Gotta get caught up, here...

‘People don’t resent having nothing nearly as much as having too little.’ – Ivy Compton-Burnett

 

‘To be upset over what you don’t have is to waste what you do have’ – G. W. Lyon

 

‘Pride, like humility, is destroyed by one’s insistence that he possesses it.’ – Kenneth Bancroft Clark

 

‘They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.’ – Andy Warhol

 

‘Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.’ – James Baldwin

 

‘Americans have sought the value of everything in this world only in answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?’ – Alexis de Tocqueville

 

‘We Americans are the best informed people on the earth as to the last 24 hours; we are not the best informed as the events of the last 60 centuries.’ – Will Durant

 

‘A pessimist is a man who looks both ways when crossing a one-way street.’ – Laurence J. Peter

 

‘Constantly choosing the lesser o two evils is still choosing evil.’ – Jerry Garcia

 

‘The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer, it’s that there are so many answers.’ – Ruth Benedict

 

‘Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.’ – Albert Schweitzer

 

‘The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this victory can never know defeat.’ – A. J. Cronin

 

‘What you want to do, you do. The rest is just talk.’ – John Cleek

 

‘The individual activity of one man with a backbone will do more than a thousand men with a mere wishbone.’ – J.  H. Boetcher

 

‘It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is, What are we busy about?’ – Henry David Thoueau

 

‘By the time a man asks you for advice, he has generally made up his mind what he wants to do, and is looking for confirmation rather than counseling.’ – Sidney J. Harris

 

‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.’ – Theodore Roosevelt

 

‘The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly.’ – Cecil B. DeMille

 

‘Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong , and second- and best- in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night’s sleep and not being hurt by new shoes.’ – Theodor Fontane

An interesting question from Valerie tonight...

'...what makes a Zealot?'

And the first thing I thought was 'A pylon, a Gateway and 100 minerals!'

Those of you who play StarCraft are laughing your butts off, and the rest are going 'Huh?'

I am Jordan Fauver, and I approve 100% of this post!

Some more good ones...

‘It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’ -J.K. Rowling

 

‘To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.’ -Bertrand Russell

 

‘The destiny of every human being is decided by what goes on inside his skull when confronted by what goes on outside his skull.’ –Dr. Eric Berne

 

‘Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.’ –Thomas Paine

 

‘If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.’ –Albert Einstein

 

‘He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried and failed.’ –William James

 

My mantra to myself: ‘It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s OK to make mistakes. That is how humans learn.’

Well, it has been a while/years since I posted something...

...but these quotes of the day from work ‘spoke’ to me (considering the choices and directions I am making right now), and I felt like I had to share them:

 

‘Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.’ – Robert A Heinlein

 

‘Envy comes from people’s ignorance of, or lack of belief in, their own gifts.’ – Jean Vanier

 

‘Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you have never been hurt and live like it’s Heaven on Earth.’ Mark Twain

 

‘You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.’ – Ayn Rand

 

‘A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants; and secondly, how much more unhappy he might be than he really is.’ – Joseph Addison

 

A man should never be ashamed to own that he was in the wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. –Unknown

 

I could write whole posts about each of these, but now is not the time- soon, however, I will.

 

Just remember- Mistakes are how we Learn! and it is OK to fail, as long as you get up, learn from the mistake, and keep moving forward. Besides, isn’t that what the Atonement is for...?

Things that make me happy...

·         A good book, and enough time to spend with it that I don’t feel rushed

·         Any sort of meal with pasta in it

·         The chocolate cake that I make for anybody, at any time,

·         Apple fritters,

·         Enough time to play computer games so that I don’t feel rushed,

·         A full gas tank,

·         A positive bank account,

·         9 hours of good sleep,

·         A nice, 20 second hug when I am sad,

·         Playing a game of basketball with my friend or brothers,

·         Valerie scratching my head when I am sleepy,

·         How I feel right after a shower,

·         My teddy bear Grey or my Cabbage Patch doll Tommy,

And finally, the one thing that helps me to be happy-

·         A happy wife.

Edit to add: I also am somewhat ashamed and scared to admit that I like Star Trek a lot-especially The Next Generation and DS9. However, as this also makes me happy, it gets included in the list. I omitted it inadvertently from my previous list. Really, I did.

In reference to Val's Zelda post!

