Gossiptown Have you ever heard of Gossiptown On the shore of Falsehood Bay, Where Old Dame Rumor with rustling gown Is going the livelong Day? It isn’t far to Gossiptown For people who want to go, The Idleness train will take you down In just an hour or so. The thoughtless road is crowded, you’ll […]
PUT-OFF TOWN Did you ever go to Put-Off town, Where the houses are old and tumble-down, And everything tarries and everything drags, With dirty streets and people in rags? On the street of Slow lives Old Man Wait, And his two little boys named Linger and Late; With unclean hands and tousled hair, And a […]
Last Saturday would have been my Grandma Pearson’s birthday if she were still alive and I have been thinking much about her. She was one of the most beautiful people that I have ever known. Not so much because of her external appearance, although she was a very pretty lady, but because of the woman […]
One of my very favorite speakers is Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He has a way of using stories to help teach messages in a way that resonates so clearly. In one of his talks, “Your Potential, Your Privileges” he shares the following story: Here is the text of the story itself for those who are unable […]
If you could do anything you wanted and be 100% positive it wouldn’t fail, what would you do? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Try it…it’s an interesting exercise to do with yourself. I was talking with a friend tonight about what they want to do with their life business-wise. I asked them what […]
Do you ever consider why we do the things we do? Why do we do the good things we do and/or why do we do the bad things we do? The answer is simple – we do what we’ve thought about. And we think about what we’ve been exposed to. What we surround ourselves with […]
“Hope is a verb It is an action It is not a chair To sit on and wait for things to get better… it is something we DO… it is a brave choice that we make.” With everything happening in the world right now from hurricanes, to earthquakes, to wildfires, to terrorism, etc it is […]
The other day someone sent me a survival tip on what to do if you encounter an Anaconda, the largest snake in the world – here is what they sent to me: The US Peace Corps train their workers to deal with any kind of eventuality they might meet in the field, and since they […]
“Promise Yourself To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the […]
I love watching, listening to, and reading motivational talks. I think they do so much to help us keep our head focused on good things and to help us continually move forward in our lives. Last Sunday morning I was watching KBYU TV and a talk came on by a man named Lynn Robbins called […]
An exercise I find really helpful in regards to self-improvement and learning from the past is to asking the question of myself: “If you could do it again what would you have done differently?” Don’t ask that question in the mindset of beating yourself up or to wallow in regret. Ask that question in order […]
These last few months have been a roller coaster for me. Between my family and both our extended families we have experienced some of life’s highest highs and some of its lowest lows all within a matter of just a few months. In those months there have been days of being happier than I could […]
Do you ever have times where you feel you have already been through so many hard trials in your life, and you’ve already overcome so many hard things, and worked to improve yourself in so many ways that surely you deserve to have a reprieve from life’s difficulties because you feel you’ve fought through hard […]
It all looks so perfect….people’s social media posts with photos of their fabulous trips and their perfectly gorgeous family picture photos where every child is sitting up straight and smiling into the camera. There are photos of people’s beautiful new sports car they just bought, and photos of their perfectly decorated dinner table for the […]
This morning while getting ready for the day I was listening to a show with inspirational music and thoughts called Music and the Spoken Word. There is something really fabulous about starting your day off with beautiful music and inspiring words. It definitely helps you get into the right frame of mind to face the […]
If you’ve made a mistake, fix it. If you don’t know how to fix it, then learn! And whatever you do, don’t throw your hands up and act like there is nothing you can do about it, because you can ALWAYS do something about it – there are always choices you can make that will […]
Good Timber -by Douglas Malloch The tree that never had to fight For sun and sky and air and light, But stood out in the open plain And always got its share of rain, Never became a forest king But lived and died a scrubby thing. The man who never had to toil To […]
“Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” – C. S. Lewis There are so many ways to off-track in life, and so many of them happen through a series of poor smaller choices that end up leading to big mistakes, but […]
Dr. Charles H. Malik, former Secretary General of the United Nations, once shared: “I respect all men, and it is from disrespect for none that I say there are no great leaders in the world today. In fact, greatness itself is laughed to scorn. You should not be great today—you should sink yourself into the […]
Last week we were preparing to host a group of people on our houseboat down at Lake Powell. I was running around like crazy trying to make sure every throw pillow was perfectly positioned and every bit of dust was off the floors so that everything would look absolutely perfect for our guests who were […]
“How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve […]
The other day my son Dalton, whose wife is expecting their first child in August, called me sounding a little stressed and said something to the effect of, “Mom I just realized that I am going to have a kid here soon that’s going to be with me forever and that I need to parent! […]
“Be strong enough to let go, and wise enough to wait for what you deserve.” – unknown Letting go of something you have cared about, but recognize is hurting you, is never easy. Whether it’s a toxic relationship (or just a relationship that is keeping you from moving forward), or a bad habit (especially an […]
I’m just going to put it out there – I do NOT like waking up in the mornings. I tend to be more of a night owl which makes it really hard for me to wake up early, yet most days I’ve got things scheduled all day long which means I end up being grumpy […]
I love summertime. I love the sun and the water and everything about summertime. The only thing that is hard about summer is that for every week you take off and every trip you go on you have to carry the stress of coming back home and facing all the work that has piled up […]
“Happiness is the ability to move forward, knowing the future will be better than the past. Today I choose to be happy!” I think our ability to feel happy is substantially stronger when one has the ability to evaluate oneself in an honest way so as to recognize one’s own strengths and weaknesses, doing so […]
The Time Bank: Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course!!!! Each of us […]
“The glory of friendship is not in the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is in the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson When someone believes in you and trusts you […]
Some days someone sends you the perfect quote at just the right time in your life when you needed it most, or you come across a poem that applies perfectly to a situation you are going through, or you hear just the right song on the radio at just the right moment for you to […]
“I have learned that the head does not hear anything until the heart has listened, and that what the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow.” – Jones Stephens Communication. It sounds like such a simple word but the reality is that communication is one of the most complicated things we do in life. […]
