All tools are the right tools, they just need to be given the best job suited to their functions.
Using the tools available to you will help you maximize your effort toward your goals. Sometimes you’ll have the proper tools. Other times you won’t and you’ll have to adapt and make due with what’s available to you.
If you go snowboarding in powder country, and need a tool to dig yourself out or to make a jump, a shovel is the tool you want. But if you don’t have a shovel, you improvise and use the snowboard itself as a shovel.
When you have the proper tool for the task at hand, the job is made easier, the work is lighter, you are more efficient and finish more quickly.
There are times when even the perfect tool for the job is not enough to get the job done because the one using the tool doesn’t have the necessary skill. For example, if I gave you all the tools necessary to build a house, you may not be able to do it. Not because you don’t have the tools, but because you don’t have the skill.
The effectiveness and usefulness of a tool is directly correlated to our ability to use or adapt the tool.
Adapting tools for other uses is creative and sometimes necessary. Inventions and discoveries often come about because of the creative adaptation of a tool purposed for something else.
Here’s an article listing common tools that were first invented for space exploration.
The lack of proper tools often becomes an excuse for not taking action or not doing what you want to do. Don’t let it happen to you.
Remember, tools are only as good as your use or adaptation of them.
Beginning photographers often refrain from taking pictures or building their photography business because they believe their cheap camera is not the proper tool. They fixate on a shiny and expensive camera, and say, “If I just had x camera I would take quality pictures.” Orr “Once I get that expensive camera, I’ll be able to charge higher rates.”
But as the video below demonstrates, you can get excellent results with a cheap camera, and you can get poor results with an expensive camera.
A camera is only as good as the person using it.
Challenge yourself to maximize your use of the tools available to you. Challenge yourself to improve your skills.
Expression is as vast as the Universe, and just as mysterious.
What was the last thing you expressed? Was it joy? Sorrow? Anger? Frustration? Love? Your expression was probably linked to a feeling or sensation. Some physical manifestation of something ephemeral happening deep within you.
Expressions manifest in many ways. Some take the form of words, others manifest in physical form.
Art, music, prose, poetry, math, sacrifice, humor, presence. These are all forms of expression. No matter the form or mode of expression, the strongest expressions are those tied to our heart and spirit.
Expressions can be short:
“I love you.”
“I hate you!”
Or long:
“She’s gonna get a taste of her own medicine.”
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, and words could also hurt me.”
Some expressions happen in prose. Such as this one:
“Advocating the mere tolerance of difference between women is the grossest reformism. It is a total denial of the creative function of difference in our lives. Difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic. Only then does the necessity for interdependency become unthreatening. Only within that interdependency of difference strengths, acknowledged and equal, can the power to seek new ways of being in the world generate, as well as the courage and sustenance to act where there are no charters… Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our personal power is forged.”— Audre Lorde(Read the full speech here)
Or this one: “What is now known is not all that you are capable of knowing. You are your own stories, and therefore free to imagine and experience what it means to be human, without wealth. What it feels like to human without domination over others, without reckless arrogance, without fear of others unlike you. Without rotating, rehearsing, and reinventing the hatreds you learned in the sandbox. And although you don’t have complete control over the narrative—no author does, I can tell you—you can nevertheless create it.” — Toni Morrison(Watch the full speech here)
Other expressions come to us in poetry.
TO THE OPPRESSORSby Pauli Murray
Now you are strong
And we are but grapes aching with ripeness.
Crush us!
Squeeze from us all the brave life
Contained in these full skins.
But ours is a subtle strength
Potent with centuries of yearning,
Of being kegged and shut away
In dark forgotten places.
We shall endure
To steal your senses
In that lonely twilight
Of your winter’s grief.
Or music:
An expression many are feeling after a rough 2020.
Then there’s all the physical ways we express. Applause, back slaps, caresses, dance, eye rolls, flared nostrils, grimaces, high fives and hugs, internal screaming, jabs in the air, kneeling, laughter, moans, narrowed eyes, open mouth surprise, pursed lips, quizzical looks, raised eyebrows, silent approval, tender gazes, underwhelmed blinks, vowing hands, wringing hands, x arms, yawns, zoned out stares.