From here.

Everything about this picture says it all!

Jan 2010 Elder's quorum ward newsletter article

On December 27th, Howard Fisher invited a former mission companion, Jeff Porter, to teach a lesson about charity and service.

Brother Porter started out by referencing Matthew 25 where the Lord tells the parable of the sheep and the goats and then asked us why the sheep were chosen when the goats were not. Someone said that the people who were the sheep had given service, and the people who were represented by the goats had not. Bro. Porter agreed and then asked what some of the possible reasons were as to why the goats hadn't given service. Someone else said that the goats had been selfish, unable to see beyond their own wants.

He then asked us to relate an experience when someone had provided service to us that was particularly memorable. I thought about how I appreciated it when Matt Johnson and Dewain Jenkins came over 2 weeks ago to help clear all of that heavy, wet snow off of my driveway!

Bro. Porter then referenced Moroni 7:45, singling out the phrase "...seeketh not her own". He said that this made reference to the natural tendency to seek out those who are like us, or with whom we feel the most comfortable. Conversely, charitable people will seek out those who need help, people whose interests are different, or people with whom they would not normally associate.

Brother Porter then talked about the poor Zoramites in Alma 32 and how they had been refused admittance to the synagogue that they helped to build because of how poor they were. Alma didn't care that they were poor, but he cared that their poverty had helped them to be humble. In chapter 34, Amulek further taught the people that unless they visited the sick and gave of what they had that their prayers were in vain, and that they were "as hypocrites who do deny the faith." (v.28) I thought that this was important, to realize that everyone needs to be giving and charitable, even when they think they have few means to do so.

In conclusion, Bro. Porter came full circle and again referenced the parable of the sheep and the goats; he challenged us to get out of our comfort zones and help those who we know need it, not waiting for our bishops or stake presidents to assign us to assist others, but to do so ourselves.

This was a very good lesson, coming as it did soon after Christmas. The tendency during the season is to be extra helpful, but then we allow our efforts to lessen as the new year goes on. Let's not let our good deeds diminish! I know that as we help others as much as we can, whether it is during the Christmas season or not, we will be blessed with the things that God knows we need, and we will cultivate patience and charity. 

--Jordan Fauver

John Paul the 2nd...

Tuesday 8Dec09  – “An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.”

“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”

These quotes come from Pope John Paul II, who I somehow stumbled upon in my trawling of Wikipedia (it’s amazing to me how all things are interconnected). As I read through the things that he did, the ideas he espoused (not all of which I agree with, but most) and the example he was to millions of people, I was forced to conclude that, as Pres. Hinckley has observed,  there are many people of great faith and excellent works in all places of the world, and that truth is found in all places. A person can believe a lot of truth, not having all of it, and still be a good person who helps others, is charitable and Christ-like in every way that they can.

Now, those who know me well know that this realization doesn’t come easily. Where I went on my mission, the cities were full of people who were the antithesis of the ideas I was preaching. Such behavior on their part made it extremely easy for me to be frustrated and discouraged, and encouraged me to be bitter and hostile towards other religions. I thought of them as receptacles of lies and promoters of deceit who actively tried to keep people in spiritual darkness. As one who was trying (not that I think I ever completely did, or even came close [I was too afraid, I think, to have the faith necessary to ‘lose my ‘life...in order to gain it’. But that is another topic entirely!]) to dedicate their time, effort and life completely to preach the truth as I knew it is, these others who were, in my opinion, keeping souls from coming to the truth. I didn’t like that. I also thought the reference of the ‘great and abominable church’ referred to specific religions.

But I think that now I begin to understand just what the Prophet Joseph was saying: these people (even the ones who I think are trying to sabotage the truth and/or keep others from it) are looking for truth, but don’t know where to find it. All they need is someone with patience to help them feel the Spirit sufficiently to help them make the transition from their truth to the place where the fullness of all truth is- the LDS church.

            Truth is found everywhere and is with all people; some have more than others, and thus makes those with more truth responsible to help those with less. Good people are everywhere and are doing good things to help others. Some are closer to God and Christ than I am (which sadly, doesn’t hurt me as much as it should because I don’t think of myself as a very valiant, upstanding latter-day saint in the first place  :c ).

