Simplify Your Life

       Today in church, we talked about simplifying our lives.  One of the leaders in my church, Dieter F. Uctdorf talked about how there are only four relationships in our lives that really matter and we need to focus our time on them, instead of so many other things that keep us busy.  Those relationships are with: 1. God, 2. Family, 3. Fellowmen and 4. Self. 

    The first three are pretty self-explanitory, in my opinion.  Uctdorf, in relationship to ourselves, mentioned that some of us can't get along with ourselves; we criticize and belittle ourselves all day long until we hate ourselves.  He's right.  I'm learning to love myself more and be kinder to myself, and it really helps in my overall attitude.  It also helps in what I am able to do because if I believe in myself, I accomplish more.

     I have also heard many times in many places the parable of the rocks.  I think Stephen R. Covey taught it in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  It's where you have a jar.  Beside the jar are: big rocks, little rocks and sand.  If you put the sand in first, then you can't fit everything else in the jar.  However, if you put the big rocks in first, then the little rocks, then all the sand fits as well.  The metaphor, as many of you may know, is: the big rocks are the most important things in life, the little rocks are the important but not essential things in life & the sand stands for the thingd in our life that may or may not matter but can be distractions.

     This was a good reminder to me and hopefully to you.  I know that technology (I-pods, Facebook, Twitter, TV, movies, cell phones) can be a distraction to take away time from what is really important.  It's easy to get distracted by many things and hard to focus.  Focus takes work and energy, but it's what helps us become successful in many areas.

     In conclusion, there are most important things in our lives and there are less important things in our lives.  If we can learn to focus on what's most important and cut out distractions, we can be successful in every area of life.  As Skip Ross would say, "Say Yes to your potential."

You are AWESOME!