Say Cheese!

Ever heard this song before?

We were strangers starting out on our journey

Never dreaming what we'd have to go through

Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing

At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you

Unexpected what you did to my heart

When I lost hope you were there to remind me

This is the start.

We were strangers on a crazy adventure

Never dreaming how our dreams would come true

Now here we stand unafraid of the future

At the beginning with you.

I knew there was somebody somewhere

Like me alone in the dark

I know that my dream will live on

I've been waiting so long

Nothing's gonna tear us apart.

And Life is a road and I want to keep going

Love is a river I want to keep flowing

Life is a road now and forever

Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning

I'll be there when the storm is through

In the end I wanna be standing

At the beginning with you

In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you

It's from Anastasia, in case you were wondering. Credits.

It also happens to be an extremely cheesy song. Look at that last line again? Talk about nonsensical garbage. But we like it anyway. It's cute. It may be cheesy, but it's cute. So it doesn't matter.

EXACTLY.

Here's my problem with some outlooks: if a song has a serious message and states it bluntly, we call it cheesy. Yet—and don't get my wrong, I love this song—things like this with no decipherable meaning we think are cute even though, yes, it's cheesy too.

What's with the double standard, people? Yeah, some songs just sound horribly cheesy. There's no way to get around that. But don't think that just because a song is teaching you good morals, it's also cheesy. It's all about your perspective.

You may never be able to look at this song the same way again. Sorry. But you're in control of how you allow music—or many other forms of media—to reach you. If you'd like to blissfully ignore the uplifting things around you simply because they make you feel all fuzzy inside (oh noes! the fuzzies!) and that makes you feel soft or vulnerable or exposed, fine. But I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

Remember that little chat we had about listening to yourself? Your heart? Well, do it. And the fuzzies are your heart talking. Don't push it away. Don't harden your heart—if you feel a little bullheaded as you read this...well, that's the hardening. Oops.

I just say this because I happen to like cheesy things. Romantic, no. Cheesy, yes. Songs and poems that teach you to do right. And I think way too many people in this world seem to be afraid of changing their hearts.

Friends will always see you through,
Believe in things you want to do,
Feel happy when your dreams come true,

That's just the way friends are.

Friends will always be right there,

With wisdom, faith, and strength to share,

With love that shows how much they care,

That's just the way friends are.

Yeah. Super cheesy. But it makes me want to be a better friend, and a better person. I love this poem. It's on my bedroom wall. No kidding, it's lame and stupid by the world's standards, but that's because the world has no standards. I do.

Your perspective is what matters. You can let everything be cheesy, or a few things, or nothing. I choose to look past the cheesiness of anything I find and if it has value, it's not cheesy. Not to me.

Don't push away the things that prick your heart. Your heart always knows better than your mind.

***

Hmm. This is a bit weird. I want to disagree with this whole post. I guess that's kind of the point. Instinctively, this post will be rejected. You might need to test this one out before you decide what you think.

I have a terrible tendency to simplify things. This has been really, really simplified. Things can be cheesy and likeable. You can accept that something is cheesy, but also enjoy it.

Note: Not everything has value. I once took great pleasure in ripping to shreds a piece of choir sheet music that was one of the worst pieces I've ever had the displeasure to lay eyes on. Something about cheerful butterflies?

To Be Free

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will.

—Mahatma Gandhi

You don't know it, but what you aren't doing right now that you know you should be will make you feel more happy and free what what you're doing right now.

Think your little vice makes you happy? Free?

It's all mind games, people. It's all in your head.

You can use all the logic arguments you want to deny the prison your vice is trapping you in, butit won't work. The fact remains: Until you deny yourself that thing the body but the spirit doesn't, you will not be free.

Who are you? You are not your body, believe or not. You are your spirit. Your heart. And one thing you should regularly do is show your body whose boss. Experts say that fasting once a month is beneficial to your health, even though it doesn't seem all that fun at the time. Show your body that it isn't more powerful than you and your mind. It isn't your master.

The world—particularly America—is playing mind games with itself. Remember that little freedom of choice thing that's so important to all of us? Freedom of choice, people! I can do whatever I want! I will do everything people tell me I shouldn't do just because I can. I have that right.

