Tis' the season!

Its Christmas time! There is something magical about it no matter how old you get. Is it Santa? Jesus? Presents? Winter? I was thinking about why its special and three things in the last 24 hours gave me the answer. 

1) Everyone at Walmart last night was unusually friendly. Strangers walked by and smiled and said hi like 4 times! An drabby old man, a little Indian guy, a yuppy Indian guy (don't think he was gay either), and... someone else. And people were pleasant. The cashier was funny and engaging. Wall-E was on in the electronics section a group of like 4 randoms including me stopped to watch for 5+ minutes. It all made me happy! 

2) Read this article in NY Times.

Strangers may cheer you up, study says

"Your happiness depends not just on your choices and actions, but also on the choices and actions of people you don't even know who are one, two and three degrees removed from you," said Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a physician and social scientist at Harvard Medical School and an author of the study, to be published Friday in BMJ, a British journal. "There's kind of an emotional quiet riot that occurs and takes on a life of its own, that people themselves may be unaware of. Emotions have a collective existence - they are not just an individual phenomenon."

Kind of comforting/ Potentially creepy! But, fear not...

"Sadness was transmitted the same way, but not as reliably as happiness. Professor Cacioppo believes that reflects an evolutionary tendency to 'select into circumstances that allow us to stay in a good mood.'"

Thank goodness.

3) This directly answers the initial question of where the Christmas season derives its magic. Read this talk about Christmas by President Monson (might have gotten choked up). 

The Best Christmas Ever

"President David O. McKay declared: 'True happiness comes only by making others happy-the practical application of the Savior's doctrine of losing one's life to gain it. In short, the Christans spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.'

"'It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring 'peace on earth,' because it means-good will toward all men.'

"Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more in

terested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the 'spirit of Christmas,' we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the 'Spirit of Christ.'"

So what is that feeling? Maybe its the combined goodwill of everyone around thinking more unselfishly than usual. Its the Spirit of Christ in greater potency. Get out and spread the cheer! Go to Wal-mart if you must.

Happy Holidays!

Busted

I've been doing a lot of long distance driving lately (mostly to Utah and back). Anyone who knows me understands how easily I fall asleep. So to stay awake on these treks, I've been juicing up on energy drinks. They are horrible for you, but averaging one a month, I am not an addict.

It would probably be better to adjust my activities around waking hours, than to adjust my waking hours around activities. We all know that too much caffeine is bad for you, but, but, but... No church authority has expressly condoned energy drinks (as far as I know)- UNTIL NOW!

So no more energy drinks for me.

CAFFEINE CONTENT OF ENERGY DRINK TO COKE:

Regular Coke - 41 mg of Caffeine

Average Energy Drink - 220 mg of Caffeine

ALMOST AN ENTIRE 6-PACK!!! no wonder it works

SPIDER BRO:

Now imagine instead of a spider web you are looking at a midterm paper. Diagram on the left is a BYU student's paper. Diagram on the right is a UVU student's paper. While the left diagram may earn an A, it took the zoobie all day to complete! UVU stud woke up at 1 AM, played Xbox, hit up the tanning bed and Gold's, went to 3 dance parties, popped a Rockstar at 2 AM and finished right diagram in a fraction of the left and still got a C-! YEAH BRO!

Urban. So urban.

My cousin Stephen and I have so many running jokes. One of them is the idea of being urban. Embodying the American urban movement and embracing the world. Traveling to Thailand. Living in the big city. Starbucks. Peacoats. American apparel. Just living the dream and being... urban. Listen to this song and enhance your urban appeal.

Poison Oak Myth-busting

After hiking in Yosemite over Thanksgiving break I woke up in the morning to an itchy rash on my face and other places. The last 4 days have been absolute hell! And I don't know if I've reached the worst of it as it keeps popping up in new spots. Anyhow, the outbreak has caused me to do some research and I learned a few things to share.

Myth: Poison Oak rash is contagious. You can give it to other people.

My mom cut my hair yesterday and wore rubber gloves so she wouldn't get it from touching me. Don't trip Mom- Rubbing the rashes won't spread poison oak to other parts of your body (or to another person). You spread the rash only if urushiol oil- the sticky, resinlike substance that causes the rash- has been left on your hands.

Myth: Don't worry about dead plants.

I'm pretty sure I just touched a stick or something because it is winter and there weren't many leafy bushes on the trail. Urushiol oil stays active on ANY surface, including dead plants, for up to 5 YEARS! 

Myth: Breaking the blisters releases urushiol oil that can spread.

I always thought this was true and if you itched it the juice from your blisters would make more and cause others to possibly get it. No. Blister fluid does not spread the rash. Only contact with the Urushiol. The rash spreads as less sensitive areas or areas less exposed to the urushiol break out later. 

As far as tips to make the itching stop or make the rash go away faster I'm still looking into it and looking for suggestions. I'm going nuts.

A Reason for Disbelief

I recently saw a preview for a new documentary called Religulous. From the preview, it basically seems like it is saying that it is stupid to believe in God and just because many do doesn't mean it isn't crazy. He goes on to knock believers of all faiths and mock God. Which is totally fine by free speech. So in a spirit of free speech, I am at liberty also to profess my beliefs. 

God does exist. He does communicate with His children on earth. Those who cannot hear His voice often come to the conclusion that they do not hear because He does not speak. If He doesn't speak to them, then the 'others' must be making it up. This is false. The reason we often cannot hear His voice and feel His love is because we disobey His codes of conduct and commandments. In this state of rebellion, we can either get back on track or justify our loss of light and love by reasoning the light and love never existed in the first place. Then it is easier to go on according to our will in disregard for God's. 

I know God has spoken to me at times in my life. No doubt. I also know that at times I have had a very hard time hearing and it has required making changes to get back on course. Faith in Christ and belief in His atoning sacrifice enable one to feel the spirit again and hear God whisper. So if you don't believe because you do not hear and do not feel- I implore you to utilize Christ's free gift and change, rather than justify your actions and deny God. In so doing, the darkness of heavenly silence will dispel. See below quote.

"Man may deceive his fellow-men, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave; but one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity, strikes it all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind."

-Oliver Cowdery

His love is manifest and available through the atonement. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

-Matt 3:16

And the way we utilize the atonement I can most simply describe as asking for forgiveness through Christ and not doing it anymore. And if we do it again, asking for forgiveness again, until the not doing it part finally sticks. The danger of repeating sin after repentance is that is you start to think... "This is silly. I can do what I want. I don't feel God forgiving me or talking to me. This repentance is the result of a frenzied mind bothered by a false belief. I'll stop believing, stop feeling bad, and do what I want." Don't be fooled by that line of logic. Repent. God is waiting in love to touch your heart and then you will feel his whispering. Thats what I know.

Oh Meridian...

This is the true story of George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi, who was going to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the shed. George opened the door to go turn off the light but saw there were people in the shed in the process of stealing things.

He immediately phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and George said no and explained the situation. Then they explained that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be there when available.

George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I've just shot them all."

Then he hung up. Within five minutes three squad cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

True Love Part II

Last entry defining love was all quotes from LDS leaders. Just watched Meet Joe Black for the first time last night and heard a great line from Hannibal Lector that rings true.

Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived.

-William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins)