“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” Proverbs 23:7
So I have been living in the Netherlands for the last three months for work. While over hear I have been with out my family and home. I am looking forward to going home next week to see my family again. However, three months ago when looking towards my time over here, I was thinking great. Look at all I can accomplish by myself, I can lose 20 lbs., finish reading “Isaiah Decoded” and “In Sacred Loneliness” spend some time learning sleight of hand, in order to make a routine for a magic show.
Well now is my time to return and report, so to say. As far as losing weight, I think I have gained 10 lbs instead. I didn’t even open the books mentioned. (I did read “Mormon Scientist,” about half of “Rough Stone Rolling” and a few fiction books.) I I have only briefly worked on the sleight of hand.
So is it true that as a man thinketh so is he? Why when I desired so much change in my life, did I become fat and lazy instead?
One reason I will state up front is I never wrote down these desires on my own. I goal is if it not written down and studied is nothing more than hope. So the first thing I needed to do was be serious about change and write down goals for it.
But I want to broaden this topic to more than just the frivolous things that I listed above. It applies to any change that we want in our lives. Change to become better, what else can people do to change for the better?
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thinking in Your Heart Verses Life Changing Moments
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What motivates us has a lot to do this idea of change. I think the two main motivating factors are fear and reward. I discussed those in this post. The problems is, I don’t think fear or reward are very good motivators. Take for instance Dallas’ gaining 10 pounds instead of losing 20 pounds. Dallas, I’m not sure what your motivation was for losing the 20 pounds, but I have to ask the following questions; now that you’ve gained 10 pounds instead, is your life really worse off? Do people love you less? As you go about your daily activities are things different now with the extra 10 pounds? Are you less happy now compared with when you were 10 pounds lighter? I would venture to guess that you could answer no to each of these. See most of the time when we vow to change our life it is usually out of motivation for reward (If I lose those 20 lbs I’ll look gooood) or out of fear (If I don’t lose those 20 pounds people will think I’m fat), but when it comes right down to it, neither reward nor fear are enough of a motivation to get us to change. Usually the only way that those are good enough motivators are if the reward/consequence is immediate, extreme, and in the case of fear sometimes life threatening.
I believe for true change to take place, motivation must be something other than fear or reward. What is that something…I hate to get all Sunday School answers on you, but one of the keys is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the effecter of change.
“…we know of their surety and truth, because of the spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty CHANGE in us, or in our hearts…” Mosiah 5:2.
“…Marvel not that all mankind…must be born again (remember that we must be born of water AND OF THE SPIRIT); yea, born of God, CHANGED from their carnal and fallen state…and thus they BECOME new creatures…” Mosiah 27:25-26.
And there it is, that word keeps showing up. Becoming. With the Holy Ghost motivating me I am no longer the guy that wants to lose 20 pounds, I’ve become the guy that lost 20 pounds. I’m a new creature.
The last several years working out has been a struggle for me too. I’d like to be in better shape…but when it comes right down to it, my life doesn’t seem to be any worse off because I’m not in shape. Then about 2 months ago my bother-in-law said he wanted to do a triathlon and wanted me to train and compete with him. I was very reluctant many of those mornings we got up early and went swimming. There were many times we would not have got on the bike if both of us had not been there. Running was…well…it was running. Without us working out together, I’m sure we would have never gotten in shape. But because we worked out together we became triathletes. (Well, sort of…for more on that read here) Though I was training for the triathlon, The triathlon itself wasn’t what motivated me. Triathlons are going on every weekend, yet that didn’t seem to get me off the couch. My motivation was my brother-in-law.
I think that’s kind of how it works with the Holy Ghost. It's not the end result that motivates us, but like my brother-in-law, the Holy Ghost becomes our motivator along the way. Not reward, and not fear, but the Holy Ghost.
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