This is basically the worst kind of reverse psychology known to man. We want to be free, so we do things that make us free. Only it turns out these things are chaining us to them.

There are two kinds of failures going on here: failure to act, and failure to listen.

Failure to act: One way that people consider themselves free is by sitting at home, no work, no school, no anything, and they let everyone else do the hard work because...well...they can. Some of us have had unfortunately health effects of this, particularly, obesity. You're not happier sitting at home in front of your TV that running at the gym. It may seem like it, when you haven't tried running at the gym, but it's not true. You might be really surprised by how great you feel when you stumble off the treadmill.

Failure to listen: This is the important one. This encompasses everything that we do that isn't beneficial, but we do it because it's fun or because our friends are doing it. It makes us 'free' to go partying all night. Never mind the fact that my body is going to force me to go back later because it needs another drink or another girl, or that I'm going to be half out of commission tomorrow because of a hangover and lack of sleep. I'm free.

See the problem?

Interestingly, in many years of observing this phenomenon, I've discovered that those who are obedient—to laws, to their parents, to their instincts—are the most free people in the world. Many think that rules are walls in our lives, but they're not. Rules exist for a reason: to give the maximum number of people the maximum happiness.

And kids: you're parents are smarter than you. No matter what you think.

It's incredible how many people get through most if not all of their lives, and never figure out this simple principle. Do what you're supposed to, and things will turn out all right. It should be a no brainer, but a lot of people miss the bus.

Interestingly, obedience, which many consider to be a chaining concept, is actually the most freeing one. Believe if or not, people can go their whole lives without ever going to a bar, or a club, or smoking, or trying an illegal substance, even drinking coffee(which can be addictive), and can be happy. Happier than those who have done all those things.

Don't be afraid to follow the rules. It doesn't make you a conformist—you can still think out of the box all you want, and I would encourage it. Interestingly, many of the things I listed above dim your ability to think freely.

Don't conform. But be obedient. Do it for yourself. Even if you don't get why the rule is even in place, follow it. It's satisfying.

It also makes the world a bit of a better place.

***

Okay, if you totally don't agree with this post, you haven't tried the things it's telling you to try. If your liberal lifestyle is what motivates you, that's fine. But you might want to look into a few of the things you do and figure out why, exactly, you do them. If it's just to satisfy your body, you're losing a battle. If it's to escape the ugliness of the world, you're losing a battle. You live in this world. Face it head-on. Make the best of it by acting.

If something is missing in your life, a little hole in your conscience that you may not even feel most of the time...well, this might be your patch.

Action is Proof

Faith, hope, and charity are active principles. If we do not do them, we do not have them. It's that simple. —Janet Tanner

We all need to remind ourselves of this concept every now and again. Action is proof of your willingness to change. It's also proof of what you believe. You can say “I don't believe in lying” all you want, but that holds you to the obligation to do what you say and not lie. Although the quote for this post only relates three principles in life, the concept is much bigger than that.

I hate to criticize, but if a group of people tells you that it's all about one thing that you think or say at one time, and that makes all the difference, walk away. The only things in your life that are important to you are the ones that you live, continually. The things that stick in your heart even when things are hard,in fact, they are the things that come to you mostly when things are hard. They are the things that are going to give you place and purpose for the rest of your life and beyond.

We're talked about the-hard-path. It's worth it. Some people will try to give you ways to cheat life, they will tell you how you can be happiest with the least amount of effort. That's no different and no more realistic than a get-rich-quick-scheme. It's a sale, and that's all.

Most things in life are only worth the time and effort that you put into them. If you don't make sacrifices to be happy, you're happiness won't be all that wonderful.

If you haven't sacrificed for love, you haven't loved very much.

Not only is cheap happiness fake, it's counterproductive. If you are settling, you're missing out. Remember how I said that happiness is basically unattainable—something we must continually strive for? It's true. Never settle for the happiness you've got. There's something better out there.

Action is the action word of action words, and action is proof of what really matters to you. If you realize something is right, and you don't act on it, you are missing the ferry. It must not mean that much to you.

