General Conference - Your Walk And Talk

I have been thinking about this a lot. In church today, the talks were all geared toward General Conference which is coming up next weekend. Growing up I had a Young Women's Leader who always gave us a lesson on the Sunday before Conference. The Lesson was always about making the messages we heard our "Walk and Talk for the next 6 months". I will never forget that, and I think about that lesson every time conference comes around. I always feel recharged and ready to take on the world after listening to General Conference, and it is important to try to keep those feelings and messages with us in the months that follow. So as we get ready for another wonderful weekend of General Conference, It's my goal to make the messages stick.

I've included the conference article addressing this below:

“Come unto Christ, and Be Perfected in Him”

Ezra Taft Benson, “‘Come unto Christ, and Be Perfected in Him’,” Ensign, May 1988, 84

(Read by President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency)

President Hinckley:

We heard President Benson’s strong voice yesterday morning and again last evening, and we were all encouraged by what he said. I am happy to respond to his request that I read the message which he prepared as the closing benediction of this conference.

My dear brethren and sisters, this has been a wonderful general conference of the Church. We have felt a marvelous spirit in all of our meetings.

I commend my Brethren of the General Authorities for the excellent addresses they have given. My humble prayer is that all of us will follow the counsel and instruction we have received.

As we have felt the Spirit and made new and sacred resolves, may we now have the courage and fortitude to carry out those resolves.

For the next six months, your conference edition of the Ensign should stand next to your standard works and be referred to frequently. As my dear friend and brother Harold B. Lee said, we should let these conference addresses “be the guide to [our] walk and talk during the next six months. These are the important matters the Lord sees fit to reveal to this people in this day” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1946, p. 68).

May we all go to our homes rededicated to the sacred mission of the Church as so beautifully set forth in these conference sessions—to “invite all to come unto Christ” (D&C 20:59), “yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” (Moro. 10:32).

This grand mission of the Church is accomplished by proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead.

In the next few days, in each of our homes, may we prayerfully consider specific ways we as families and individuals can accomplish this mission. While we still feel the spirit of this great conference and while the words still ring in our ears, let us determine how each of us can be doers of the word and not hearers only (see James 1:22).

In proclaiming the gospel, would you prayerfully consider and ponder the following as it applies to you:

As a young man, are you earnestly preparing to serve a full-time mission? The Lord needs every young man between the ages of nineteen and twenty-six worthy, prepared, and excited about serving in the mission field.

As a mature couple, having reared your children, have you prayerfully considered serving a full-time mission? The Lord needs many more couples in the mission field who can love and fellowship and lead people to Christ.

As a single sister, where marriage is not in your immediate future, have you prayed about serving a full-time mission and sought counsel from your parents and your bishop? Our single sisters are serving marvelous missions throughout the world.

Finally, as a member of the Church, do you realize that, as a member-missionary, you have a sacred responsibility to share the gospel with friends and family? The Lord needs every member of the Church having the faith and the courage to set a date to have someone prepared to be taught by the missionaries. Would each member of the Church prayerfully consider this sacred challenge?

Another way we come unto Christ is by perfecting the Saints. How do we accomplish this? One way to help perfect ourselves and our families is by daily reading from the scriptures.

Are we as families and individuals reading daily from the Book of Mormon and using its teachings to bless and perfect our lives and those of our children? I rejoice in the thousands of members who are responding to this invitation and who testify of the blessings they are receiving.

Communicating with our Father in Heaven through prayer also brings a spiritual power and strength found in no other way. Are we praying both morning and night as a family and as individuals?

Again, are we holding family home evenings each week? Your immediate results may seem far from ideal at times, but by holding weekly family home evenings, as we have been counseled, we help to perfect that eternal family unit.

And what about family preparedness? Family preparedness has always been an essential welfare principle in perfecting the Saints. Are each of us and our families following, where permitted, the long-standing counsel to have sufficient food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel on hand to last at least one year?

Finally, let us consider the divine charge to redeem the dead. As you ponder this responsibility, would you give serious consideration to the following:

Have we prepared ourselves to receive our own endowments, and have sealings for our families been performed in the holy temple? By precept and example, our posterity should understand the transcendent importance of marrying the right person in the right place and sealing families for time and eternity.

Also, have we identified and received the ordinances for at least one of our ancestors? All members of the Church should be actively engaged in working on their family histories and receiving the help they need from trained stake and ward temple and family history consultants.

Do we periodically participate in all of the temple ordinances and thus receive the full blessings of vicarious work for our ancestors?

Do we return to the temple often to receive the personal blessings that come from regular temple worship? Prayers are answered, revelation occurs, and instruction by the Spirit takes place in the holy temples of the Lord.

