Be Happy Now

This article made some good points, but my favorite point is below:

"Deferring happiness until some hypothetical future experience only serves to rob you of the only happiness that truly exists — that which is available in this moment."
-Beth Berry
(http://mothering.com/all-things-mothering/green-living/tools-tips-and-how-to/10-good-ways-to-be-an-unhappy-mom-no-matter-your-number-of-children#.UHS2hH0kWvQ.facebook)

An Inconvenient Messiah

What a wonderful talk. My favorite part is when he talks about "Yes, but not this way."

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1984/02/the-inconvenient-messiah?lang=eng&query=inconvenient+messiah

stop comparing

"There's a reason why we all struggle with insecurity. We insist on comparing our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. Stop it."
+Steve Furtick

Will Smith

“Stop letting people who do so little for you, control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions.”

-Will Smith

Insecurity

"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel."
- Steve Furtick

Being "Offended"

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else."

- David A. Bednar

Marjorie Hinckley

What a wise, sweet woman...

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."

-Marjorie Hinckley

Continue in Patience

One of my favorites from this conference:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/continue-in-patience?lang=eng&media=audio

There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!

Impatience, on the other hand, is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all-too-prevalent condition called “center of the universe” syndrome, which leads people to believe that the world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role.

CS Lewis and temptation

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

― C.S. Lewis

Dr. Seuss

"Today YOU are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youEr than you."

Showing Love

"Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume, we should let them know."
-Thomas S. Monson

Love "Thy Neighbor"

What an incredibly eloquent man C.S. Lewis was:

"Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you did... When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him... Whenever we do good to another self... desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less."
-C.S.Lewis

Shine

"You can be excellent in every way. You can be first class. There is no need for you to be a scrub. Respect yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Do not dwell on unkind things others may say about you. Polish and refine whatever talents the Lord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities."

~ Gordon B. Hinckley

THIS is love

One of my favorite quotes on love. REAL love.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident..."

-Louis De Bernieres

Kimball on Marriage

President Spencer W. Kimball explained:

“When the Lord says all thy heart, it allows for no sharing nor dividing nor depriving. …

“The words none else eliminate everyone and everything. The spouse then becomes preeminent in the life of the husband or wife, and neither social life nor occupational life nor political life nor any other interest nor person nor thing shall ever take precedence over the companion spouse. …
“Marriage presupposes total allegiance and total fidelity. Each spouse takes the partner with the understanding that he or she gives totally to the spouse all the heart, strength, loyalty, honor, and affection, with all dignity. Any divergence is sin; any sharing of the heart is transgression. As we should have ‘an eye single to the glory of God,’ so should we have an eye, an ear, a heart single to the marriage and the spouse and family

Best Pres Hinckley quotes

I'd be lying if I said that I don't at least come close to tearing up just reading some quotes by Pres. Hinckley. (And if I HEAR his voice when I'm listening to one of his previous talks, forget about it. The tears just come). What a kind, sweet, inspirational and HAPPY man he was.

"Stop looking for the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight."

"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work."

"Life is to be enjoyed, not endured"

"You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it's your choice"

"Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we'll do, to press forward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain."

Nightmare Sports Parent

LOVED this article. Parents are pyscho, especially when it comes to their kids and sports. This is a good reminder for all of us!
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/more-family-fun/201202/what-makes-nightmare-sports-parent

"Hundreds of college athletes were asked to think back: "What is your worst memory from playing youth and high school sports?"
Their overwhelming response: "The ride home from games with my parents."

"Those same college athletes were asked what their parents said that made them feel great, that amplified their joy during and after a ballgame.
Their overwhelming response: "I love to watch you play."

"Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ...they come."
-Jeffery R Holland

"Hardest things seen today, will be better the next day, if you choose to serve the Lord THIS day"
-Henry B. Eyring

A Correct Perspective on Life

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most puts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration most jobs are more often dull than otherwise...The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Elder Holland Conf April 2012: The Laborers in the Vineyard

Soemthng about the way this man talks, he FORCES me to listen to every single word he says. He will speak bluntly and call you out and then end with tears and words of comfort and encouragement. This talk hit me because I realized the struggle I have with envy. What a beautiful talk!

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-laborers-in-the-vineyard?lang=eng&media=audio

"Furthermore, envy is a mistake that just keeps on giving. Obviously we suffer a little when some misfortune befalls us, but envy requires us to suffer all good fortune that befalls everyone we know! What a bright prospect that is—downing another quart of pickle juice every time anyone around you has a happy moment! To say nothing of the chagrin in the end, when we find that God really is both just and merciful, giving to all who stand with Him “all that he hath,”2 as the scripture says. So lesson number one from the Lord’s vineyard: coveting, pouting, or tearing others down does not elevate your standing, nor does demeaning someone else improve your self-image. So be kind, and be grateful that God is kind. It is a happy way to live"
-Jeffery R Holland

"Generally Speaking the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves. By and large, if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

How Many Times a Day

Let's start with one of my all time favorites:

"How many times a day to you bargain with yourself to avoid maximum effort? How often have you compromised somewhere between maximum potential and minimum daily requirements? That is just human nature, you may say, but beware of lurking danger! For it does not take long for the minimum to become the maximum you are willing to do. When the minimum becomes the maximum, the sum of your life becomes mediocrity. That is the way people for countless generations have lost a great portion of that character called "excellence." All too often we are willing to settle for a 'comfort zone of mediocrity' caused by a diet of minimum commitment, minimum effort, minimum risk and minimum accomplishment in life."
-Author unknown