Expressing the inexpressible can feel like a burden when there is no one who understands. But once understood, it is a revelation and a bond which validates and reaffirms our feelings.
When you try to express the inexpressible, you struggle to find words or actions and the meaning of what you’re trying to express.
It’s ok to not have a firm grasp on what you wish to express. Even if you’re not sure what you mean, get it out there. Allow yourself to hem and haw. Feel it out loud through gibberish and mannerisms which don’t convey what you mean. That struggle is the birth of the inexpressible.
It’s the first day of December 2020. CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve made it through almost a whole year of pandemic mayhem, with a side of social turmoil, and a heaping of uncertainty. One thing we’ve learned in these unprecedented times is that a new version of ourselves is required to face our new challenges.
What new version of you do you want to embody in the coming year? How would you like to improve? Will you commit to a better you?
Committing to a better you will require a change of being. When you BE better, you DO better. If you really want to keep your commitment, you must be consistent. Consistency is the key to keeping commitments.
How can you be consistent in your commitments? Have a plan. As the saying goes: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Commitments are kept through persistent consistency in the actions required for the new outcome. Like a seed sprouting roots, you will not notice a lot of growth at first. But as you are consistent in your commitment to yourself, you will begin to notice little signs of growth. Continue being consistent and persistent, and by and by you will see more noticeable results.
There will be days when it will be hard to be consistent. Things will get in the way, and your efforts will feel feeble and ineffective. On those days, remember consistency is about showing up every day rather than putting in maximum effort every day. It is not sustainable to put in maximum effort every day. That’s ok. The showing up every day will increase your ability to sustain maximum effort over time.
Priorities set the tone for your life. Your priorities demand your attention, consume your time, and take precedence over everything else. What are your priorities?
When you do not set clear priorities for yourself, you are inundated with distractions, lesser tasks, and activities that waste your time and drain your energy. Having clear priorities helps you manage your time better, but it’s not about efficiency or productivity. It’s about clarity.
Priorities help you get clear on what is essential to you and what is unnecessary. They become the filters through which you choose all actions, activities, goals, invitations, opportunities, and problems.
If you do not deliberately choose your priorities, they will be chosen for you. And you will find yourself spending your attention, energy, and time in things that empty you rather than fill you. You will feel drained and rushed and unfulfilled. This is how you end up feeling burntout — even in things you love.
Setting Priorities
You may be asking: “So how do I set clearer priorities for myself?” Here are three suggestions for setting priorities.
THREE SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTING PRIORITIES
CRYSTAL CLEAR OUTCOME
ANCHOR IN TRUTH
CHOOSE BEGINNING ACTION
1. CRYSTAL CLEAR OUTCOME
Clear visions create clear priorities. When you have a crystal clear vision of the outcome you desire, you are able to discern what is important in making that vision a reality. In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (public library), Stephen R. Covey called it “beginning with the end in mind.”
Beginning with the end in mind requires you set a clear vision of WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW. The most compelling endings or outcomes are ones where you FEEL DRIVEN to make it a reality.
Once you have a crystal clear outcome, priorities come into crystal clear focus.
People are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren’t getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope with all of their might.
Dr. Stephen R. Covey
Crystal clear outcomes are the North Star by which you align your direction in life.
2. ANCHOR IN TRUTH
Priorities often times are rooted in values. Values can be a good starting point for setting priorities. But an even better foundation for priorities is the bedrock of Truth. Values are often burdened with unnecessary baggage. Truth is free of it.
Truth is things things as they really were, are, and will be. Truth is the light which clarifies all darkness. Truth cuts to the heart of the essential.
Anchoring in truth means setting yourself and your priorities in the heart of what is essential about you and what you want. Anything more or less than that will be unnecessary.