Yes, brothers and sisters, the mission of the Church is glorious—to invite all of us to come unto Christ through proclaiming the gospel, perfecting our lives, and redeeming our dead. As we come unto Christ, we bless our own lives, those of our families, and our Father in Heaven’s children, both living and dead.

Now, as we conclude this general conference of the Church, I feel to say to you what Alma said to the members of the Church in his day:

“I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

“And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

“And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began. …

“And now my beloved brethren, I have spoken these words unto you according to the Spirit which testifieth in me; and my soul doth exceedingly rejoice, because of the exceeding diligence and heed which ye have given unto my word.

“And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women and your children, according to your faith and good works, from this time forth and forever” (Alma 7:23–27).

Now, may I express my love for the Latter-day Saints everywhere. There are no better people in all the world.

I pray that we will be obedient to God, learn His will and do it, and, above all, that we will keep the first and great commandment—to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I testify to you that this is His work, that the kingdom of God has been restored, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the living God, and that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.

As your humble servant, I desire with all my heart to do God’s will and to faithfully serve you and Him to the end.

Let us all come unto Christ and be perfected in Him, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

President Hinckley:

To which I add my testimony that these are the words of the Lord’s anointed, the prophet of the living God, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Ezra Taft Benson

Signed, Sealed, And Self Delivered

I thought this was very interesting!

Posted in Oddities by Greg Ross on December 31st, 2008

When 5-year-old May Pierstorff asked to visit her grandmother, her parents had no money to buy a rail ticket.

So they mailed her.

On Feb. 19, 1914, May's parents presented her at the post office in Grangeville, Idaho, and proposed mailing her parcel post to Lewiston, some 75 miles away. The postmaster found that the "package" was just under the 50-pound weight limit, so he winked at their plan, classed May as a baby chick, and attached 53 cents in stamps to her coat. May passed the entire trip in the train's mail compartment and was duly delivered to her grandparents in Lewiston by mail clerk Leonard Mochel.

Other living parcels: Henry Box Brown, Charles McKinley, Owney the dog.

11 Ways to Cure Someday Syndrome

This article is from Alex Fayle of the Someday Syndrome blog.

• Someday Syndrome: not doing what you want to because you don’t know what it is, because you’re procrastinating about it, or because you have too much stuff getting in your way.

Everyone suffers from Someday Syndrome at some point in their lives, often catching it repeatedly. For me, most recently, I’d been saying that I really should give running a try without doing anything about it.

You probably have something similar going on in your life – a project, a task, a goal - that you just haven’t got around to doing yet. Right?

I could quote Nike and say: Just Do It, but if it were that simple Someday Syndrome wouldn’t exist. In my own case, it wasn’t until my body rebelled and refused to sleep from lack of exercise that I finally got started.

I decided that here had to be an easier way than waiting for pain to push me into getting over myself and getting on with my goals. So I came up with this: 11 ways to cure Someday Syndrome so that others don’t need to suffer through a cure.

1. Be you. This is The Happiness Project’s number one Happiness Commandment. I hate team sports, so there’s no way I’d play football (soccer). Running allows me to exercise when I want and I can do it on my own or with a friend. Perfectly me.

Maybe you’re not doing something because in reality, it doesn’t fit with who you are. If so, dump the idea and the expectations that likely came along with it, and go find something that suits you better.

2. Clear out the junk. If you don’t know what would suit you better, it could be because your mind and emotions are all cluttered up. I mean, seriously, if your mind’s in chaos, how could you possibly make a clear decision on getting rid of your somedays? The clutter I’m talking about includes the negative thoughts (like me thinking that I’d never be able to run more than 30 seconds without dying), or negative attitudes (I’m too lazy to run).

There are some great tools available in the Simplicity category of ZenHabits. Use them.

3. Know what you want. And why you want it. If you are going cure Someday Syndrome, you’ll need to know details about that desire and the reasons behind it.

And if you don’t know what that is, the blogosphere is full of blogs ready to help you figure out your dreams - Someday Syndrome and ZenHabits are two examples, but you can find others on the PluginID website on Glen’s Personal Development page.

4. Make a grand plan. I say “grand” because this is the big picture plan. Don’t get carried away. Planning can feel like action, but really it’s no different than talking. Until you actually do something, you’re still procrastinating.

I have a goal of running 20K next November. That’s enough for now. Starting is more important than getting into detailed plans.

5. Take one step at a time. The only details you need to choose at this point is first steps. I get overwhelmed by details. When I look past the big picture I don’t just see a few details – I see all of them, therefore I focus on just the next two or three things that I’m going to do.

I know what I need to do to get started (the first two months of training). That’s enough.