I also realized that the ‘great and abominable church’ refers to the general apathy towards things religious and spiritual, the nullification of God, and the necessity of faith in our lives; it doesn’t refer to any specific entity or organization.

            I begin to realize that I could take examples from John Paul’s life and do better myself: that someone who I didn’t think was worth emulating indeed has Christ-like attributes that I need to develop.

           

Something that isn't about anger! Whoo hoo!

Sunday 29Nov09 – How impressive the human body is! I was reading in Wikipedia about Genomes, naïve T-cells, negative T-cell selection, and other things, and I thought ‘How incredible, literally, is the fact that the human body will be able to do things like store DNA inside of cells, be able to keep one safe from infections after only one exposure to a disease, and that the body will do the best it can on any sort of food that we give it: the food may either still be alive and whole, or it may be cooked, irradiated, denatured and/or toxic, and the body will do the best it can!’ True, if we put sub-standard fuel into ourselves we will have many problems, but just the fact that a person could conceivably live 50+ years on non-living food and still exist is truly amazing.

            And then I thought ‘How much better will our lives be if we choose to eat living things, and reduce the amount of cooked food we eat?’ The body, I think, would hardly know what to do with itself. Probably the body would help one to lose weight because it wouldn’t have to deal with the toxic byproducts of metabolizing non-living food, and could thus continue removing the excess weight that most of us carry. I think this process is called the ‘elimination cycle’, and it is tasked with removing all the ‘crap’ that is left in our body after we eat. The sad part is that it is limited by how much activity we get and the amount of time it has in a day in order to work: usually 8 hours. The analogy I have heard, and that I really like, is that the elimination cycle is like a person tasked with shredding 20 boxes of paper (toxic byproducts of metabolic function) in a normal workday. If everything goes ‘normally’ the 20 boxes get shredded and life is OK. If we, by what we eat or drink, add more than 20 boxes to our ‘pile’, say 21, the body stores that excess ‘box’ as fat in order to try and get rid of it at a later opportunity. The really bad part is when we consistently add boxes to our pile and never give the body or the cycle a chance to get rid of its excess: it is constantly overworked and the toxic buildup increases steadily as we continue to add to our pile. Is it any wonder that so many people suffer from poor health as they are not exercising, thus not giving their lymph nodes an exponentially-increased chance of processing toxins, and are constantly eating more than they should or need and at extremely poor times (thanks, Taco Bell and your 4^th Meal garbage!) ?

            The great part is that as soon as the body has the chance, it will start to deal with the excess boxes we have stored! If we only contribute 19 boxes in a day, the body will take the shortfall and process 1 more box of our excess in order to make up the difference! Thus, the fewer bad things we add to our system, and if we don’t eat at inopportune times (stopping the elimination cycle in its tracks as energy is diverted from elimination to digestion and adding more ‘boxes’ to our pile), the more our body will help to clean us out.

            I know that this process works! I was 275 pounds before Val and I changed what we eat. As I started to eat things that were better for me and eliminated all animal products from my diet, I steadily started to lose pounds: I lost 50 pounds, without exercising (!), in 2 years. True, it wasn’t a fast reduction, but I didn’t even get out and jog once in order to permanently lose 1/5^th of my body weight. Besides, it was healthier for me to lose the weight slowly rather than drop all 50 in 3 weeks: I put it on slowly, and I lost it slowly.

            If you want more info, email Val and ask about the elimination cycle. I think it is found in one of Harvey Diamond’s books. She knows more about it than I do...

            I’m getting off of my ‘weight-loss/healthier-living’ soapbox now, but I know that these principles (veganism, the elimination cycle) are true, that they work. And thus can work for anyone if they will invest the effort to take care of their miraculous body.

 

            The 3 Witnesses and the 8 Witnesses all testified that the Plates were real, and the 3 testified that they had been delivered from an angel. And even though a lot of these men turned against the Prophet Joseph, never would they nor did they deny or refute their testimonies or statements concerning the reality of what they had seen... As I think about the awesome responsibility of proclaiming eternally to the world the reality of the Book of Mormon, my spirit is in awe of these men and their dedication to the truthfulness of the latter-day work. And yes, some did turn away, but others didn’t, and all stood by what they had seen, felt and heard.

            I have to ask myself: would I be able to do the same?

 

Your Star Wars laugh for the day...

http://www.basicinstructions.net/?p=1277