March 5, 2010, is the day our son Jonathan passed away. As a family, we like to honor him on March 5th by doing something nice for somebody else. Jonathan was always going out of his way to help others; he was very kind and had a heart of gold. “March Forward Today with Kindness” is now my motto to remember to be kind every day of the year as I reflect on my son Jonathan’s life.
Read MoreI believe anxiety can be reduced and/or eliminated by using these five “remedies” each day. The act of being proactive spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially every day can transform your life. Using one of these “remedies” is good. Using all five is best!
Read MoreI hope in 2024 that we will all make our physical health our number one priority. Of course, taking care of our spiritual health with prayer, scripture reading, and journal writing is a close second, but a healthy spirit inside an unhealthy body cannot do much. My new motto is:
“Take care of my body first. Take care of my spirit second. Take care of others third.”
Read MoreI now understand that we must love ourselves first if we want to feel God’s love for us. Our negative thoughts and feelings towards ourselves trap us in a dark cave where the sunlight of God’s love cannot penetrate. We must crawl out of the cave by loving ourselves and trusting that God’s love and sunlight will be there waiting for us. I promise it will be!
Read MoreI read the book, Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, the first time about 30 years ago, and it was life-changing back then. I found it on Audible a few weeks ago, and it has been even more life-changing this time as I listened to the power and truth in each chapter! I didn’t understand it all when I first read it, but with my many years of growth experiences, I understand his philosophy much better! This year, I wished my family a “HAPPY NEW LIFE” because I believe reading this book and applying its true principles will change their lives as much as it has mine.
Read MoreChristmas is always a wonderful combination of joy, a bit of stress, putting up old, well-loved decorations, trying to plan meals and festivities ahead of time, rushing at the last minute over something forgotten, love and laughter with family and friends, and truly appreciating the real reason for Christmas—Jesus Christ. How I love our dear Savior!
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
— Isaiah 9:6
Read MoreI love our family tradition of baking pies for Thanksgiving. I took this picture of my husband David with our grandson and granddaughter (twins) proudly showing off the pumpkin pie they baked together here at our ranch this year! Traditions are what pulls at our heart strings and bonds us as one, kind of like being stuck together with “Crazy Glue,” with our family and friends. Yes, some of our traditions are kind of crazy! Some make us smile, some make us laugh, some make us a little teary-eyed.
Read MoreI like to dress up for Halloween! This year I was visiting at my daughter and son-in-law’s house, so I looked around to see what I could find to make myself a costume. I found a black satin sheet lying on a bed, which I knew would work for my main costume. After searching through my granddaughters’ dress up boxes, I found a fluffy little skirt and put it around my head. I thought I looked great! My grandchildren all laughed at me and asked, “What are you?”
Read MoreAs we sat around the table for our family’s Thanksgiving feast, we all took turns saying what we were most grateful for on this special Thanksgiving Day. I shed a few tears as I spoke of the miracles of God the last few years, both big and small, which had allowed our family to be together this day. Without His divine intervention, we wouldn’t have had this day of rejoicing with our family and friends.
Read MoreI sometimes have problems sleeping. I can usually fall asleep okay, but I often wake up in the middle of the night and have difficulty falling back asleep. I’m not sure what the reason is (it doesn’t seem to be stress) as I usually go to bed feeling quite content and happy! I recently found some interesting, new information in a lengthy article, which I hadn’t read before. I decided that what I needed to do was to incorporate, slowly but surely, all 20 of its suggested “tips” into my daily routine!
Read MoreI went home and looked around my kitchen and decided to start learning to love being there much more. Instead of thinking about my kitchen as a place of drudgery where I had to do chores, I started thinking about my kitchen as a place to create happy memories and teach my children to enjoy making and eating nutritious food.
Read MoreHowever, having a few successful experiences of breaking through my fears did not bring me great courage. It was still not one of my emotional strengths. It was only through the pain of many disappointing experiences, where I totally lacked the courage I needed, when I resolved to change. I believe we can all learn to be courageous people who know how to, “DO what needs to be done WHEN it needs to be done WITHOUT hesitation.”
Read MoreI was looking online to see if the 1985 music tape, “Bounce Back!” still existed because I wanted to share it on my blog. I FOUND IT! I was so thankful to Jason Poole for taking the time to remaster this tape! I cried all the way through the last song on the album, “You’re Not Alone,” which had given me so much strength and the courage to keep going on years ago.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, I watched a weekly podcast entitled “Unleash Your Inner Goldilocks: How To Get It Just Right” that was put on by Dr. Kasthuri (Kas) Henry. She invited my sister, Robin Litster Johnson, to join her as they discussed the subjects of Gratitude and Resilience. I was so inspired by what I learned from these two amazing women that I wanted to share about Dr. Kas Henry on my blog.
Read MoreThe role of “aunt” in our family has always included nurturing newborns, playing with young children, overnight babysitting, cutting, styling, and/or braiding hair, painting fingernails, playing all kinds of games including baseball, basketball and football, helping with homework, assisting with cooking, cleaning, and house organization, being available to help family members with moves from coast to coast, and sneaking their nieces and nephews some candy and treats when their parents weren’t looking!
Read MoreWhen Dallin H. Oaks was called to have a leadership role in our church in 1984, I was delighted to begin hearing him speak again at every General Conference. In doing a little research about his life, I came across a cute anecdote by his sister Evelyn O. Moody:
“Whenever we got together for family parties, it was funny to watch because Dallin . . . was always the leader. He would tell who were the cops and who were the robbers . . . Before anyone else could turn two wheels in his brain, Dallin had the whole thing organized.”
Read MoreA few years ago, while pondering about setting a specific goal, this encouraging thought came to me, “A goal is not a cane to beat yourself with—it is a walking stick to help you climb the mountains in your life.”
Yes! Let’s not beat ourselves up for what we haven’t done. Let’s set a small goal and achieve it! Enjoy that sweet feeling of accomplishment for a few minutes and then set another small goal. Step by step we can climb all the mountains in our lives.
Read MoreWe all can be inclusive with other people as we reach out with kindness, caring, and real love to our friends, neighbors, co-workers, community organizations, church groups, and even strangers on the street. We all need to ask ourselves this question: How can I help others feel that they are important, needed, and appreciated—that they truly have a safe place of belonging with me?
Read MoreFor the past few years, I’ve been writing posts about each letter of the alphabet, A-Z, from my book, ABC’s for a Happy Marriage. I didn’t write these posts in alphabetical order—I just randomly wrote whatever I felt like writing at the time. I wanted to have all twenty-six posts written by the end of 2020, but I realized this month that I was only up to twenty-four letters of the alphabet. So, I decided to combine the last two letters, “K” and “S” together.
Read MoreLife is unpredictable. Once in a while, everything is instantly turned upside down. When it happens to you, what do you do? Do you give up hope that you can survive this crisis, or do you fight back with the conviction that you will do the best you can under the circumstances?
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