6. Ignore the rest. That’s right. Ignore everything else in the goal except what you’re working on. We often use comparisons of where we are now to where we want to be as a form of procrastination. While checking in is always a good thing, we can do it when each small task is completed, and not in the middle of a task.

On my running days, when I’m in the middle of my current workout, I don’t think about what’s coming up next week. Why would I want to freak myself out?

7. Get help. Daniel Gilbert in his book Stumbling on Happiness, says that the best route to figuring out if our goals will actually make us happy is to talk to others who have done it.

I also try to be lazy when I can be, so if someone else has done the work (like this Couch-to-5K Running Plan), then there’s no need to waste my time coming up with something new, now is there?

8. Don’t compare. Be careful when you get help, because the dream-shattering tendency to compare lurks nearby. Leo talks about the bad side to comparisons in his post: Life’s Enough. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others.

Enough said. (Yes, I’m taking my own advice about Getting Help and moving on.)

9. Be uncomfortable. Judith Sills in her book The Comfort Trap, or What If You’re Riding a Dead Horse? talks about how we might be terribly unhappy, but we’re comfortable so we don’t do anything about the unhappiness. Happiness is a risk, but the current situation even if it’s painful is safe.

Which would you prefer? Comfortably in pain and unhappy or uncomfortably blissful? I live my life the second way and would recommend that you always choose the uncomfortable option.

10. Celebrate the process as well as the end. I don’t mean celebrations like Dash’s Grade 3 “graduation ceremony” from The Incredibles. I mean acknowledge your progress. I Tweet my runs and mention them on my Facebook status. I also talk with other runners and we talk progress and tips.

And in turn this sharing inspires others and helps them move past their own Somedays and toward achieving their goals.

11. Don’t stop at the easy point. Wait a second. Most lists are only ten points. Why does this one have eleven?

Because it’s important to push yourself just a little bit further than you think you can go. Although my big goal is running 20K within a year, I’ve committed to running 7K on December 31st.

So, while you’re celebrating and taking it one step at a time, come up with one unexpected action you can take that’ll add energy, excitement and a bit of fear to your goal.

Believe me, that bit of fear will probably be the best motivator you’ve ever found.

For more from Alex Fayle, check out his blog, Someday Syndrome (or subscribe to his feed).

Beatles Unknown "A Hard Day's Night" Chord Mystery Solved

A Hard Day's Night ~ The Beatles

I thought this article was very interesting, so here's another shout out to the Beatles and the Math that solves the mysteries of music years later :)

(The post below is copied from scientificblogging.com)

It’s the most famous chord in rock 'n' roll, an instantly recognizable twang rolling through the open strings on George Harrison’s 12-string Rickenbacker. It evokes a Pavlovian response from music fans as they sing along to the refrain that follows:

"It’s been a hard day’s night
And I’ve been working like a dog"

The opening chord to "A Hard Day’s Night" is also famous because, for 40 years, no one quite knew exactly what chord Harrison was playing.

There were theories aplenty and musicians, scholars and amateur guitar players all gave it a try, but it took a Dalhousie mathematician to figure out the exact formula.

Four years ago, inspired by reading news coverage about the song’s 40th anniversary, Jason Brown of Dalhousie’s Department of Mathematics decided to try and see if he could apply a mathematical calculation known as Fourier transform to solve the Beatles’ riddle. The process allowed him to decompose the sound into its original frequencies using computer software and parse out which notes were on the record.

It worked, to a point: the frequencies he found didn’t match the known instrumentation on the song. “George played a 12-string Rickenbacker, Lennon had his six string, Paul had his bass…none of them quite fit what I found,” he explains. “Then the solution hit me: it wasn’t just those instruments. There was a piano in there as well, and that accounted for the problematic frequencies.”

Dalhousie University math professor Jason Brown and his Ibanez guitar. Photo: Danny Abriel

“I started playing guitar because I heard a Beatles record—that was it for my piano lessons,” says Brown. “I had tried to play the first chord of the song many takes over the years. It sounds outlandish that someone could create a mystery around a chord from a time where artists used such simple recording techniques. It’s quite remarkable.”

Dr. Brown deduces that another George—George Martin, the Beatles producer—also played on the chord, adding a piano chord that included an F note impossible to play with the other notes on the guitar. The resulting chord was completely different than anything found in the literature about the song to date, which is one reason why Dr. Brown’s findings garnered international attention. He laughs that he may be the only mathematician ever to be published in Guitar Player magazine.

“Music and math are not really that far apart,” he says. “They’ve found that children that listen to music do better at math, because math and music both use the brain in similar ways. The best music is analytical and pattern-filled and mathematics has a lot of aesthetics to it. They complement each other well.”