New Endeavor

In pursuit of all things good, I will begin a new task that will hopefully drive me closer to my core. For so long my writing has taken the back seat.It is strange because writing brings me joy, personal inspiration, and revelation. Life distractions have become my normal daily routine. When I sat to write, like I wanted to do so badly, my mind drew a blank. My mind was overloaded with static. I think most people experience this in one form or another. Not one single undertaking can be blamed for the problem but a combination of everything. We need to reboot much like a computer. No information is lost however we are refreshed. The static and chatter disappears and our mind is clear to input new information faster and more efficiently. I've been trying to do this for a couple months now and couldn't figure out why I have fallen short. Whether it was laziness or any other sin I cant say. I'm still not sure what is happening but I will ride the wave while it lasts.

Today the ruts dug into the dirt roads of my mind will be leveled for ease of travel.

With that said I had this crazy idea to become more spiritually minded by writing about scriptural topics each week. I've heard it said that the person who learns the most in sacrament meeting and the classes are the teachers. Opportunities are opened, direction is given, and the teachers are more keen their surroundings. There is no better way to come closer to my core Jesus Christ than by studying him and his teachings through Apostles and Prophets both ancient and modern. A promise was given me that my life will change the second I begin to read the scriptures daily. I pray the Lord will bless me in this task and those around me.

Power in Feeling

God works in a miraculous ways. I believe by the forces of nature, he is able to lead us towards him. I am experiencing something powerful this moment that is not done playing out. Whether you get anything out of it, it matters not. Sharing it helps me sort through some of the complexities. It will come in parts but I will start with the most recent and chain it to the beginning...if I can find that.

I had a dream last night that is somewhat recurring. It is of a person I haven't seen in over 10 years and the outcome is always the same. We both part on somewhat sad notes. My dreams are vivid and very real to me. This dream, although slightly different each time, causes an altered mood throughout the day. I cant help but wonder why I still have them. Without too much thought I went about my business thinking very little about it. I drove to lunch and was telling my coworker why I always take the bumpy road to get where we were going. “Less stop lights” I said when I approached the 4 way stop. Crossing the road right in front of us was a lady and what looked like her granddaughter. She was old and was crossing really Slow. Then it clicked. I felt like the neck of a funnel and the top was instantly full of information. There was a pull like in a science fiction movie. I was having a hard time processing what was happening. What was coming out were only the things that made sense. My mind was churning like a computer trying to find a file. I found a file (I know her but I don't know who she is) each though was another file. (This cant be happening) (I know who she is)(she is the mother of the person in my dream the night before.) (I cant move)(Whats her name?)( I haven't seen or thought about her in 10 yrs.) (Oh my, I know her name.) All these thoughts entered my mind at the same time yet in order. Nervously I called out to her, “Shelly”. She looked at me and cocked her head. I saw her mouth my name “Kyle” as if in slow motion. Not knowing what to do, I placed the truck in gear and drove off trying to explain to my coworker what had just happened. What led up to this event is what boggles my mind.

My goals for 2010 were not all accomplished as I set them. Do I feel it was a loss? Not at all because goals can be modified. One of my goals was to read 12 nonfiction book by the end of year. This was the first year end goal I had ever made. I ended up reading 8 non fiction and 4 fiction. Plenty more were started, but they didn't speak to me so they were never completed. I am a different person today because of what learned.

This is a list of books that I actually finished...not necessarily in order.

1. Who moved my cheese

2. The Law of Success

3. The Alchemist

4. How to win friends and influence people

5. The Noticer

6. Lectures On Faith

7. More than enough.

8. The dip

9. Tribes

10. Harry Potter 7

11. I am number 4

12. Fearless

One other accomplishments I had in 2010 was learning the Rubik cube. Will Smith said you can achieve anything you put your mind to. The cube was one thing he put his mind to and so I felt inspired to do the same. Not for glory of others as it is such a geeky thing but for putting my mind to something and accomplishing it. I did learn it and my best completion time was 2min 9sec from a full scramble. This seems like something small but it was huge for me. It unlocked a few doubts I had in my mind about what was actually achievable.

I have other 2010 accomplishments of note that are kept in my heart where they will stay. I call them my "Silent victories". The ones where you are the only soul who will ever know what has taken place. If you speak them to others they lose their value. The accomplishment will become tainted and thought by others as seeking praise. I hope to have many more silent victories and other victories I will share.

The Greatest

I took it upon myself to take a self analysis test and have been astounded at the results. It was said that those who do it and do it honestly will know more about themselves than the majority of the population. Who knows more about ourselves then...ourselves right? Exactly right, but when was the last time we really asked ourselves how we feel about something? What questions should we ask ourselves? The following are a few sample questions I picked from about 100 that touched me and made me reflect.

-Do you deliberately avoid the association of anyone, and if so, why?

-Could it be possible that some person whom you consider to be a friend is, in reality, your worst enemy, because of his negative influence on your mind?

-To which do you devote most time, thinking of SUCCESS, or of FAILURE?

-Are you gaining or losing self-confidence as you grow older?

-Are you easily impressed by other people's business or professional titles, college degrees, or wealth?

-Which do you value most, your material possessions, or your privilege of controlling your own thoughts?

