"The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead." Marjorie Pay Hinckley
Sometimes I do pretty well at this. Other times I still take life--and myself--too seriously.
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Bluestocking: A woman with considerable intellectual and literary interests.
4 comments:
Well, life just in general the gospel, the world, our responsibilities are serious. It's hard to enjoy every day anyway with, When we are often asked Do you have a year supply of food? Do you have a 72 hour kit in each car, (for each person in your family),and in your home? Do you have emergency camping gear for each person in your family? Are you going to the temple every month? Is your visiting teaching and home teaching done? Are you feeding the missionaries every month? Have you done any service this month? Have you been listening to the spirit to find those searching for the gospel? Are you having family home evening every monday night? Are you living worthily? Do you partake of the sacrament every week? Are you reading your scriptures every day? Are you paying a full tithing even when you can't pay a bill? Is your child developing the way they should? Are they up to everyone elses expectations? Do you have a college degree? Is your career cool or pay enough? Are you staying out of debt? Are you teaching your kids the gospel the way the lord has asked? Are you watching wholesome shows and movies? Are you listening to good music? Do you have a good insurance company that is not ripping you off or is a fraud? Do you have car,home, life and emergency insurance? Do you have a savings account? Do you have 200.00 in just coins? Do you have a good dental, health, and eye insurance? Is your apartment or house in need of maintance? Are you keeping up with them so you don't end up with a failing home? Is the maintance on your car up to date? Are you keeping your gas tank half full at all times in case you have to leave for an emergency? Do you spend one on one time with each of your children every week? Is your garden producing the vegetables and fruit that you will need? We could go on and on of all the responsiblities that we have, and what we are accountable for. To enjoy every day with all that,(Unless you are pretty much doing all that and have completed most of it), I don't know how anyone can just jump around and go yee- hah, I can't wait to have another stressful day making sure I am doing everything I am supposed too.
HAHAHAHAH
Thanks, Serena. I feel so much better now. :)
I think Elder Scott once said that having too much to do is an essential part of life because it forces us to prioritize and decide what is most important to us. That makes sense, but I still kinda wish I could get everything done.
Most excellent quote. This is one of my own continual goals. I've found when my day is rough - it is because I've focused on the getting it done, and not on the doing.
Couple quotes for you:
William Henry Channing – “To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather
than luxury; and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasion, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.”
Author unknown - "This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind... let it be something good."
Henry Havelock Ellis - "All the art of living lies in a
fine mingling of letting go
and holding on."
William James - "The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."
I have really been thinking about this quote since you posted it. I took it a little differently than some of the comments on here. Sometimes I find myself thinking about what I could be doing instead of what I am currently engaged in now. It is terrible, I know, and I really don't let these thoughts wander very far. This is a new thing for me and I think part of it may be from the immense stress my family has been under. Maybe my mind is looking for relief, an escape of sorts, from the heavy load we have had to bear. I keep imagining myself without my family, in NYC, working on broadway. The thing that is so ridiculous about this fantasy is that 1. I am not a very good singer and 2. I have intense stage fright. I have never been in a musical, or acted in any stage production, or really even sang a solo. I think I have found the opposite of what my life is now, and romanticized it into a crazy daydream . Don't think that I am not happy here with my family and that I am going to run off and leave them! It is just a random thing that pops into my head now and again. This quote really snapped me out of it! I know that I must work that much harder to enjoy what is here in front of me now, today. I have read many accounts of parents who have a special needs child and their advice on how to handle the seeming insurmountable task of caring for this type of child. All of them say that thinking in terms of months and years can overwhelm you very quickly. You must take it one day at a time. I think this quote embodies that philosophy. My daughter might catch up in a year or in three years or maybe even in five, but most are confident that she will be able to overcome her delays. For many parents, this isn't true and I count myself as very blessed to not be in this category. I really needed hear this quote and I have already started implementing it in my own life.
PS- I still think being a broadway star would be amazing. But the miracle of being a mother in this life and in the next is much more rewarding and rich, more so than the fleeting applause of an audience.
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