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- Living a Happier Life (Part Three: The Power of Positive Thinking)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPeace, Vision and Belief overcome the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt that stand in the way between you and a full and happy life. Don’t be caught saying or thinking things like “I knew that would not work out”. You live a self-fulfilling prophesy one way or the other. Positive thinking attracts goodness to your life and brings a power. A study once showed that basketball players could actually achieve higher shooting percentages by thinking positively and envisioning themselves making baskets than by actual physical practice. It is scientifically proven that stress kills you in a variety of ways and that positive thinking people are healthier.

There is more going on around you than you realize. When you act in a positive way to accomplish good in this world there is real power that will accompany you. This is not just some superstitious new age metaphysical thinking either. They happen to be on to something, but don’t really understand the source of the good and evil powers manifesting themselves in this world.

Universal rules of outcome:

Light attracts light and grows brighter and brighter. “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” – D&C 50:24

“As a person thinks so are they” – Proverbs 23:7

“…whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” – Galatians 6:7

“…If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” – Matthew 21:21,22

Self-affirmations to repeat to yourself each day:

  1. I believe in myself and my abilities.
  2. I define what it is to be me.
  3. Good things happen to me.
  4. I am comfortable with the here and now and have a bright future I am excited about.
  5. I have talents and skills that are recognized and am using them.
  6. Today is a great day to live, I am going to make the most of it to find and spread love, joy, peace, success and prosperity in abundance.
  7. I acknowledge God as the source of all good in my life.

Your attitude and thoughts emanate as positive or negative energy and affect what happens to you throughout the day. Fear and worry are internal states of mind that cause anxiety to build up. These eat away at your initiative, self-confidence and reasoning abilities. Positive reinforcement of good thoughts however have the affect of bring in more light which is contagious to those around you. Others are affected by your presence by this unseen force you bring into a room and all respond to you as you to them. If you desire others around you to be friendly then you must project that in your attitude towards them in sincerity. Your thoughts and feelings are more apparent than you think. No one can take control of your mind unless you permit it. Be the master of your thoughts and establish healthy patterns and you will see positive outcomes all around you.

Questions to ponder:

  1. What can you internalize a positive attitude about?
  2. Be 100% positive for a complete week and write down what happened.
  3. What will you visualize yourself doing?
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- Living a Happier Life (Part Two: You can change!)

1223029_44558770You can change your state of being from what it is today to whatever you want it to be just by changing your thinking. Some people can be taken and put into a less than optimal situation and can turn it around. This is because these people know what they want, envision the outcome and center on the positive outcomes they wish to happen. This is making lemonade out of lemons. Find a purpose to your life which is your reason for living. Make it bigger than yourself for the greater good of the world.

Universal rules of change:

Change is hard. You resist it. Those that know you resist it. Change is a constant.

“…be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” – Romans 2:12

Steps to change:

  1. Know who you are, what you are about and what you want.
  2. Imagine yourself as what you want to be and act it out.
  3. Keep at it. Be constant and consistent. It takes one to two months to establish the rewiring in the brain and become comfortable with it.
  4. Don’t listen to the scoffers.
  5. Reward yourself for the steps you make in progressing towards your goal.
  6. Know what you have to accept about yourself and embrace it and do the best with it.
  7. Ask God to make it possible.

Questions to ponder:

  1. What do you find purpose in living for?
  2. What do you want to change?
  3. Can you measure it?
  4. What actionable steps need to be taken?
  5. What is the timeline for it?
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- Living a Happier Life (Part One: Self-Image)

1044093_89152896Your self-image is the mental and emotional picture you hold of yourself – your capabilities, and what you represent.

People limit themselves when they say or think things like – “I am not good enough, too fat, not capable, not wanted…” Ignorance, fear, doubt and uncertainty are all tools of Satan to get us to feel poorly. Every negative or positive image you have about yourself will affect what happens to you throughout the day. Every outward action is first an inward thought. If you have internal positive emotions of love, courage, respect, faith and confidence it will bolster you and propel you to greatness. Believe it or not, a great deal of your health, wealth and happiness are reflections of your inward thoughts.

Your self-image is partly a product of your environment. How you were raised, and what others told you about yourself gets deeply engrained in your brain. However, no matter what it is, it can be rearranged in your mind to be constructive. The destructive thought can be replaced with positive self-image thoughts.

This is a five part message that is meant to help each of us be lifted to higher levels of happiness and being. Our self-image is key to being able to make progress in life and achieve a higher state of happiness.

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- Boasting not allowed

Christ did not walk around in his ministry in a prideful and dominating way, but did so as a humble servant. He even grew from grace to grace in truth and power until he received a fullness of the Father (D&C 93:12). The scriptures say that through small and simple means are great things brought to pass. Mighty men such as Enoch, Abraham and our modern apostles and prophets are not arrogant and prideful. They are in their calling because of their humble service and bearing of difficult trials.

“Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly.” – (D&C  136:32,33)

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- The art of listening

If you ask someone what the essential elements of good communication are, you might be surprised how many would not even think to mention the importance of being a good listener. Yet, in a two-way conversation, it is so vital to be able to control yourself and not interrupt the other person when they are speaking. More importantly, you must be able to focus outside yourself and understand the other person.

We are all too often only interested in making our own ideas and opinions known. Instead of listening, we are only thinking about what we want to say next. Developing good listening skills takes practice and is something that few people take the time to really master. No skill can show your sincerity as much as that of being a real intense listener.

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- Following a Religious Tradition or living a Spiritual Experience

Statistics show that there is a departure happening from Christian denominations. Many people do not find it practical anymore to keep living a religious tradition that they were brought up under. It is hard for people today to accept authority over what they feel should be a more personal experience. It may thus be that people no longer want to think of themselves as religious in the traditional sense, but as more of a person that believes in God and desires a spiritual connection to Him. In her book titled “Christianity after religion”, Diana Bass explains this trend and what it means. Starting on page 76, Diana outlines five events of what she calls the “Horrible Decade” that led many to turn away from religion.

  1. The September 11 terrorist attacks.
  2. The Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal.
  3. The Protestant conflict over homosexuality.
  4. The religious Right political involvement.
  5. The great religious recession of 2007.

“All three of America’s great Christian traditions – Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical have bungled the faith pretty badly in the last decade…” – Diana Bass

What will it take to cause a great awakening to happen that Diana Bass is calling for in her book? The answer is that there needs to be real individual conversion.

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- America needs a Declaration of Dependence

America is trudging through an economic crisis as is most of the world. Our government has lived beyond its means and we have a national debt that we can no longer pretend will just evaporate on its own. This week we reached $16 trillion in government debt and we have no idea how far it will grow or how to stop it. Think about all the wasted money that goes towards paying the interest on that debt each year. It is estimated that the US will pay $5 Trillion in interest on that debt over the next decade. Debt never sleeps, it just eats away at our prosperity and drains all possibility of actually getting ahead and being a great nation again. It was an alarming sign when the special debt commission Obama put together came back and said they had failed to come up with any solutions that could be agreed upon to solving the crisis. Federal chairman Ben Bernanke can try all he likes to postpone the fall, but it will only come harder as we play more games that only ensure collapse.

Alongside the debt, we are facing many other economic distresses in our country. We have had higher unemployment than we have seen in a long time. Inflation such as with gas prices can really set a person back. Wage deflation is happening as companies fire and replace workers with cheaper labor. A lot of people are under water with their mortgages. Many people are fearful about losing their jobs. Students graduating from college can’t get jobs.

We heard from the Republicans at their convention where they actually had the real-time debt clock ticking away for all to see. They said they will take hard measures to get spending under control and reach a balanced budget. The Democrats hold their convention this week and are sure to be full of promises. Do we really trust our politicians to get us out of this mess? Even if you have one or two in office that really do know what is necessary to do, we really have no hope for getting anything done because of the way Washington breaks down along party lines. Politicians in Washington refuse to ever cooperate to solve the problems together.

I propose we take a step back and really think about how we as a country got off track in the first place and face what is fundamentally going wrong that is pushing our country to the brink of collapse. Our country is falling apart for one reason and one reason only. The real reason for our demise is our turning away from God. We have sinned as a nation and need to turn to God for forgiveness and help. In doing that we can gain the blessings of God and become a great nation again. We cannot fix our countries debt and financial crisis by Wall Street wizardry, White House bail outs, congressional oversight committees, mere spending cuts or higher taxation.

The key to prosperity comes from keeping God’s commandments and worshiping Him. That is the only way we will ever turn around the economic crisis we are in. America has had a Declaration of Independence, and we now need a Declaration of Dependence. Dependence on God. George Washington said it was in vain for us to hope for prosperity as a nation if we left out religion and morality.

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.” – George Washington

In the Bible when Jonah was preaching to the city of Nineveh he told them of their impending destruction. Johan 3:5 tells us “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”. God’s mercy came to them and they were spared. We in America are under a special charge as revealed in the Book of Mormon.

“Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.” - 2 Nephi 1:20

We find rampant a worldliness that leads masses to idolize the indecent and seek for riches and self-destruction. We can pack stadiums with tens of thousands of fans and have millions watch on TV our idolized athletic heroes, and yet find just a handful of people to attended a church worship service or render relief to the needy of the nation. America is ripe in iniquity. Today we have faithlessness, mocking of God, immorality, dishonesty, pride and greed. Our only hope for being saved from destruction is to have government and the citizens of America seeking to repent and find every commandment that we are breaking and stop and start keep the them. Bring back the open dependence on God in prayer for his saving us through sending His son Jesus Christ into the world as a sacrifice. This is the only sure budgetary plan that this country should be considering in this crucial hour.