And one of my personal favorites which happen to be the source of most intense reflection.

-Whom do you believe to be the greatest person living?

-In what respect is this person superior to yourself?

I ask you, whom do you believe to be the greatest person living? My guess would be the majority of the world world would say their parents or a close family member (spouses and children included). The majority of Christians would say Jesus Christ which I would also agree with. Those are the easy answers. The answers we don't have to think about or worry about others disagreeing with. That is why the follow up question is there lest we learn nothing about ourselves.

I believe the greatest person living would have to be ourselves. Funny huh? Well, not really. I have thought about this for a while I will give you an insight to my thought process behind this assumption. Each of us go through phases and our greatest person living changes. Certain religious leaders, family, friends, recording artists, and children have all made the list at one point. The only constant is our perception of what greatness is. What makes them great? We do. They are nothing unless we make them something. So who makes you and I great? We do. God and others work through us to create a better person, but it's essentially up to us to take action. We have the opportunity to move on what we are inspired to do. To sum this up we have the potential to be the greatest person living. To become superior to our old self each and every day. Something to reflect on and urge us to become...the greatest people living.

If anyone wants the full self analysis let me know. Very telling I admit.

The need to feel noticed

I have observed for many years the need one has to feel they are relevant in the world. Its a pull and an inner desire for greatness. The need to feel special and noticed will draw us to do the strangest things. Recently an increased number of people are installing programs to see who is browsing for them on networking sites. On the outside they may hide behind curiosity and security for their personal information. The truth is secretly they want to believe people care enough about them to look into their life. We are all a little guilty of that. There is nothing better than feeling important. I have discovered the best way to feel important is to help someone else feel important. My challenge for you today is to make someone feel important and think about the positive impact it will bring in their life. Forget yourself and make someone elses life relevant and you will find a treasure filled with love and appreciation.

G.G's first duck hunt

That's the pole I told her to look at in the next picture.


Dad and GG...obviously not posed. hahaha. I told her to look at the pole near the waters edge. I guess she was looking at a different one.



I love this picture. I will treasure it. Big smiles, minus a few teeth.





I took this picture on Jerusas First Duck Dunt. I wanted to get the beautiful mountains and clouds in the back ground. you can tell how far we are out by the Great Salt Lake by how small the eastern mountains look. We had so much fun. Jerusa said to me a couple times, "Its ok dad, I dont care how far we walk as long as we can take breaks like you said". She was a trooper and a hoot. We walked of the dike to another spot and the marsh was a little too deep. When she said her feet were wet I knew it was time to go. She didnt complain one bit though. I was only able to get one shot off. Although we went home empty handed. My heart felt full. We picked up 63 spent shells people had left. Gave us something to do on the long walk back down the dike. You can see from the picture we walked quite a ways.






Opening Day of the hunt. The first shot of the day I took a goose. That was amazingly fun.

I got a good entry coming up. Look for it soon. It will be a 3 part entry. The following is an excerpt from it:


"Is it ever too late? Fortunately the answer is no. Opportunity is much like rain. Metaphorically speaking, there are those of us who stay inside because its cozy love cuddling up to the sound of a rainstorm. There are those of us who put on rain coats and walk around in it because the smells and sounds are to die for. Lastly, there are those of us who experience the rainstorm a different way. We soak up the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feeling, and the taste of the rain. We look to the sky with outstretched arms and open mouths to catch as much rain as possible. We leave the coats inside and experience the most exhilarating opportunities known to man. We are not afraid to get wet."

The people we associate with

Where our dreams and desires are, there will our hearts be also. What is a dream? I'm not talking about the ones we wake up and cant figure out how it even connected or even better the ones we cant remember, but the ones we consciously dream up in our waking hours. The ones that make sense to us without being reasonable. We get the butterflies thinking about them. The ones where others are inspired because of our passion for it. Hopefully this feeling isn't something foreign to us. Hopefully this feeling changes us, and those around us. There may be others but that one dream gives us hope. That dream is created by us and achieved by us. No other person on earth can realize this for us. We are glorious human beings and have been given this chance to be something. We can piggy back others but need to form our own.

Most people in America live for the weekends because they lack the vision. The realization of ones dreams are constantly under attack. There are those around us who would rather stagnate than built. They will treat us the same way they treat themselves, filled with doubt and unbelief. Look around at the people who spend more than they make, they are superficial. They are temporal people. Concerned more about the now then the future. Study those who are un-employed and see how often they are serving. Why are they unemployed and not staying busy? Because they lack self respect. Depression has set in and their dreams are fading. Praise the man who has self worth and the love of his family.

Surround yourself with people who have your same goals in mind. Rather easy because we gravitate to those who share our ideas and goals. We have always done this but it worked against us before. We gravitated to people who had no goals because we were just like them. This positive group will strengthen you. You feel better from being around them. Tell them your dreams. They are your support. By surrounding yourself with these people you have created your own life line. The dream becomes real and takes root.
No one will do this for us because they cant. We are as unique as our aspirations and those could never be accomplished by another. There is power in numbers. There is more power in numbers when they are good people of character, who have one major purpose, and are achieving it. That is when it is becomes a formidable combination. Truly, we create our own destiny.