Be a quality person

One of my favorite inspirational talks of all time was given by Marvin J. Ashton. Here is the link.

http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg/menuitem.b12f9d18fae655bb69095bd3e44916a0/?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=224f9209df38b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

Here is how he describes a quality person.

1. A quality person has self-respect.
2. A quality person is someone with integrity.
3. A quality person will not be offended.
4. A quality person will develop the capacity to love and be lovable.
5. A quality person ...will not find fault or criticize, belittle, or nag.
6. A quality person is one who has real faith.

He quotes a woman who was talking to a friend,
“Last summer I complained to a non-Latter-day Saint friend that I was exhausted, having no fun, living like an automaton. Nonsympathetically, she countered, ‘What do you think this is? A dress rehearsal? This is your life, Carol. Fix it.’ I expected a pat and a kind word. Instead, I got a splash of reality square in the face. She was, of course, quite right. I wasn’t giving my life value, so I didn’t feel it had value. I went home, reread the parables of the sower and of the talents, and regrouped.” (A Singular Life, ed. Carol L. Clark and Blythe Darlyn Thatcher, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987, pp. 35–36.)

He then says, "...fill your life with service, education, personality development, love for all, and other such meaningful traits. Live with purpose each day." This was something that I have looked back to frequently. I try to live the good life by living with purpose rather than drifting along. It can be so easy and comfortable to just drift.

Fall Favorites

I really like the changing of the seasons. I especially like the transitional seasons of spring and fall. Where we live now, these seasons are a little more subtle. You have to look for the differences, but they are there. Here are a few of my favorite things about fall.

1. Brightly colored leaves. My Mother-in-law has a tree with leaves that turn a shockingly bright red. I love it.

2. Changing light. The sun is lower in the sky and gives the light a completely different quality.

3. Cooler weather. Enough said. Not too cold, not too hot.

4. Memories of High School cross country. It was awhile ago, but it was a good time. Ever since then I always get the urge to go running in the fall even if I'm not in shape for it.

5. Thanksgiving. Good food, good family.

6. Pumpkin and apple things. Yum.

7. It feels like a time to start new. Maybe this has to do with being in school for so long.

Late summer fun

The day trip to the pebbly beach was great! Buddy boy had a fantastic time with Grammie, Granddad, and the cousins and there wasn't much sand to clean up later. I did have to watch and make sure that no little pebbles went up the nose or in the ears. I don't think he swallowed to many. If he did I figure they are small and round and will pass easily.

I loved sorting through the little pebbles. They had been polished by the surf and sand and were so many different colors from black to brown, green, gold, red, and white.

On a different day we took a little trip to the Santa Cruz Yacht harbor to look at boats. I had had a lot of requests for boats, but we don't have any that are very satisfying. It was a great evening walking along looking at the different boats in the harbor and the catamarans parked on the beach.

Life is good

I just have to say that my life is good. It is good now and it has been for pretty much my whole life. In the recent past I quit a job that I thought I really liked to move to a different state and become a full time mom. It was a bit of an adjustment at first, but I wouldn't go back. At the end of my short career I felt pulled in too many directions and I wasn't doing anything that I did as well as I would have liked. So we changed. As my husband says, "If you keep doing what you're doing, you keep gettin' what you're gettin'." I wasn't happy with what I was getting. At first I thought that I would want to keep my fingers in my professional life in my old office. I found out that I really didn't. I was happy to let the job go, but redefining myself without the profession took a little getting used to.

What is the "good" life?

There have been several times when I have stepped back and said, "What am I doing here?" Usually it has been a little while after a big change, after the dust has settled and I have time to think and breath again. At times like this I have thought about what it is that I really want to be doing. Here are a few things that I have come up with.

Live proactively
Enjoy life
Make my corner of the world a better place
Seek beauty
Be informed
Be wise
Find peace through troubled times
Seek spiritual refinement
Give your best effort without regret
Love yourself and others
Share with family

None of these things is really tied to the material aspects of what some may think of as the good life. However, having enough of the material things of life makes the other things easier. Living on the financial edge is pretty uncomfortable for me. I have always worked hard to make sure that I knew I had a relatively comfortable place to live and enough extra to indulge in some of the fun that is beyond the necessities of just making it through. This has also allowed me the mental and emotional energy to pursue some of the things that make life better.