Heart Songs

I have a collection of un-posted blog posts.  Sentences I've started and then quickly decide are too embarrassing to finish.  It's silly, because lets be honest, there are a very select few people who read this blog and I have full confidence that those select few will continue to love me regardless of how cornball I sound.  It is still hard.

So in the spirit of doing hard things and in the spirit of trying to be more honest with myself, here is a completed thought that was born several months ago...
  
I am a firm believer in the existence of heart songs.  When you hear your heart song, you are reminded a little bit more of who you are yourself.  I find that I often forget those truthy things about myself that I've learned through experiences, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always when I am being stretched.  Heart songs carry those memories in their melodies, so that when we hear them we say, "oh this is what is important.  I remember now."

The tendency to forget priorities is all too easy.  That's why it is so important to surround yourself with people and things and colors and light that will sing your heart song to you whenever you need it.  And especially in times when you think that you don't.

Is he a senator or a YSA Bishop?

This is great and ridiculous.  Who knew Capitol Hill was so much like BYU?

Senator, Senator, Make Me a Match: For Staff, Schumer Is Cupid

Have you gotten your vitamin d today?

Spring is here and I love it!  On my drive to work every morning there is a long, tree-lined street.  In the fall it was beautiful and a highlight of my day.  Just a few weeks ago, as I was driving to work, I had the conscience thought that this street was going to be beautiful again real soon.  Well that time has come.  I'll have to take a picture.  Every tree has blossomed.  Is there a better feeling than the surprise recognition of natural beauty all around us?


I read this article today and found it not only to be timely, but also to just feel true.  So, read it, let me know what you think, then join me for a hike?
Nature-Deficit Disorder  

Because I'm just real grateful for these cuties in my life...

The love of a good woman...

With all the prop 8 confusion going on, it is nice to read something like the following from Nicholas Kristof's lastest article in the NY Times, The White Underclass:

"Liberals sometimes feel that it is narrow-minded to favor traditional marriage. Over time, my reporting on poverty has led me to disagree: Solid marriages have a huge beneficial impact on the lives of the poor (more so than in the lives of the middle class, who have more cushion when things go wrong).

One study of low-income delinquent young men in Boston found that one of the factors that had the greatest impact in turning them away from crime was marrying women they cared about. As Steven Pinker notes in his recent book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature”: “The idea that young men are civilized by women and marriage may seem as corny as Kansas in August, but it has become a commonplace of modern criminology.”

Woof!

Wonder Dog

This is a long read, but everyone knows I'm a sucker for dog stories.  If you're not a dog lover and can get through it all, I promise you'll be converted.  If however, you have long been a true believer of the axiom dog is man's best friend, prepare for a cry fest.

That's disgusting! But, does it have to be?

I've always said that if I were to go on the show Fear Factor, the eating challenges would be where I would shine.  I'm a pretty picky eater, but I have great faith in my ability to eat at least a little bit of anything... also I'm pretty competitive :)

You Eat That?

This article is great on a lot of different levels.  Number 1, it talks about kimchee, number 2, it provides a scintillating description of the world's most "disgusting" foods, and number 3, it is a fascinating commentary on the learned behavior of culture, particularly food culture.

This paragraph in particular rings true...

"In every culture, 'foreigners' eat strange meals that have strange aromas, and their bodies reek of their strange food. These unfamiliar aromas are traditionally associated with the unwanted invasion of the foreigners and thus are considered unwelcome and repugnant. Conversely, a person can become more accepted by eating the right foods—not only because their body odor will no longer smell unfamiliar and "unpleasant," but because acceptance of food implies acceptance of the larger system of cultural values at hand.  

Yum!!

In Korea, everyone will tell you that the only way to learn how to truly speak Korean like a Korean is to eat a lot of kimchee.  Obviously, there are some flaws to this logic, but I did have a Korean companion who explained the truth behind the fable.  She said, that people who speak the best Korean are people who truly love Korea and anyone who has visited Korea knows that there is no way to fully and completely love Korea without loving kimchee.  Therefore, the best Korean speakers will also eat a lot of kimchee... "the acceptance of food implies acceptance of the larger system of cultural values."  

Posho and Bean Sauce

I applied the same principle to make friends in Uganda.  I told everyone I met how much I adored posho (an African staple made up of nothing but, ground maize and water) and they loved it.

What really captivates me about this article however, is the idea that disgust is a learned behavior.

"Most children get their first lessons in disgust around the time that they are potty trained. After that, the triggers of disgust are quickly acquired from the responses and rules of parents, peers and, most importantly, the wider culture."

This means that most likely, it can be unlearned, or even never learned at all!  If this is true of food, think how it could be applied to culture in general.  Disgust is learned, therefore there is no need for us to be disgusted by those things about other cultures that we don't understand or find strange.  There is no need for us to be disgusted by the people who's behaviors might not make sense to us.  

I'm not saying that disgust is an emotion that we could completely do without.  Disgust protects us from eating rotten foods that could make us sick.  It prevents us from developing relationships with people that could be very bad for us.  Maybe though, there are some things that disgust, that might just need a second taste or a second look, food, places, and people that have a lot to teach us.  

Maggot cheese here I come... at least if I ever make it on fear factor.      

One of the best articles I have read in a long time...

I'm a few days late on this, but that doesn't change the applicability of the message.

The Wrath of a Great Leader

It is fantastic.  Read it.  Love it.  Figure out how to live it.

A Positive Infection

Click the link to read about a way to pass on your influence for good.


How to Use Your Super Power for Good


I love this:
 "Is it really a choice though? If you're in a bad mood, can you decide to be happy? I find it hard, inauthentic, even dishonest, to feign happiness.  But I have found a pretty simple solution to turning it all around: Kindness.  No matter how bad a mood I'm in, I've found it pretty straightforward to treat others with kindness. And that, invariably, has a positive effect on those around me, which, as we've seen, has a positive effect on me. And, voilà, my mood changes for the better."

