I've Grateful for Versions

I am so thankful for the many versions that now exist of the Bible. Comparing different translations is one of the best ways to ponder and learn. Growing up I only read the King James Version (KJV), but for many years now I've loved the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) and the New International Version (NIV).

Let me show you what I mean. In the KJV Romans 15:1-3 reads: "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."

Now let's look at the NRSV of the same verse: "We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, 'The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.'"     

And now the NIV: "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: 'The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.'"

In this case the NSRV and the NIV are not much different, but even that small difference makes you think in different ways. Both the NSRV and the NIV, however, are modernized and explain in ways that are easier to understand and that often speak directly to my heart.

There are hundreds of versions of the Bible available on line and anyone can use the to study. I'm so thankful for them and for the technology that makes them so assessable!

I've got so much to be grateful for!  

A Great Link

This week one of my colleagues,Ray Huntington, presented a wonderful devotional address to the university. It was entitled "A Grateful Heart" and it is worth watching. So go here and enjoy.It is well worth the time.

Ray begins by explaining some of the new research that shows the power of gratitude but then he moves into a short discussion of the power of positive words.

If you've liked our discussions about the power of words, you'll love this talk.

Playing the "But Thanks" Game

I'm playing the But Thanks game today. My day started like all teaching days. The alarm went off, I rolled out of bed, put on my exercise clothes, and walked downstairs to get a drink of water before my prayers and stretching out. 

The only problem is that instead of walking down the last three or four stairs, I tumbled down them. My shoulder hurts. I can barely walk on my right foot. My hand is swollen, 

But Thanks that I didn't fall from the top stair. 

But Thanks I wasn't knocked unconscious or hit my head. 

But Thanks I didn't shatter the glass display case at the bottom of the stairs. 

But Thanks Mr. J was there to help take care of me and drive me to work. 

But Thanks I made it to school (barely in time). 

But Thanks I made it through my first class of the day. 

And here's hoping that at the end of the day I can say, "But Thanks" that I made it through my three back to back afternoon classes. I'll count on that!

There's always something to be grateful for!

I'm Grateful For Gratitude!

Happiness researchers have identified eight reasons that cultivating an “Attitude of Gratitude” makes people happier. Many of these eight reasons are intuitive and are things we’ve all thought about. But some aren’t. For example, happiness researcher Sonya Lyubomirsky says that expressing gratitude bolsters self-worth and self-esteem. Why? Because when you concentrate on how much people have done for you, how many good things have happened in your life, or how many things you have accomplished you feel more loved and confident.

Lyubomirsky also explains that the research clearly shows that living with an “Attitude of Gratitude” encourages moral behavior. This happens because grateful people are aware of what even a small gesture of kindness means to them and they in turn are eager to reciprocate. They go about their days naturally doing small and large acts of kindness for others and in other ways doing all kinds of good.

Another result of a gratitude attitude is that it builds social bonds because it tends to strengthen existing relationships and nurtures new ones. Several studies have shown that people who feel gratitude toward others, even if they don’t express it, experience higher quality relationships with those people.

We all know the wonderful feeling that comes when we express gratitude, but there are many other benefits to living with an Attitude of Gratitude.

Feeling Gratitude

A researcher who has spent his career studying gratitude, Robert Emmons, defines gratitude as "a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life." This definition helps us understand that gratitude is a lot more than saying, "Thank you!" True gratitude is an emotion that underlies everything we do. It is what Paul meant when he told the Ephesians to give "thanks always for all things." Yes, we are to say "Thank you!" but even more we are to feel "Thank you!"

Recent research has shed new light on what the scriptures have told us all along--that people who are grateful are happier, more hopeful, and have more positive emotions. But one finding that surprised me
is that people who are grateful have more energy.

One study asked a control group to daily record five hassles or major events that had occurred to them that day. The other group was asked to record five things for which they were grateful for that day. After only ten days compared to the control group the gratitude group showed more optimism, more satisfaction with their lives, fewer health problems such as headache, coughing or nausea, and they exercised more.

Thinking about what we are grateful for is powerful, but even more benefit comes if we live as grateful people--feel the wonder, feel the appreciation, feel the joy!

Hope Your Goog Day Was Good!

I've missed you! I haven't had Internet access for a week and the last post I did on my Ipad just before we were out of range and so it wasn't until this morning that I realized I'd titled the last post "Goog Day" instead of "Good Day." A little typo there, but it made me wonder what a Goog Day would be! I think it might have something to do with lots of surprises and fun. So I hope you really did have a Goog Day.