This can be a difficult reality for some; they'd rather watch from the sidelines than run the race. They think they are safe there.

Well, know this: you are in this race, whether you want to be or not. Pretending to be a bystander won't dismiss you from the expectation to finish it.

You are not safe to stand at the side and pretend you aren't involved. Do you want to reflect on your life and realize that it was good for nothing?

The only way to satisfy your conscience is to keep on moving, keep on acting. Endure. Pick what's important to you, put it in your backpack, and carry it to the finish line. Make sure that what is in your bag is what really matters.

Prove. Prove to yourself, and prove to the people around you, that whatever you are staring in the face is important to you. Don't just sit here! If you have a guilty conscience about anything in your life, every single one of your possible solutions involves acting. If it doesn't, your conscience is going to remain muddled.

If you're putting off doing something you know you need to do, JUST DO IT.

***

Confidence is a key aspect in life. Once you're an adult, you should know who you are. You should hold yourself accountable to You, in addition to whoever else you might be accountable to. If you know that something is wrong, act against it. If you know something is right, do it. You are a judge of your actions. You know what you feel.

Listen to yourself.

If there's no reason to wait, stop waiting.

“Come Boldly.”

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

—Henry David Thoreau

It's time to take confidence where you feel weak. It's time to turn to your weaknesses and failures with and eye to the future and say, “You're here. I may not be able to change that. So let's see what I can do with you.” Just because a part of you looks like a weakness doesn't mean it is. Turn it into a strength. It's all you, baby.

Let's change the way we think.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some; it’s in all, everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

—Nelson Mandela

This speech was given in, what, 1994? Why hasn't the whole world acted on it yet? Mandela is right. We are whoever we want to be. It's never to late to be something. Be anything.

Come Boldly. Speak your mind. Listen to your heart. Watch for the day.

Be the voice of reason in a world without rules.

Always exemplify the person you wish you were. It's the only way to become what you want to become.

Where you have weaknesses you cannot eliminate, change. Make yourself your best. No weakness is only a weakness when you know how to bring yourself down into the depths of humility, accept what you cannot change, and rise from the dust with weapons of confidence.

Moses had a speech impediment.

Helen Keller was deaf and blind.

Stephen Hawking can hardly move or speak.

What can you do?

***

I know this was a short one, but it's a quick concept. When you look at the people around you, what are you waiting for? How are you not your best? You are a Masterpiece.

Work with what you've got.

Walking In The Light

Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterward.

There's something really cool about learning by experience. There are some truths we simply cannot know if we do not live them, first.

I've experienced this...for my entire life. It is truth. There are more than just a few things that fall into this category. Everything we do gives us experience.

But a word of caution to the free spirited mind: there is power in obedience to wise counsel. There are some things that we are asked to do that we reason are not necessary and may even prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. We are asked not to use foul language. We are asked to be chaste outside of marriage, and have complete fidelity in marriage. These are some more universal requests. Do they seem to some as though they might limit our chance to be happy.

These are things to which the words above apply: we cannot know how they will bless and enlighten our lives if we do not live them. If you haven't consistently tried to live in the manner of such things, you cannot know the blessings of them because you have not seen them. The same applies to a faith in God: a Hopi indian proverb states: you have to believe in gods to see them. And it is true. There are many things in this life we must experience in order to understand.

So try it. Do what your parents tell you to do. Do what your heart tells you to do. Those things way down deep that your mind has repeatedly pushed away--they might have value. But you have to consistently, truthfully live them in order to know.

And you don't know it now, but you need to know.

If there is happiness greater than what you have, you would want it right? In theory, you would be willing to give up any happiness you might have now if you knew that you could have indefinite, greater happiness. Well, I know that you can. I can testify of it. Happiness comes with obedience to those things you know, intrinsically, that you should do. Cast aside pride, and fear, and weakness, and charge ahead into a glorious morning that will come from living your live in harmony with the feelings of your heart.

Guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body. From studies in psychology we know what much of what we do in life is focused on a desire to achieve happiness and avoid pain.

Our spirits also seek peace from guilt, shame, and deprivations of the soul. To feel the greatest happiness, both our bodies and our spirits must recieve that which puts them at ease.

