Author Archives: Amy Rees Anderson

A Wish Flower or a Weed?

Today my husband and I were walking along a darling little riverbank when I looked over and saw an awesome Wish Flower. I used to see them all the time when I was a little girl living in Puyallup, Washington. They were all over our backyard and as kids we would go out and pick […]

Living a Virtuous Life

When Benjamin Franklin was a young man of 20 years old he decided he wanted to better himself. He wrote down 13 virtues and determined to practice one virtue each week. He created a notebook to track his progress, writing one virtue at the top of on each page along with a short description of […]

Not to spoil the ending for you…

“Not to spoil the ending for you, but everything is going to be OK!” My gosh if we could just remember that quote every day of our lives we would be able to live life so much happier!!!  And the reality is that deep down, I know that that statement is absolutely true. I know […]

Haters Don’t Really Hate You

“Haters don’t really hate you. In fact, they hate themselves because you’re a reflection of what they wish to be.” – unknown How much do you love that quote?! Right!! Love it! It’s awesome. I would guess everyone has had to deal with haters at one point or another in their life, whether it’s a […]

Learn To See An Imperfect Person Perfectly

I have to start by saying how crazy cute this picture is! And the message is fantastic. “We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” Anyone who is married either already has, or is quickly learning, just how true that statement is. None of […]

There is Something Inside You that is Greater than Any Obstacle

“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.”  – Christian Larson I cannot tell you how much I love that quote. It is especially helpful at times when you are facing a current obstacle in your life because those are the times […]

Life is Your Time To Dance. I Hope You Do It!

We all have an unknown amount of time to live our lives, and during that time we will have the opportunity to do many things like take chances, enjoy moments, fall down, get hurt, get back up, learn, and best of all….dance. The first time I heard the lyrics to the song below I fell […]

A Pen and Paper Can Actually Be More Valuable Than Money

What I am about to say will seem completely foreign or even downright crazy to many people, but just hear me out before you throw up on this suggestion: The next time you sit down to send an email to thank someone, consider getting a pen and paper and writing a handwritten note instead. “Handwrite […]

The Toughest CEO Position In The World (Forbes Article)

I was a CEO of a high-growth technology company for many years and so believe me when I say that I don’t make this next statement lightly: There is no tougher CEO position in the world than that of the CEO of a home. As CEO of a home you are not just the Chief […]

Graduation Day – Presenting Dr Anderson :)

We come into this world with two things:  Agency and Intelligence.  We leave this world with what we have done with that agency, and our intelligence – which has hopefully deepened significantly during our life, either through education or experience or a combination of both. I am a great believer in education and I have […]

Billions More Chances To Be Happy

“If I am only happy for myself, many fewer chances for happiness. If I am happy when good things happen to other people, billions more chances to be happy!”  – Dalai Lama Being unhappy because of someone else’s success is a miserable and ugly way to feel. When a person is feeling envious of another […]

 Til Your Dream Comes True

Climb ‘Til Your Dream Comes True     by: Helen Steiner Rice Often your tasks will be many, And more than you think you can do. Often the road will be rugged And the hills insurmountable, too. But always remember, The hills ahead Are never as steep as they seem, And with Faith in your heart […]

Experience: That Most Brutal Of Teachers

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” –C.S. Lewis So true, isn’t it? When we look back at our lives we always find that experience was the very best teacher in life. Some days I really wish that wasn’t the case because often times experience can be brutal […]

Fairy Tales And Remembering There’s No Place Like Home

“Isn’t it awesome to wake up smiling because your real life is better than your dreams?” This last week was a bit of a fairy tale. My husband and I took our son Dalton on a trip to Europe. We started our trip off in London. We were really excited to go because none of […]

Best Friends

“You can always tell when two people are best friends because they are having more fun than it makes sense for them to be having.” I love that quote and it is so true. I have been able to take some time this week to hang out with my husband and my son now that […]

