Self-Analysis

"Stop analyzing me and start analyzing yourself," she quipped.

In the first instant I think, "I am in a constant state of self-analyzation..." Is that true though?

All of us think (or most of us anyway) that we are fully introspective in a way that we think that we are always analyzing ourselves--but we're not. I'm not.

Almost all of us live our lives on autopilot and are making decisions only based on what would feel good to us, or sometimes based on what we've already chosen in the past.

Is that right? Shouldn't we take time, at least weekly, to analyze ourselves and see what there is to change? Is there anything to change or are we fine with how we are?

As a counselor, I have learned that in order to counsel with someone we should be in a state of relative congruence. That means that I shouldn't be acting in a way that's contrary to the things that I know to be right and good. Shouldn't all of us be living in such a state? Shouldn't all of us be living according to that which we know and believe to be right and good and true?

Stop analyzing me and start analyzing yourself--start acting according to that which you already know or believe to be just and good and true!

JPS

Expectations...

Where do they come from and why do they frustrate our lives?

First of all, every one of us has expectations: we expect to be able to sleep tonight; we expect to be able to drive away in our car when we turn-over the ignition; we even expect to have our dreams fulfilled, and sometimes we expect that fulfillment to be speedy or speedy--sometimes we expect those dreams to be fulfilled instantaneously! Sometimes, however, in fact most of the time, those dreams are never fulfilled, sometimes fulfilled in a slower time-frame, or sometimes they are fulfilled speedily or instantaneously.

Why, though, do we get angry when they don't happen as soon or as quickly as we thought they would?

Like I was saying, when we get in that car and turn the key over and the motor doesn't turn over or start, we are frustrated or angry. Why is that? The same thing happens when we aren't able to have a good night's sleep or have a fun-filled weekend... Why is that?

I think that it is mostly because we don't have patience. We don't have a good-enough perspective on life. Unfortunately, there is not a easy-to-fix-button or an easy solution--life experience and wisdom are the only thing that will lead to a greater perspective.

Don't get frustrated though when things don't turn-out the way you thought they would. Things happen, usually, the way that they are supposed to and we need to learn from those lessons in life that hit us the wrong way.

A wise man once said that everything that happens to us in this life is or will be eventually be for our good, and I believe him. Why can't we all believe him?

Stop getting angry and bringing other people down when your own expectations aren't fulfilled!

JPS

Am I using my priesthood to its fullest potential?

I don't think that you can ever honestly answer that in the affirmative and not know that there is something more you can do...

For example, Soren Kierkegaard writes about our relationship to Jesus Christ in his book, "Practice in Christianity," that the only way you can be right before Christ is to admit that you are wrong.

In a similar way, the only way that you can be correct or right in answering the question, "Am I using my Priesthood to is to its fullest potential," is to admit that that you could be doing more and/or could be exercising more faith while trying to magnify your calling/position/duty/responsibility/etc.

If you want to know more about the priesthood, know what it is, know why God has entrusted His power to man on this earth, or know how you can learn more about any of this, click on the I Believe... link on this page or travel to www.mormon.org

JPS