I delight in decision making trainings.

Today my thoughts have centered around past decisions I have made and upcoming decisions I have yet to make.

As I've thought about how I am going to make the next set of major decisions in my life, I turned to my file of favorite talks. The talk that jumped out at me was, "Discerning the Will of the Lord for Me" by LaNae Valentine. My dear friend Carly gave a copy of this talk to me back in the day when I was trying to decide where I was going to go to college. I was so glad for the things I learned back then, and I'm grateful for the things I continued to learn as I read this BYU devotional address again today. (All the quotes, are from this AMAZING BYU devotional given 29 June 2004.)

Okay, so...[some] kinds of choices are easy: What brand of cereal should I buy? What color of pants should I wear? Who should I ask out this weekend? Should I watch TV or read the scriptures? Should I go to Relief Society or go shopping? But what about those more difficult choices: Where should I go to college? What should I study? What should my profession be? Should I go to graduate school? Which job offer should I take? Where should I live? Whom should I marry?

In my copy of the talk, I had underlined the questions I was most concerned with when I read this talk back in 2005 (see italicized). I survived those questions, and the question regarding graduate school. But now...I'm on to the next 2 questions.

"Which job offer should I take?"

AND

"Where should I live?"

While I don't have any job offers yet, I'm going to apply for some jobs soon. And I really need to decide where I'm going to live and what population I want to work with.

And so,

...

When it comes to big decisions, you don’t want to make a mistake. Sometimes I have wondered why the Lord doesn’t just tell us what to do concerning the big things. The answer is simple: If we are going to become as God is, we will have to learn to make decisions—even decisions of great importance—on our own initiative.

...

Elder Bruce R. McConkie notes,
And so we’re faced with two propositions. One is that we ought to be guided by the spirit of inspiration, the spirit of revelation. The other is that we’re here under a direction to use our agency, to determine what we ought to do on our own; and we need to strike a fine balance between these two. . . .There’s a fine balance between agency and inspiration. We’re expected to do everything in our power and then to seek an answer from the Lord, a confirming seal that we’ve reached the right conclusion. [Bruce R. McConkie, “Agency or Inspiration?” New Era, January 1975, 39, 41]

Even though this process seems quite clear, I have struggled with striking this balance between agency and inspiration. At one extreme, I have felt that the Lord has more important things to do than listen to my concerns. This attitude has at times fostered a spirit of pride and a propensity to not seek His input at all and to just do things my own way. On the other extreme sometimes I have been paralyzed into inaction, unwilling to do anything without an answer from the heavens. How can we avoid relying too much on our intellectual powers while ignoring the Spirit, or expecting spiritual solutions while ignoring our own power to reason things out for ourselves?

President Marion G. Romney described how he has found this balance:
When confronted with a problem I prayerfully weigh in my mind alternative solutions and come to a conclusion as to which of them is best. Then in prayer I submit to the Lord my problem, tell him I desire to make the right choice, [and] what is, in my judgment, the right course. Then I ask him if I have made the right decision to give me the burning in my bosom that He promised Oliver Cowdery. When enlightenment and peace come into my mind, I know the Lord is saying yes. If I have a “stupor of thought,” I know he is saying no, and I try again, following the same procedure. When we learn to distinguish between the inspiration that comes from the Spirit of the Lord and that which comes from our own uninspired hopes and desires, we need make no mistakes. [Marion G. Romney, “Q&A: Questions and Answers,” New Era, October 1975, p. 35]

...

How do we discern the burning in the bosom from the stupor of thought? What is a stupor of thought? Sometimes I feel like I’m always in a stupor of thought. I looked up the word stupor in the dictionary and found the descriptions a “dazed state, a . . . lack of mental alertness” (Encarta World English Dictionary, s.v. “stupor”). Other descriptors are sluggish, numbness, absence of the ability to move or feel, apathy, languidness, dullness, or not feeling inspired to go forward. I was struck by the depressive mood created by all of these words. There is nothing inspiring, exciting, or comforting about any of them.

Contrast the stupor descriptors with words describing the Spirit: enlightens, enlivens, quickens, enlarges, expands, purifies, inspires, fills the soul with light, peace, love, clarity, and joy (see Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 9th ed. [1965], 101). Other descriptors of how the Spirit confirms our course are “much assurance,” “peace to your mind,” “confidence wax strong,” and “feel that it is right.”

Even though we must all learn how the Spirit speaks to us individually, I found these descriptions to be helpful in making righteous choices. Growing in our ability to receive revelation is like learning a new language or learning to play a musical instrument. We must practice diligently for a long time before we feel comfortable with it. We must be patient with ourselves, recognize that we might have some setbacks, and persist until we become masters at recognizing a witness of the Spirit.

...

(Sister Valentine then goes on to discuss 6 barriers that might interfere with our ability to receive personal revelation. Today number 2 spoke to my soul)

...