I know I did! God has created an amazingly beautiful world and last week as we visited Alaska I was overwhelmed by the wonders of the world. We saw hump back whales and killer whales and black bears and dense forest and so many bald eagles at one time that I couldn't count them. We saw totem poles and long houses and small villages that made us feel like we'd gone back a hundred years in time.

But one of the most fascinating things on the trip was watching the people. We encountered people who Live in Truth and rolled with the problems a large group and travel always bring about and we encountered people who don't Live in Truth and watched as they created pain for themselves and for those around them.

I've come home more grateful for this beautiful world and much more grateful for the things I've learned about how to eliminate unnecessary pain from my life.

REAL MAGIC!

I hate to admit this, but one of the things that sends me into the Pit of Illusion is annoying things people do. For example, when people chew ice it sends shivers up my back and into my scalp like what happens when fingernails scratch a chalkboard. Or the other day when I was was in a movie and the person next to me kept opening wrapped pieces of candy and the crinkle sound distracted and annoyed me. Or when someone is giving me directions and they put their hand on my back and push me in the direction they want to go, even though it is a gentle nudge I get defensive! There, I've admitted it: these quirky annoyances send me into the Pit of Illusion.

I've realized for a long time that I shouldn't let little things like this bother me, but I've never been able to find a Truth Tool that stopped the negative feelings fast enough. Instead I'd find myself in the Pit and then use a Tool to get out, but I wanted to stay out instead of climb out.

Well recently I discovered a new application of one of the Truth Tools that works FAST to keep me from falling! As soon as I feel the annoyance beginning to spew its poison inside me, I simply say (aloud if possible and if not silently to myself), "Thank you." As you recognize, it is the Gratitude Tool, but usually the Gratitude Tool is all about counting my blessings, and it at first seemed odd to say thank-you when annoyed, but just saying the words dispels the negative feelings magically. Often, without even trying, the natural next thing to happen is I discover why I should be thankful for whatever has happened and I find myself thinking something like, "Thank you for teaching me patience," or "Thank you for helping me learn to love" or "Thank you for helping me recognize and overcome my quirks."

It's a little thing, but it works! For years I've heard people call the phrase thank you "magic words," but now I know why. When I feel annoyed thank you is the abra-ca-dabra formula that keeps me Living in Truth

Sure Happiness

Sometimes life is deceptive. For example, we look at happy people and after talking with them for a while we realize that they are also very grateful people. The gratitude seeps into their conversation not in a scripted way, but naturally as if it bubbles out of them whether they want it to or not. So we go away thinking they are happy because they have so much to be grateful for. That is the illusion!

If you talk longer or get to know these people more you realize they are not grateful because they are happy, they are happy because they are grateful. The secret to happiness and love is gratitude. Gratitude is also the secret to Living in Truth. When we are looking for those Golden Goods and rejoice in them, and give thanks for them, we are happy and filled with love.

In short, happiness does not ensure gratitude, but gratitude always ensures happiness.

Life is a Gift

To celebrate memorial day we took our Utah children and grandchildren to my father's grave and to Mr. J's parent's graves. We put flowers on the tombstones and talked about memories we had of our parents. It was a wonderful experience, but there was one thing that happened that has left me wallowing in a sense of my own mortality.

I grew up across the street from the Centerville City Cemetery--a beautiful cemetery sitting on the side of the mountain overlooking the Great Salt Lake. I spent hours and hours in that park as a child playing and reading tombstones and wondering about the lives of the peole buried there. I never knew the people but learned their names and which tombstones belonged to whom and being endowed with a marvelous imagination many of those people "came to life" in my mind. I know it sounds crazy, but I gave many of them a story and often talked to them about their lives and mine.

Well, I haven't been back to the cemetery since Dad died five years ago, and that was in January when it was too cold and snow covered to walk around and find all my old "friends."  But yesterday I did walk around and was shocked how much it has changed and how many new graves have filled the place. But most shocking was the fact that almost every tombstone I read was someone I had known. These were no longer strangers I imagined to be friends, these were my friends! Memories sprang to life of times I'd spent with the person--Church leaders, Young Women leaders, friends' parents, some were even friends!, and then there were school teachers and shopkeepers and people I had interacted with at various times in my life. It was, to say the least, sobering.

So today I am filled with a deep sense of my own mortality and have decided that while Memorial Day is a wonderful day to remember those who have passed on, it is also a wonderful day to celebrate the fact that we are still here. As a matter of fact, perhaps the very best way to honor those who have gone on is to honor the life itself. So drink in this day, appreciate every thing you see and hear, and savor every wonderful moment. Life is a gift to be cherished!

