Week 2: Creating a Life of Meaning

     This week's study was inspirational and gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed listening to the lecture by Randy Pausch and thought he shared some great thoughts and insights. He had a great perspective and I think this was one of the reasons he was able to accomplish so many of this childhood dreams. I think another reason he was so successful was because of the support and encouragement he received from his parents. From all the classes I have taken on the way to earning my degree in Marriage and Family Studies, I have learned just how important parental support is to our foundation and achievement. 

    I think dreaming is important to our mental health and wellbeing. It helps us feel hope and look forward to things we can work for and eventually achieve. 

    One of my childhood dreams was to become a teacher. What's interesting is I have not become a professional teacher but I spent 15 years homeschooling my children. Now that I am working on becoming a Marriage and Family therapist, I am thankful for the opportunity I had to teach my children. I also consider that I accomplished this childhood dream of being a teacher even though it was only to my children. 

Week 1: The Start-Up of Me

 As we began this weeks learning journey, I'm glad we started off with Elder Bednar's talk "Your Whole Souls as an Offering Unto Him". This talk was filled with wonderful pieces of advice and a great reminder of why we are really here on this earth. A couple of things really stood out to me from this talk. The first one was,

"A disciplined and educated mind is a tool for reasoning and inquiring and evaluating and discerning.  These abilities are not merely the requirements described in a course syllabus; rather, they are essential skills for a spiritual, happy, and productive life.  More importantly, the combination of spiritual strength and mental capacity provides the means whereby we can act for ourselves rather than be acted upon." 

The other quote I really loved was from Marion G Romney, 

"Can we see how critical self-reliance becomes when looked upon as the prerequisite to service, when we also know service is what Godhood is all about?  Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there?  Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves.  Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse.  Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved.  Teaching cannot come from the unlearned.  And most important of all, spiritual  guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak.  (Conference Report, October 1982, pg. 135) 

I also really enjoyed the opening paragraph to "The Startup of You" that pointed out no matter what profession we are in we... "are an entrepreneur at the helm of at least one living, growing start-up venture: your career."

I am looking forward to this semester and all that I will learn!