I have found that one of the greatest tools in times of trouble, tribulation, suffering, depression, angst, choose your favorite word of adversity; the most immediate and effective tool to help take the edge off is gratitude.  It won’t solve your problems but it will ease your mind for a moment as you consider all you have been blessed with.

I know that sometimes it’s hard to recognize or admit to ourselves that there’s much to be grateful for, but we all have more to be grateful for than we can imagine.  Think of all of the things we take for granted; if they were gone we sure would recognize them!

The next time you’re in the dumps and can’t think of a reason to smile, make a list, even a mental list of ten or twenty things you are grateful for.  It will ease your burden and help lighten your load so you can continue on and take a few more difficult steps through the darkness.  You’ll keep moving forward until you get your problems solved and can look back with wisdom and thankfulness.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
~ Jimi Hendrix

A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race
~ Joseph Smith

These quotes are from two men who lived completely different lives, but who learned some of the same lessons.  The purpose of this blog is to share my views, my perspectives on life and my philosophies to hopefully give a little bit of what I have learned from the veritable dichotomy that is my life.

Love is a powerful thing, probably the most powerful force in the universe.  Where does it come from?  Do we create it or does it just exist?  How do we obtain it?  What is true love?

I don’t know for sure the answer to these questions, but I do know what I believe.  I think love exists and that it is up to us to find it, to tap into the fountain from where all love flows.  Although love is intangible, it can be felt and it can be experienced; but it is deeply personal and can not be handed over from one person to the next.  The closest means we have of transferring love from one to another is by showing this love to other people through kindness and service and working to fill those who have room to be filled.

This holiday season is about love, loving, giving love and receiving love; all of those.  We can not truly love if we are not willing to both give and receive love.  Often times the scales are tipped in the favor of others and it may seem that we have a deficit in our lives.  But we must always remember, that as we continue to give, we carve holding places within ourselves to receive when the time is right; and when the time is right, we will receive.  Patience is borne of love and love is borne of patience.  They go hand in hand.

To truly receive, we must truly give.  To have it any other way is merely taking.

Merry Christmas!