The Trick Is To Enjoy Life

“The trick is to enjoy life. Don’t wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead.”  – Marjorie Hinckley Enjoy life – what great instruction! And one that most of need to be reminded to do. Worrying about things we cannot change and waiting for things that may never happen….stupid right!?! I have decided that […]

It’s Always the People Who Know the Least About You…

“It’s always the people who know the least about you, who want to judge you the most.” Whenever you are feeling judged by other people you have to remember that quote because it is SO TRUE! You can’t allow yourself to spend time worrying what other people think of you or how other people are […]

Daily Words of Wisdom

“Do the things you used to talk about doing but ever did. Know when to leg go and when to hold on tight. Stop rushing. Don’t be intimidated to say it like it is. Stop apologizing all the time. Learn to say no, so your yes has some oomph. Spend time with the friends who […]

All The Things You’re Not

You are not your age, Nor the size of clothes you wear, You are not a weight, Or the colour of your hair. You are not your name, Or the dimples in your cheeks, You are all the books you read, And all the words you speak. You are your croaky morning voice, And the […]

Choose Your Own Adventure

Remember back when you were a kid and they had those Choose Your Own Adventure books?  I used to love those! You would start off reading the story and get to the bottom of the page and it would say, “To choose to do <this> go to page x or to choose to do <that> […]

Your Get Rid of List

I read an amazing blog the other day written by someone I know who lives in Arkansas where my daughter Ashley is serving a mission. She and Ashley have become dear friends and this gal shared with Ashley some of the bad habits she is trying to get rid of in her life. Together she […]

Does Life Ever Get Easier?

I remember as a kid thinking how I couldn’t wait to become and adult because life seemed so much easier for adults. Being a kid felt hard….I mean after all, Adults got to go out whenever they wanted to, they had money to buy whatever they wanted (at least that’s what you thought as a […]

The Refiner’s Fire

A young lady was taking a religion class in college and during the class they discussed life’s trials we are faced with and they talked about overcoming life’s trials. The teacher would often refer to the fact that when we are faced with trials it is akin to a refiner’s fire.  The young lady wanted […]

Success Requires Optimism And Bouncebackability, But If Necessary, You Can Fake It Till You Make It (Forbes Article)

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” —Albert Schweitzer All one has to do is Google the word Optimist to locate study after study showing that Optimists do better in most avenues of life than Pessimists. Studies show that Optimists accomplish more, make more […]

Choose to be Mentally Strong!

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”   – Rikki Rogers As we go through life we have to decide what kind of person we are going to be. Will we be mentally strong, or will we be mentally weak? The choice is ours. […]

The Magical Cure for a Case of Brain Fry

You’ve all heard of Brain Freeze I’m sure, when you drink something really cold too fast and you literally feel like your front section of your brain and the bridge of nose is instantly freezing and you are absolutely certain you about to face death at any moment….Well today I want to talk about a […]

 “Forget the Forecast, Live Like’s It’s Spring.”

80 degrees last week, snow today…?!  What the heck?!  Since when does it snow on spring break?  Yikes! I love springtime and I have been so looking forward to sunshine, flowers, blossoms…did I say sunshine? All I know it that sunshine makes me so happy! I agree with Robin Williams quote: “Spring is nature’s way […]

Set Boundaries: You can’t respect yourself if you don’t know or stand for what is good for you

Setting boundaries is an important skill to learn in life. Boundaries are all about respect. The best way to think about boundaries is to use the example of having a fence that goes around your yard. There is a gate to the fence and you decide who gets to enter your gate to come into […]

“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell “Plot Twist” and move on.”

“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell “Plot Twist” and move on.” We’ve all experienced times when our best laid plans are interrupted with some unexpected twist that completely changes everything. It can happen with major life situations like losing a job or having a relationship unexpectedly end, or it can happen with […]

Focus On The Lovable Moments

“A single misunderstanding is so poisonous, that it makes us forget the hundred lovable moments spent together within a minute.” Years ago I had a best friend who taught me a great life lesson. Whenever there was a situation where hurt feelings occurred and I got angry with someone he would stop me and point […]