My Delight

I was just sitting here thinking, “I need chocolate.” Mind you, I stay away from sugar because sugar doesn’t like me—it makes me sick. The other strange thing about this thought is that I’ve never liked chocolate. All my life if given a choice I’ve gone with caramel, never chocolate. But the last year I’ve fallen in love with dark chocolate which I seldom get to eat because as I told you, sugar doesn’t like me. But now I find myself wanting it every once in awhile and today when the wanting came I realize it isn’t the eating of the chocolate as much as it is the comfort of the chocolate that is so appealing. There is something very consoling about the rich flavor of the dark chocolate melting over the tongue, bringing the taste buds to life, tantalizing the nose with the found-nowhere-else rich scent that chocolate possesses, and teasing me with the bitter yet sweet dilemma that dark chocolate causes.

So I am about to give in and have one square of my very favorite, Amano, dark chocolate (I’ll try Dos Rios today!) and while it melts in my mouth I’m going to savor the flavor and the feelings and the gratitude it fills me with.

God put some wonderful things on this earth. Which of his creations is filling you with delight today?

Honor the Ordinary

At different times in my life I've fallen into a trap of thinking that it is only the big, spectacular things that I have to be grateful for--like getting a promotion at work, or winning something, or getting something that I'd wanted for a long time, or a prayer for healing being answered.

But the older I get the more I realize that there are many, many ordinary, every day things that I am grateful for, but that I don't acknowledge those things enough. The surprising thing is how much joy and happiness giving thanks for those things brings into my life.

Consciously thinking, "I am grateful for rain drops," or "I am grateful for a soft pillow," or "I am grateful for a cuddly place to sleep," or "I am grateful for strawberries," or "I am grateful for the sound of children giggling," or "I am grateful for a warm shower," brings an immediate joy into my heart that I can feel bouncing inside me like a helium balloon. It is almost like magic!

Not surprisingly in my recent studies, I've read over and over again where researchers have shown that if people will just write down three things they are grateful for each day it can change them. So I've set about looking for and honoring the ordinary.

I'm grateful for words. I'm grateful for color. I'm grateful for music.

It's your turn. What three things are you grateful for?

Glorious Day!

Here in Utah the last few days have been gray and drizzly. Today started out the same which meant I walked in the rain, but I love walking in a light rain, so the day started out with me singing (in my head, because I can't sing!) "I'm Singing in the Rain." The only problem was that Mr. J was with me and he didn't like the rain as much as I did so we only got half way through the walk and turned around. To give him credit, he wasn't dressed as warmly as I was.

When driving to school, the rain had intensified and I listened to the splatter on the windshield and laughed along. But when it came time to come home from teaching, the sun was out in all its glory and the recent rain had made everything vivid green and glorious! What a treat to feel the sun kiss my cheek. In short, I'm counting the blessings of the day and enjoying every gray and bright moment. There is always something wonderful going on in this world.

I hope you enjoy your day!

More About Vulnerabilty

Dr. Brené Brown

As you recall two days ago I wrote about the importance of being vulnerable. To add to this I’d like to tell you about a social worker who has spent years studying vulnerability. Her name is Brene Brown and her findings are very interesting. You can see one of hertalks here.

Brown claims that our fear of being vulnerable has made many of us go into a state of numbness in order to protect ourselves from fear and other negative emotions, but the process of numbing emotions is not selective. When we numb ourselves from the negative emotions we also numb ourselves from the positive emotions and that is one of the things that is very wrong with our world today.

At the end of this talk Dr. Brown explains some ways to help us escape the numbing and to live vulnerably. The first of these is to be grateful. I’ve talked a lot about gratitude on Good News! and you all know about the importance of being grateful. But her second idea struck me as just as powerful. She says we should “Honor the ordinary.” Doing that is something I’ve done all my life without realizing it, but now to see it as a way to open myself to life added a dimension to doing it that I hadn’t realized. When we take time to notice and appreciate the yellow of the daffodils or the sound of a bird or the delightful squeal of a toddler, we open ourselves up to the world and let joy in.

Honoring the ordinary is a way to connect with the world and with God, and in connecting with the world and God we connect with our deepest self in a very rewarding way.

The Power of Gratitude

One of the most powerful Truth Tools is Gratitude. It is absolutely amazing how using this tool can chase away the vexing thin in your life—for one thing it changes how you see life and it also brings joy to moments in which we normally overlook the joy. 

To help sharpen this tool, make a commitment that for the next 21 days you will identify three things that you are grateful for that happened that day. It can be something you see or experience or do and to facilitate the sharpening process you must write those three things down each night before you go to bed.  

