Heftel Family
Ramblings about technology, music, family, and life

The thoughts in this post were adapted from a wonderful conversation with a good friend, and seem to be universally applicable.  Thus, they shall be immortalized here.  Also, if I write these ideas down here I can come back here if I forget them.

Three things that will lead to empowerment in your life:

1. Stop asking WHY.  Instead, change it to WHAT NOW.  Instead of unanswerable questions that pound your brain you have hope, and at least some inkling of what to do to improve your situation.
2. Don’t expect anything from yourself.  Just ACCEPT and EMBRACE yourself for who you are.  You don’t need to become a Superman to be lovable, and besides, you will be capable of accomplishing so much more if you love yourself UNCONDITIONALLY first.
3. Don’t you EVER put yourself down!  You live with yourself 24/7.  You wouldn’t want to live with an enemy, would you?  It’s okay to make mistakes and course-corrections.  You are a child of God, and thus have limitless potential.

To combat sadness, do the following:

Count your many blessings!!  But you must abide by the following rules:

1. You must start with “I have been blessed with …”
2. You must not use any negative phrases.

If you follow the rules, you get a sense that a.) you really have a lot going for you, and b.) it comes from a higher source than yourself – make sure to give credit where credit’s due!  This brings your life into balance, stops you from getting a big head and brings things into perspective.  Nothing fosters love for Deity by seeing first-hand and noticing the things that God has given you, no strings attached, “just because.”

Just some thoughts on a Sunday afternoon as I sit here on the couch while Ne’ is resting next to me.  As many or all of you know, I have been working at the LDS Motion Picture Studio and I’ve been working on editing audio from the Seminar for New Mission Presidents.  This is where all the new mission presidents come to the MTC for four days of intense training from General Authorities before they go out to preside over their missions for three years.  It really is an amazing thing – they have only a few marathon twelve-hour days to learn how to do their calling, learning from General Authorities and drinking in their instruction firehose-style, before they are sent out across the world.  The second they arrive in their missions, they are in charge and the current mission president becomes the former mission president.  Usually within a day the former mission president is on a plane headed home.  How’s that for feeling inadequate and having to rely on the spirit?

I just read a blog post by a friend of mine and a former coworker, where he explained that he used to pray as a kid, but God never answered, and now as an adult, he feels it is silly to worry about God and where we come from or where we are going.  I posted the following as a comment on his post, and thought I’d share it with all of you.  Consider it my testimony that God lives and loves us despite all that is wrong with the world:

I believe that there IS a point to life, and that there is a God up there who loves us. Yes, I know that seems contradictory with all of the suffering that happens on this planet on a day-to-day basis. But that doesn’t change my belief that God knows each and every one of us by name, and that he will one day make right all that has been wrong here on earth. We are here to learn to be kind to others even when no one is being kind to us. We are here to learn to do good when there is no immediate reward, or even when we take flak for it. I don’t claim to know why infants die from malnutrition in poorer parts of the world, but I know for sure it’s not because they “deserved” it, and I believe God will make up for their innocent suffering on the other side. God ultimately wants us to be happy, and if we soften our hearts and turn to him in times of distress he will hear us, and if we know how to listen we will hear his response. When it seems like he doesn’t answer our prayers and save us from hard things, it is because there is something for us to learn from it. There is no shortcut or easy way to learn and grow, we must put in the work necessary for such growth to happen. And through it all, the triumphs and the sadness, the thrills and the heartaches, God is there, watching us and rooting for us to succeed, but also allowing us to go through hard times so we may grow.