So just as you have listened to your minds desires to eat better even though it's not as tasty, to exersize even though it may not be fun, or to refrain from substances that would control your impulses, learn to listen to the spirit when it directs you to seek knowledge, light, and rest from it's pains. Your spirit speaks to you. It wants to be happy. Sometimes we forget that it's just as important that we heed our spirits as anything else in life.

You have instincts for a reason. You may have had experiences in your life that have told you to run, and so you ran. And it may have saved your life.

Listen to the soft promptings of your heart. It knows what it needs better than you do.

***

I have experienced in my life the blessings that come from having faith in things I cannot see, from avoiding addictive substances like caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco, from living a chaste life, and from obeying the voice of my heart. These are things I would not have any correct concept of if I hadn't tried them. Learn to obey a commandment to find out if it really works. It's the only way to really know.

So Great A Cause

A great leader never sets himself above his followers, except in carrying responsibilities.

Is your cause worth something to you? It ought to be. If you aren't doing something meaningful with your free time, start doing it. There are SO MANY worthwhile things in this world. Teaching is a huge one. People need to be taught. Donate time, services, talents to even a single person--it may mean the world to them. There are so many lonely hearts that really just need someone to listen to them.

If you find yourself thinking that you ARE one of the lonely hearts, and you have the power to get out of bed everyday, there is a fault that is yours in there. It may not all be your fault, but by going out and caring about others, you will find yourself being cared for in return.

The reward for loving others is being loved yourself. It's true. The most selfless people in the world are the most happy.

Fulfillment of your most central desires comes be trying to help others fulfill their desires, when they can't do it themselves. This is when miracles occur.

There is work to be done, all across the world. Let us forget the luxury lives that we live without pain but also without joy. Opposition brings blessings. Doing things that seem hard are so much more worth it than doing things that are easy, simply because they are easy.

Lift up your heart and rejoice. There is hope yet. The hope is in you. In many ways, you are the hope of the world. Only by your doing something will the world get better, rather than worse.

Live like it's all up to you. Be a hero.

Courage is doing in private what one might be able to do before all the world.

Someone has to wage this war. Let it be you. You are here for a reason.

***

Do it.

For Courage

Our greatest strength is not in never falling, but in rising when we fall. 

There are SO many people who have had struggles in their lives.feel they've had to fight their whole life.

I believe it was CS Lewis who said "Discouragement is not in the [event]. It is in us." He, or someone, called doubt, despair, and discouragement a germ. Believe it: You can be going through the hardest of things and be at peace within. This comes by knowing that dispite hard things, you are making the right choices. Only by knowing that you are fighting for righteousness can you feel calm in the storm.

There is a tale I love, of a prince who was delivered up to all the the horrors and evils of the world. To temptations that most men would have buckled into and exposed to escapes through drugs and diseases of the mind. Through it all, he stood valiant, and gave in to none of it. When he was finally freed from such influences, he was asked: "Why did you not give in?"

"I cannot," said the prince, "for I was born to be a king."

Well guess, what? You are born for so much more than anything this world's vices have to offer. You potential extends to the stars, and I promise you that it is greater than you can comprehend, and greater than a king. With the knowledge that you were made for so much, how can anyone give into the disgusting, miserable sins of the world? When you know these things, it's easy. You are better than all of it. The tenptation is all but gone.

Life is hard. Sometimes the ways of the world seem like the most painless paths. But they are lies and deceptions, and will rather bring you the most pain. I have seen it. On the other hand, I have felt the peace that comes from working toward worthy goals, even when the storms rage around me.

Just as it has come to me, it can come to you. We all have the same potential. Grasp it, and you can feel it too.

 In order to become who you want to be, you need to be who you want to become. Nothing comes all at once. It takes effort, but the effort is rewarding.

There are treasures laid up in store.

***

I don't have a lot of time for these posts any more, so they are simple and condensed, and perhaps not as powerful. But they are things I have learned from life and they do not lie. Don't give into the fallacy that you have fallen much too far to deserve another chance. You've only fallen beyond reach if you refuse to stand back up.