2. We haven’t learned how to listen.

In his book The Lost Art of Listening, Michael Nichols states, “True listening has become a rarity in modern life.” We live in a noisy, busy, hurried world and rarely take the time to listen. He notes that listening is so basic that many of us take it for granted and think we’re better listeners than we really are. In reality most of us hear only what we want to hear or what we have trained our minds to hear. He notes that good listening takes effort and can be achieved only by suspending our preoccupation with ourselves and with our needs (Michael P. Nichols, The Lost Art of Listening [New York: The Guilford Press, 1995]).

When it comes to communicating with the Lord, these obstacles to listening can be difficult to surmount. After we have studied, pondered, and prayed, we must listen carefully to our Heavenly Father or we will miss His answers. Elder Boyd K. Packer notes, “The voice of the Spirit is a still, small voice—a voice that is felt rather than heard” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Cloven Tongues of Fire,” Ensign, May 2000, 8). If we are not in a quiet, still place when we approach Him, we might not hear or feel His answers. That quiet, still place must extend to our state of mind. The Spirit has difficulty impressing a busy, racing, anxious mind. More often than not, whisperings of the Spirit will go unheard if we are too busy to listen.

In addition, we live in a time when many of us turn to addictive substances and behaviors such as television, shopping, eating, computer games, surfing the Internet, and busyness for comfort and avoidance from the problems and stressors of life. These habits can desensitize us and deaden our sensibilities to the promptings and feelings of the Spirit. Plus, much of our modern day entertainment with its increase in stimulation, gratification, and indulgence is offensive to the Spirit.

We each could ask ourselves: What could I turn off, turn down, or tune out in order to hear the voice of the Spirit in my life? Am I doing anything in my life that is offensive to the Spirit and preventing the Holy Ghost from being my constant companion? Is there anything I could eliminate from my busy life so that I would have more time to be still, to study scriptures, ponder, and pray?

...

After reading this section, I recognized that since January, I have been more "run here, run there" than ever before. Grad school has been full of "busy" but I was better at making quiet moments count. These moments included: time to time "quiet drives" to or from school with no radio or phone calls, quiet journal/scripture time, and regular trips to the temple. Recently, I seem to have "given up/given away" my quiet times. The times when I could be listening to what the Lord has to teach me. And so, today I am asking myself, "What could I turn off, turn down, or tune out in order to hear the voice of the Spirit in my life?" and "Is there anything I could eliminate from my busy life so that I would have more time to be still, to study scriptures, ponder and pray?

Since reading number 2, I have yet to make it to the others, but this has given me something to think about and reason to change.

Yesterday in Stake Conference, Elder Nash of the Quorum of the Seventy explained that the spirituality of human beings is like a sine wave. A horizontal line through that sine wave signifies the level to which we feel compelled to "do" something because of what we know (in my words, change behaviors match our feelings). Then he said, hopefully as LDS members, who keep covenants, our sine wave is progressing up as we are edified and lifted by the Spirit. It still goes up and down but it is moving in an overall upward direction.

As we respond to the Spirit to make proper decisions in the way, fashion and manner that the Lord would have us do, I know that all things work together for our good. I can receive the revelation I need to make decisions regarding my life...big decisions or small decisions, the Lord is there and he cares.

I delight in inspired answers.

Sometimes I get in a fight with blogs. If I'm not careful...I start focusing on the things I don't have as opposed to all the many blessings I have been blessed with. Hence, me and google reader have regular clean out sessions. A while back, I started a hunt for uplifting websites. I love personal blogs and enjoy reading about what is going on in the lives of my friends and family. I love blogs with beautiful pictures by my fantastically talented friends. I love blogs that teach me how to do things. I love blogs that show me a new way of looking at life.

The other day, I ran across the blog entitled: The Redheaded Hostess. I linked her site to the title. Anyway, she has some of the most fantastic advice about how to organize gospel studies--by both topic and chapter. I'm always looking for a new way of doing that as my current system has recently experienced multi-system failure. Anyway, if you're interested in re-charging and synthesizing your studies--check out here, here and here.

The reason I loved the way the Redheaded Hostess organized scripture study is because of this talk. I was a student at BYU at the time and Elder Bednar's talk entitled "A Reservoir of Living Water" hit me like something strong. I realized that I wasn't getting all that I could out of my scripture study. I realized, if I was merely reading or drawing wimpy parallels to my life, that I was short-sighting myself of something so much better. Since then, things have changed. I have learned to love more and more the patterns, themes and connections that are embedded in the standard works of scripture (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price).

I am grateful that learning is a process. I'm grateful of the Lord's mindfulness of us, what we need, when we need it, to take us to higher planes of learning and integration.

I delight in ASHA 2011.

picture courtesy of megan b's facebook

I just returned from my third and final trip to California for the year. This time I went a little further south than the previous two trips to San Diego. It was absolutely fantastic knowing it was snowing in my home state of Utah, and that I was no where near there.

