christmas music this week and felt great about…
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If the Jaws of Hell Gape Open
How do you survive despair? Where do you turn when all is dark and you feel lost, alone, forgotten? Where, for you, is relief? In my early 20s, I was diagnosed with diabetes. I once wrote about my search for light in that dark time. I cited the scripture passage that brought me peace in the aftermath: “And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine…
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A Not-so-Lonesome Journey
“One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins. Then it has a chance to create a society to match its scenery.” – Wallace Stegner, The Sound of Mountain Water We hiked a beautiful slot canyon this weekend. Imposing and sheer red rock walls. A rocky and uneven desert floor. Chill breezes tempered by patches of sunlight. At some spots, the path had us scrambling and climbing. My nephews, traversing the way with the ease of adolescence,…
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Life Finds a Way
Well, folks, it’s happened. An apostle of the Lord quoted Jurassic Park in General Conference. See for yourself: The lesson here? Always check the footnotes. If you read my last post (Sweat If You Need To) and liked the incremental gains concept treated there, I think you’ll really enjoy the address this rad footnote is from—Daily Restoration by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Do you want to change the shape of your life? Change the shape of your day. Do you want to change your day? Change this hour. Change what you think, feel, and do at this very moment. A small rudder can steer a large ship. Small bricks can…
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Sweat If You Need To
“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.” – Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:27 Some years ago, I decided to complete a ½ marathon. It’s not because I’m a runner; I’m really not a runner. I thought it would be a healthy challenge. It would make me consistently exercise (so as not to die during the event), and I wanted to be fit. Plus, the race I had…