In the Hindu tradition, there is a principle called Neti Neti, which translates to “not this, not that”. The principle is that you understand Truth and the nature of reality by first eliminating what isn’t true/real. Thus, “not this, not that” becomes a process of elimination through which one arrives at Truth. In the same way, you can apply Truth to “not this, not that” in your life to eliminate the unnecessary things and anchor priorities in Truth.
When your priorities are anchored in Truth, you will not be overcome by the overwhelm of life.
3. CHOOSE BEGINNING ACTION
Beginning actions are the essential practices of priorities. Each priority is set in motion with an action. The action you choose can make or break a priority. If the action is anchored in something that is not Truth for you, that action will be ineffective, and you will not follow through on that priority.
On the other hand, priorities coupled with beginning actions anchored in truth and aligned with crystal clear outcomes, are the actions you can rely on and go back to again and again when you get distracted or of course.
Those beginning actions or essential practices remind you of your priorities, and help reset yourself. When you feel lost or confused or unsure about what to do, beginning actions get you moving forward. That forward motion brings with it the memory of priority, and the momentum to continue onward.
Beginning actions snap you back into your priorities.
And So. . .
It’s clear intentional priorities are created. Anything created takes time and effort and patience and practice. Your priorities run your life. So make sure to run your priorities.
The video got little attention on TikTok. But on Wednesday evening, 28 October 2020, the video became “featured” on Instagram Reels and quickly went viral.
At the time of writing this blog post, the video has over 322k views, 9136 likes, and 30 comments on Instagram Reels.
One thing to learn is that good content needs the right home.
Mistakes are actions we do, not events we create. They are the results of chance, decisions, ignorance, misunderstanding, miscalculations, pride, and many other factors.
Not all mistakes are done equally. Some mistakes are done willingly, and others by pure happenstance.
Many opportunities come dressed as mistakes. Often we waste so much time and energy avoiding mistakes, instead of embracing mistakes and recognizing the opportunity within them.
Learn to embrace and own your mistakes. Be curious about your mistakes. By doing so, you put yourself in a growth pattern.
The mistakes of today are the knowledge and wisdom of tomorrow.
Have you ever gazed at the night sky and marveled at all the shimmering stars? Countless like grains of sand on a dark beach.
Even though a star shines for itself, it shares its light with all around. No matter how dark the universe, their light shines forth. Stars don’t worry about outshining each other. They don’t compare or compete. Who watches them is no concern of theirs.
You are a star.
You are meant to shine through darkness, and to share your light with others. There’s no need to compare or compete. Don’t worry about outshining or being outshone. Take no thought for who is watching.
The world is full of wonder for those who see it with curiosity. For those who view the world through the lens of cynicism, the world is nothing but a complete sham.
Curiosity anticipates miracles. Cynicism expects disappointment. While the curious will be infinitely optimistic, the cynic will say they are being realistic. The parting point between the two is not just a matter of perspective or orientation, it is a matter of a core belief.
For the cynic, the core belief is to be skeptical about everything because it will eventually be too good to be true. The core belief of the curious can be summed up in Elizabeth Barrett Browning‘s words:
Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
— from Aurora Leigh
The core beliefs of the cynic and the curious can be nurtured respectively. You can develop cynicism or foster curiosity. It’s your choice!
A person may have an easier time being cynical or curious. Nature and nurture play their parts. But ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide which they will cultivate in their heart and in their mind. Like a gardener, you decide which seeds to plant, where to plant them, and how we tend to our garden.
I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
— Abraham Lincoln
Eventually you receive the fruits of your labors. Or in this case, the fruits or your cynicism or curiosity. Cynicism tastes bitter. Curiosity sweet.
Here in Arizona, and in other parts of the United States, local government leaders are mandating that we all wear masks in public.
Some of you are refusing to accept this. You say you have agency and freedom and rights, and that the government shouldn’t tell you what to do.
Obey, honor, and sustain the law
So then what about the 12th Article of Faith?
We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
Do you believe the 12th Article of Faith is a principle from God?