ASHA stands for the American Speech Language Hearing Association. I'm currently a member of NSSLHA (pronunciation determined by your region) or the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association. Each year, a community of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists gather together for a huge conference (and I really do mean huge). There were classes on everything from total laryngectomees to trach babies and vents, to dysphagia and the lifecourse of the lung, to assessing pragmatics in autism, to ipads and apps. Of course you've also got your typical ebp (evidence based practice) study results for new programs such as hanen's more than words. There were also classes on everything from morphological awareness and literacy, to traditional articulation approaches now taught with ipad apps. There is certainly something for everyone at ASHA and it does not disappoint.

To fill in the spaces, there was always the exhibit hall full of a seemingly million companies selling everything and anything that you might possibly ever/never need during your career. The postcard was just one treasure found at one booth. I also found a place with a notepad of animated vocal fold vibrations so as you flipped through the pages, the vocal folds moved. I kid not. It was hilarious. But probably only hilarious to a "speechie."

I also determined that it is quite possible that to become a "true speechie" you have to have short hair and wear scarves. I've got the scarves but I'm holding out on the short hair, at least for now. There was a booth selling cashmere scarves and it was always swarmed with people!!! I was shocked every time I walked past it!

My stock of pens, sticky note pads, clips, pedometers, sunglass holders, hand cleaner plus holder, waterbottles, measuring tapes, and bouncy balls was restocked. I have 10 or so bags I collected from the exhibit hall as well. On an even better note, I had the opportunity to talk to lots of potential employers from all across the United States. I gave them my resume, and learned more about their company. It was a fantastic experience. Now I just need to figure out what 'experience' I want to have for my CF aka Clinical Fellowship. Decision time.

What I haven't even talked about yet was the amazing people I went with. 10 girls from my same year in the program also went to ASHA. I stayed with 2 of them. We had a blast together. Searching for dinner in little italy, looking for the the pizza place in the gaslamp, eating dessert for dinner at pinkberry, going to the social gathering for the Intermountain West Universities where I saw professors from my days at BYU as well as talked to professors and supervisors in a more casual setting than the clinic.

The trip was great. The learning was incredible. The company was better than ever and the food was really yummy. Now back to real life, papers, clinic, reports, and projects. At least I have a more distant goal insight than just making it through grad school. :)

I delight in progress.

no to yes

silent to words

questions to answers

fear to peace

standstill to forward

sad to happy

I delight in learning and growth.

In an informal survey that I requested be taken among 150 young adults, they were asked to list three resolutions they felt would help them become happier and more successful during the new year. Almost everyone in the survey (98 percent) included resolutions to increase their spirituality. Two out of three (68 percent) indicated they would like to improve their social skills. Half (49 percent) indicated a desire to improve their physical fitness, and half (48 percent) wanted to grow intellectually. Everyone indicated a desire to improve. After all, self-improvement by coming unto Christ is at the heart of why we are here in mortality.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior is recorded as saying, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). In the Joseph Smith Translation, the first part of that sentence is rendered, “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect” (JST, Matt. 5:50). The translation of the Greek word for perfect means “complete, finished, fully developed.” Some biblical analysts indicate that the suggestion to become perfect is exaggerated idealism or scriptural hyperbole. We as Latter-day Saints believe that the Savior meant what he said and that becoming like our Father in Heaven and the Savior is a commandment, not just a suggestion. We should strive continually to be more like them. After his resurrection, the Savior asked his disciples, “What manner of men ought ye to be?” and then answered, “Even as I am” (3 Ne. 27:27).

Only one verse of scripture in the entire King James Version of the New Testament suggests what the Savior did to develop himself from age twelve until he began his formal ministry at age thirty: “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52; see JST, Matt. 3:24–26). In other words, the Savior developed in the same areas indicated on the poll: intellectually (in wisdom and knowledge), physically (in stature), socially (in favor with man), and spiritually (in favor with God).

I am convinced that if we make and keep resolutions in those four areas, we will have a happier and more successful new year this coming year and every year for the rest of our lives. Let’s consider the nature of such resolutions and the benefits that can be ours if our resolve to improve ourselves is firm.

Resolution number one: I resolve to expand my intellectual horizons, to increase in wisdom. This year, commit to read good books throughout your life. Some people learn to read but don’t read very much. A few years ago, a disturbing poll indicated that 56 percent of college graduates never read a book all the way through after their schooling. We might ask ourselves, Are we reading? Are we growing in wisdom?

The scriptural commandment to us is to “seek … out of the best books words of wisdom” and “become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people” (D&C 88:118; D&C 90:15; emphasis added). What we choose to read will make a huge difference in the development of our minds and character.

We cannot justify mentally shifting into neutral and failing to exert our efforts to progress intellectually. In 1838 Sidney Rigdon, a member of the First Presidency, addressed a group of relatively new members of the Church, some of whom apparently thought all they had to do was be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then just sit back and wait to receive the celestial glory. He said: “Vain are the hopes of those who embrace the gospel, and then suppose … they have nothing more to do. … The great God … never thought of … raising up a society of ignoramuses, but of men and women of intelligence … as high as human nature was susceptible” (Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, p. 53).

So the challenge is the same for us all—to continue learning throughout our lives, and especially learning more about the gospel.

--Elder Joe J. Christensen (whole talk can be found here)