As the days go by while doing this you can feel yourself change. While going about your day knowing that at night you are going to have to record three things, you find yourself looking for good all day long. And you find things to be grateful for in some surprising places! Writing it down at night brings back the warm memories of what you discovered that day and reinforces the good feelings which contribute to a peaceful night’s sleep. Three weeks of doing this makes it a habit—a habit you won’t want to break.

Rejoice With Others

It is often very easy to feel compassion for those less fortunate than we are. Especially at this time of year we concentrate on giving to those in need and helping out. But what we sometimes forget is that it is also important to rejoice with those that rejoice. For many of us that is so much harder to do. Jealousy, envy, and pride are just a few of the things that keep us from rejoicing with others, but learning to do it is just as important as helping the less fortunate.

Paul counseled the Corinthian saints by using the example that they were all one body. Then he said, “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).

As we reach out to those less fortunate this Christmas season, also find someone who has cause to rejoice and instead of feeling negatively about them, rejoice with them. Tell them how happy you are for them. Pray and thank God for what He has done for them. Get excited about their blessings and then watch what happens inside you.

It is important to mourn with those that mourn, but it is also important to rejoice with those that rejoice.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The Good News! today is that we all have so very much to be thankful for.

I'm grateful for family and friends and for YOU!

Thanks for reading and leaving comments and just plain making me think.

I love you all!

Enjoy your day.

Giving Thanks

As we get closer to my favorite holiday,

Thanksgiving,

my heart is full of thanks.

Perhaps that's why I love the holiday so much.

Other holidays are stressful and draining, but for me

Thanksgiving is invigorating and uplifting.

It makes me think about how 

thankful I am to be alive.

I'm thankful that Grizelda,

even though she refuses to leave,

is being a good visitor and not causing me problems.

I'm thankful for family and friends.

I'm thankful for all of the big things like the gospel and my beautiful home.

But I'm also thankful for raindrops,

sunshine on my cheeks,

a warm shower, a soft bed,

a fluffy down comforter given to me by a dear friend,

the scriptures,

crisp autumn mornings to walk through piles of crackling leaves.

I'm thankful for so many things

 and the more I list the more it feels like gratitude

 is lifting me like helium lifts a balloon.

I can tell already that today

is going to be a high flying day!!!!

Happy thanks giving week to you all.

Empowered

We’re now entering the week of giving thanks! Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday—good food, good company, lots of love, and a reminder to be thankful.
I was talking to D2 today and she told me how she has been using the Truth Tool gratitude and playing the “But thanks. . . “ game all week and how it has made her feel so good. She told me several experiences and then exclaimed, “Giving thanks changes you!” I couldn’t agree more.

Thanksgiving is a great time to remember all that we have to be thankful for. It is also a great time to practice using the Gratitude Truth Tool. Instead of thinking, “Yikes, I have to cook dinner for twenty people!” give thanks and say, “Wow, I’ve got twenty people to love and who love me. How blessed I am.” Then notice what happens inside you. It isn’t just about a warm fuzzy feeling that comes. It is about the energy and empowerment that surges through you when you give thanks. Sincerely giving thanks is like plugging yourself into an energy source. It invigorates. It uplifts. It encourages. So give thanks and reap the benefits!

The Question

Last week in Church a teacher asked a question that has really made me ponder. She asked, “What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”

All this week I’ve thought about the things in my life that I love and how many of them I’ve never thanked my Heavenly Father for. It has made me so appreciative and since my word of the year is gratitude, it has helped me in my pursuit of gratitude.

So I’m passing the question on to you. I hope it enriches your life like it has mine.

What if you woke up today

with only the things

you thanked God for yesterday?

Being . . . Thankful

An important part of Living in Truth, something that keeps us grounded in Truth, is gratitude. But usually when we think of being grateful we think of expressing thanks in words.  But the kind of gratitude that keeps us grounded in Truth is more than words—it is a state of being. True gratitude is words and thoughts and actions.

We’ve all seen someone receive a gift with gushing words of thanks, but as soon as the giver turns his back the person throws the gift down, rolls his eyes, or in other ways makes it known the gift isn’t what they wanted.  The words were uttered out of a sense of manners or etiquette but the actions erase the words and express the person’s true emotions.

In the same way we can express thanks to God but then by the way we treat the things and people around us we declare we aren’t all that thankful. Gratitude is more than words it is a way of living. We show gratitude by reverencing, enjoying, caring for, and appreciating the things around us. We think grateful thoughts constantly and in short, we ARE gratitude.

In Colossians 3:15 we are told, “Be ye thankful.” Notice it doesn’t say that we should think or say thankful words. It says we should BE grateful. It is the being that makes the difference in whether gratitude is a fleeting thought or a foundation that roots us firmly in the way of Truth.