If you do, then shouldn’t you obey, honor, and sustain the law by following the mandate to wear a mask in public?
When you refuse to follow your government’s order to wear a mask in public, you are saying the 12th Article of Faith doesn’t apply to you. Maybe you believe you’re being a “patriot” or a “freedom fighter”. You’re not.
When you refuse to follow your State or local government’s mandate to wear a mask, you are not practicing what you preach.
You’re being a hypocrite.
And if you’re being a hypocrite, you’re living without the Holy Ghost as your constant companion.
if ye follow the Son, acting no hypocrisy, ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.
2 Nephi 31:13
And if you’re living without the Holy Ghost, you’ve lost your ability to discern Truth (things as they really are). Therefore you’re unable to discern between information and misinformation, between education and indoctrination, between truth and error and lies.
More importantly, having lost the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, you’ve disconnected yourself from the light and love of our Heavenly Father.
No surprise then when your heart becomes hardened toward your friends, countrymen, and fellow Saints who urge you to wear a mask.
The government CAN tell you what to do
Do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?
If you do, then the next example will show you that the government can tell you what to do.
In the Book of Mormon there’s the story of the King-Men, a group of Nephite citizens who wanted to change the law and do their own thing rather than obey, honor, and sustain the law (see Alma 51).
The King-Men’s refusal to follow the law came at a time of grave danger to the Nephite nation. The Nephites were about to be attacked by the Lamanites. And when the King-Men saw this, “…they were glad in their hearts; and they refused to take up arms,…they would not take up arms to defend their country” (Alma 51:13).
Refusing to obey, honor, and sustain the law, and refusing to defend their country. Doesn’t sound very patriotic of the King-Men, does it?
Well Captain Moroni was not having it. You remember Captain Moroni, right? Leader of the Nephite army. A man of God so good that “if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men” (Alma 48:17).
Well, when Captain Moroni heard that the King-Men refused to fight and defend their country, he was livid. He was “exceedingly wroth because of the stubbornness of those” King-Men (Alma 51:14).
So what did Captain Moroni do? He asked the governor for “power to compel those dissenters to defend their country or to put them to death” (Alma 51:15; emphasis added).
Wait! WHAT?!
Captain Moroni, a man of God, wanted to force people to fight or kill them if they refused? That’s not much of a choice. It doesn’t sound very Christ-like either. Sounds more like Satan trying to impose his plan on Heavenly Father’s children.
Captain Moroni wanted to mobilize the army against its citizens? Doesn’t that seem like an extreme overreach of government power? What about the rights and freedoms and agency of the King-Men?
The governor granted Captain Moroni’s request, and the Nephite army mobilized against its citizens, killing 4000 of them. The leaders of the King-Men were imprisoned without trial because “there was no time” (Alma 51:19). Sounds like President Abraham Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus. And the King-Men who surrendered to the army “were compelled to hoist the title of liberty upon their towers, and in their cities, and to take up arms in defence of their country” (Alma 51:20; emphasis added).
Here we have an example of a government that compelled its citizens to do something for the good of the country and society. “And thus we see…” that the government can tell you what to do.
Likening the scriptures to ourselves
I ask you again: do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?
The threat we face today from COVID-19 is a clear and present danger. Like in the days of Captain Moroni, we face a danger that threatens to destroy us. The danger we face is not an invading army. It is a microscopic virus that is deadlier than the flu, and has already killed more Americans than World War I.
Also like Captain Moroni, many of our local government leaders have gone to their governors and petitioned for the power to compel the citizenry to wear masks. And that power has been granted.
If you are refusing to comply with the order to wear a mask in public, you are like the King-Men who refused to do what was best for their neighbors and their country.
Those soldiers who followed Captain Moroni and killed 4000 of their fellow citizens, they weren’t sheep blindly following what the government told them to do. They were regular folks doing what was best for their country.
Your friends, countrymen, and fellow Saints who wear a mask in public are not dumb sheep blindly following their government. They are regular folks doing what’s best for their country and for you. They are asking you to also do what’s best for the country.