Good is Fun

So I didn't have Martin Luther King Day off.  I probably would have been really grumpy about it, except for once again, I have the best job ever!  BYU put together what they called, "Day of Caring" and I was assigned to be a supervisor at one of the service locations.  Christina came along and we had a great time doing artwork with disabled people at TURN.

This is Anna and me with her finished product.  She was so sweet and just wanted to tell me all about her favorite movie, A Cinderella Story with Hillary Duff.

This is Christina with Anna and our other friend Larry.  Larry loves BYU football, he thinks that BYU will win the super bowl for sure :)  You can also see that the red paint was a hit and big red circles were the theme of the day.

The highlight of the day however, was Ryan, another client of TURN.  Ryan loves meeting people and especially loves to give everyone he meets a new nickname.  My nickname was "can't we try," Christina got assigned "serious by colors."  A couple other favorites were "shake shake shake your booty," "my best friend's wedding," and, "maneater."

I'm always grateful for opportunities to do service in new and different ways.  I've been especially thankful for the chance to serve around disabled and elderly people.  I don't think I'm alone in saying that sometimes it can feel a little awkward or be a step out of my comfort zone to interact with people from these groups, not because of any kind of prejudice, but because they are different.  I've really just had so much fun with it though and so enjoyed the lessons that I've learned and the increase in love I feel for them.  I'm grateful for a job that grows this "two sizes too small" heart of mine a little bigger each day.

In other news, you have probably hiked or at least heard of hiking the Y in Provo.  Well I'm here to tell you that you haven't truly had the Provo experience until you have hiked the I.  Christina and I found this beauty on our drive home and couldn't resist a picture.

Why doesn't this work for me?

If You Resolve to Talk Less and Listen More:

"Get in the habit of calling people by their name.  Whether in an office environment, at a store, or pumping gas, calling people by name will help you to become a better listener."

Check out 24 other good ways to keep your New Year's Resolutions here!

I can't help it...

... I'm a little bit of a feminist.


Let me introduce you to Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice-president on a major party ticket.  They lost by a landslide.  I know very little about her politics, but I found this quote today and couldn't help but share.  It's good.


"I can look back and say that really was an important thing to have happen because, you know, people did see a woman running for national office. But I also have to say something to you: It's not only—it wasn't only the campaign. It wasn't only the election. Since then, I have to tell you the number of women who have come up to me and said to me, thank you for doing that. And I say, well, I appreciate it. And they say, well, no, no. You don't understand. Because if you hadn't done it, I would not have... And I cannot tell you the number of things they attach to the end of that word—have."


I think it's important to find those things in the lives of others and even more so, in our own lives, that allow us to attach accomplishments and achievements "to the end of that word-have"

I have a story that I love to tell and brag about my little sister.  Her senior year of high school, her AP American History class participated in a program called "We the People."  I don't understand the details of the program, but the success of her team led them to compete in a simulated Congressional hearing at Nationals in Washington D.C.  After their presentation, the judge asked the group which amendment to the Constitution they believed was most important.  Without a second thought, my sister answered, Freedom of Religion, and went on to talk about her faith as a Latter Day Saint and the importance of religion to her and to the United States.  She didn't worry about seeming awkward or weird or losing the competition.  She just answered.

The Brave, Little Sister

I love this story, because it has led me to countless acts attached to the word have.  When I start to chicken out about standing up for what I believe in or feel ashamed to share my testimony, I remember my sister and I know that I can do it.

I hope that as I try my best to do the things that seem hard and scary in my own life, I can create opportunities for other people to attach acts to their haves as well.

A Step Up the Ladder for Good

Harder for Americans to Rise from Lower Rungs

This article is not about good things.  It is actually about really bad things.  BUT, read it first and then let me tell you about the Circles Initiative (p.s. why is initiative the most impossible word in the world for me to spell):

There are two types of poverty, situational and generational.  I'm pretty sure I got my job by already knowing the difference between the two (I can't imagine any other reason they would have picked me).  So pay attention well.  Situational poverty, like it sounds, is poverty in a family caused by an unexpected crisis.  Someone loses their job, high medical bills happen, just any kind of unexpected expense that causes a family who has been doing fine to fall into poverty.  Generational poverty on the other hand, is poverty that continues from generation to generation.  Because parents living in poverty don't know how to teach their children the skills to get out of poverty or have the resources to help them, a kind of "poverty trap" develops.  Poverty is passed from generation to generation, with no foreseeable way out.

This is what this article is about and this, to me at least, is what the Occupy Wall Street Movement is, or at least should be, about.  There has to be a way out for people caught in the trap...

Let me introduce you to one possibility.  The Circles Initiative matches low income families with a middle-income family sponsor, called an Ally.  They meet once a week and discuss strategies for getting out of poverty.  On top of that low-income participants must complete a once a week course, complete with text book and work book to further train them on moving out of poverty.  Child care and a meal is provided at each meeting as well as financial assistance, if needed, to help people get into a position where they can take the necessary steps to get out of poverty.  It is a solution and studies show that it works.  Studies on the program have found that for every dollar donated into the program, $2 in welfare and food stamp subsidies were returned to the government and $4 entered into the community as new earned income.


The program is just a pilot program in a few states across the country, but it is a beginning and to me it seems pretty good.

Learn more here!  and here!

Top 5 Regrets Before Dying

Who knows if this is real, but interesting nonetheless.  Besides, I love anything that talks about happiness being a choice.

“For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives...  When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five: 
Top 5 Regrets Before Dying