One of my favorite quotes....

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." - Margaret D. Nadauld

Thank you to all the women I know who exemplify these virtues......

The Power of One

I have had cause lately to consider the power of influence of one person on another. The power of one.

As we go through our day to day lives we are influencing the actions of people all around us; family, friends, co-workers, classmates, and even strangers....on-lookers. Everything we say or do is influencing the life of someone else. We are all making hundreds of decisions through out the day. We have constant input signals influencing what choices we make. We think "yes", "no", or "I'll think about that one" and then we proceed to act. We make our decisions on what outcomes we think we might have...what outcomes someone else seems to have.

Movies, books, food, clothing, music, activities; there is an unending list of day to day decisions to make. We make choices based on a frame of reference; what we know or what we observe around us and how we choose to act.

If we could realize how much impact we have on the lives of people we know and love, and even on-lookers, would we do anything different? Do we think our choices affect only ourselves?

So here goes. This is an experiment for me. It might be short lived, too. 

I live a pretty good life. I have a job...which I'm grateful for every day, especially in todays' world. I have been married for almost 28 years and have four great children. I am really proud of my family. Two of my children are married and have chosen very good people to add to this family. I am pretty laid back so I am told. When I was a younger adult I was not so calm, so maybe aging is a good thing.  I am LDS, which defines a lot about me. I am grateful for this, too. I can only imagine how mixed up I would be without knowing what I know. I feel very blessed. My faith runs very deep and has since I was very young. That, too, was a blessing as I grew up.  

In the last few years I have made some bold changes in my life. It started with motorcycles. One day after observing how much fun other couples were having on rides, I thought, I'd like to learn how to ride a motorcycle. A few months later,  I had taken a safety class and we both had bikes. My husband, Kent, jumped at this opportunity. I have really enjoyed riding my  bike, and feel pretty happy with myself for taking on this challenge. Two years ago, after many years of being very overweight, I decided to have weight loss surgery. Six weeks after surgery I started a running program. I have enjoyed several 5ks, a half marathon and I am currently training for a triathlon. I hope I can keep it up....I am getting older and started later in life, but I am trying to be smart and safe with my aging body. It has been a real boost in my life to be able to do things I wanted to do many  years ago. A year ago, I decided to change my work area and go into surgical nursing, which again, was something I had always wanted to do. So, I am happy with these changes. Yet, I still feel I need others....I feel the constant reminder to focus on the eternal....I need a bit more balance in my life. I need to invest more time and energy into pursuits that have eternal benefits, like family history work and personal study.