Thankfully today, no one is being ordered to go kill their neighbor.
Though our neighbors are being killed. But that’s another conversation for another time.
All we are being asked to do is put on a mask in public. Is that so hard?
Doers of the word
Many politically obsessed Latter Day Saints today continuously cling to their politics more than to their God. They follow party lines instead of following Christ. They hear the word but don’t do the word, and thus deceive themselves into a false sense of security and believe “all is well in Zion.”
How can all be well in Zion when we are not “of one heart and one mind” with regards to wearing masks in public? How can you say you love your Savior, but refuse to be your brother’s keeper?
Christ said to Peter, “Lovest thou me more than these?. . .[If so,] feed my sheep.” The question for you today is “Do you love your neighbors, and thus love Christ, more than your politics, and your agency, and your rights and freedoms?
Will you be a hearer of the word? Or will you be a doer? Will you be like the King-Men who refused to do what was right for their country? Or will you be like Captain Moroni who did what was best for everyone?
If you want to be like Captain Moroni, put on the mask.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Anything written herein is not an official declaration or commentary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or its leadership.
Since the death of George Floyd over two weeks ago, I’ve been observing everything that’s unfolded. The protests and the riots, the discussions and the debates. I’ve listened and learned, reflected and researched, prayed and processed.
The issue at hand is racism in America.
I haven’t said anything on the matter because I wanted to first understand all sides before seeking to be understood.
*****
Last week on Limhi Live, the community had a conversation about racism and the use of the word thug. Some members of the community explained that the word is being used by racist individuals as a substitute for the N word.
Other members of the community were surprised, even incredulous, that this is happening. They felt it stupid that the word thug is now considered a racial slur. One individual commented that “words are only as bad as people make them out to be…if people want to give a word that kind of power it’s on them.”
The ones making words bad aren’t the ones being called those things, it’s the ones using the words in that way.
A racist person who hijacks a word and starts using it in a racist way, that’s what’s wrong.
We can’t just sit back and say “oh you were called a faggot (a word that originally meant a bundle of sticks), that’s on you for allowing that word to have that kind of power.”
When I was a teen, I used to say faggot a lot when I played Halo or COD. It was common. But even then it had a strong anti gay meaning, to say the least. As I grew older, I realized that using that word was out of line and insensitive and hurtful and hateful. I began to understand how inappropriate it was to call anyone a faggot. So I stopped.
Just as some would use language to further racism or division or hatred, we have the power to learn and to change and to adapt, and to use language to unify and to treat all with dignity.
We have a responsibility as members of society to be aware of how language is changing, how racism can infect and pervert our language, and to be aware of how it helps or harms others.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, documents written by some of the best minds in the 18th century, speak of freedom and liberty and justice and happiness. Yet despite their inspired language, those documents are fundamentally flawed in one respect above all others, they were written with the belief that a black person is not human.
The U. S. Civil War was fought 159 years ago. It was fought because of racism. It’s 2020, and here we are still fighting the same fight.
We’re fighting the same fight because we are unwilling to open our hearts so we can understand the pain, the anger, the frustration, the betrayal, the rage, the disappointment, the suffering, the sorrow, the grief, the fear, and the mistreatment of our black brothers and sisters.
Our nation is still divisible and unjust because there are many who see our black brothers and sisters as not human. America’s greatness has never been achieved because liberty is not extended to all.
*****
One of the challenges with racism is that we often look at it “in my experience” and “how I see it”, as opposed to seeing it from the point of view of those who are the target of racism and suffer its mistreatment.
We must look at racism from the perspective of black folk. Rather than rely on our own experience and perspective, we must seek to understand theirs. Instead of telling them how they should feel, we must listen to how they feel.
When we do that, we will begin to see and understand that racism in America is prevalent and systematic.
The next time you talk with someone about racism in America and what is happening right now, listen first before being quick to chime in with your opinion. Especially, listen to our brothers and sisters who have been the targets of racism since before the founding of America.
