Tuesday's Thought

Motivation
--By Alexander Lockhart

A wealthy businessman hosted a spectacular party in which he had filled his swimming pool with sharks, barracuda, and other assorted dangerous fish. He then announced to his guests that he would like to challenge any one of them to try swimming across the pool, and he would offer a first prize of either a new home in the mountains, a trip around the world, or the position as president in his company. No sooner had he made the announcement there was a large splash in the water and a man swam rapidly across the infested waters and leaped out on the other side. The millionaire approached the dripping man and said, “that was a stunning performance. What prize do you want?” The swimmer caught his breath and then replied, “Right now I really don’t care about the prize. I just want to find out who the person was that pushed me in!”
Many times when we feel discouraged we need a little push to get us moving. We often depend on exterior motivators to get us started. But the push, in order to have a last effect, must generate from within. If you want to be successful each day of your life, then you must be motivated from within yourself.
Self-motivation gives you the power to push forward in your endeavors and break through the walls of adversity. It is the fuel and driving force which propels you in a forward motion toward your goals. Motivation is what gets us going and keeps us trying. The word motivation is defined as, “to provide with a motive.” Motive can be defined as, “something (as in a need or desire) that incites a person to act; moving to action.” Every action that you take can usually be traced back to some definite motive or combination of motives. No action can be taken without first being motivated to do so. The feeling of motivation comes from knowing where you want to go and having the will and perseverance to get there. Once you clearly define an objective, you must develop inside of yourself a strong, unrelenting desire for its attainment. You must magnify an intense determination within yourself and develop the self-confidence that will direct your actions toward the realization of your desires.
For self-motivation to be effective you must internalize your desire through visualization and affirmation techniques. Effective visualization is a vivid mental picture of you having already achieved your goal. The reason this technique is so powerful is this: Your unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a perceived event, feeling, or thought that is real and one that is imagined. As you project this mental image in your mind, your unconscious mind then brings forth the desire and actions that will be in harmony with that mental picture. If you can effectively visualize yourself already reaching a goal you will then generate the determination and motivation to move forward toward the reality of achievement.
Start today and turn your motivation into ‘wantivation’ to excel in every area of your life. As the philosopher Socrates once reminded us, “A man who would move the world must first move himself.”

Friday Night Videos

I was glued to the TV with the earthquake, then tsunami, and now the nuclear disaster in Japan. It's been unbelievable that the hits keep coming to the people who live there.
With the long winter, here, I needed to find some videos that would make me smile.

I was going to post this video for last week, but didn't post any videos. Today my cousin posted it on her FB and it still makes me laugh:

This video has been around forever, but I love it!!! And it makes me smile: "Alan!"

Gene Kelly makes me smile....he was brilliant, indeed!

When I was a little girl, Sandy and I had a disney record and this was one of the songs on it. We hadn't seen the movie, yet, but we loved the scene and today, it tugged on the memory and made me laugh out loud at my desk:

This one is too funny! Go Mario!

Friday Night Videos

Tee hee hee! my sweet, sweet, sweet nephew with my awesome sisters on the day of the tsunami in LA:

Super hero Mason:

One of my favorite X96 film festival:

Another one I like from the X96 film festival:

Tuesday's Thought

I picked this one up when I first came home from my mission and was working in the ER.

Dance Like No One’s Watching

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough and we’ll be more content when they are. After that we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a new car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Suoza. He said, “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special—special enough to spend you time…and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you’ve had a drink, until you’ve sobered up, to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness, like life itself, is a journey, not a destination. Work like you don’t need the Money. Love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one’s watching!

-Anonymous-

Univ Museum of Fine Arts

Last week, some coworkers and I went to the University of Utah Museum of Fine Arts for the Helen Levitt exhibit of photographs. She took these pictures beginning in the 1940s through the 70s.
I forgot to take my camera in with me, so these are from my cell phone, but here we are looking at the pictures: They were really incredible pictures of people in their everyday life.

We also wandered through the exhibit: "Collecting Knowledge: Renaissance Cabinets of Curiosity" There were some really incredible statues and glass bowls that were older than Christ (really). Here are a few of the pictures I took with my phone: I say: go if you have the chance.

Also, last week, I did a quick photo walk through our parking lot as my break. Here are a couple of the pictures I thought turned out well:

Utah Aids Foundation Oscar Party

On Sunday, Eric and I joined some dear friends at an Oscar Night Party fundraising even hosted by the Aids Foundation of Utah. It's one of the few Oscar approved parties in the nation and it was a lot of fun to attend.

We had a wonderful time and hope to go again next year. Here are my favorite pics of the night.

A silent auction as part of the fund raiser:
Dressed up for the party:
The band playing by the red carpet:
Our table:
Red Carpet couples:


And of course, me and Eric:

Friday Night Videos

I spent the last two days home sick...with a crazy cold, and most likely another sinsus infection. Grrrr!

Here are this week's video picks.

This is a crazy samarai fight with a 'shadow':

Sometimes, I like to see these kinds of mash ups:

I love this time lapse of space...recorded in Chile:

A fun and create way to reuse those beer bottles, I suppose:

Tuesday's Thought

Every year I create a mission statement for myself. Last week's thought came from a combination of one line quotes and thoughts, and I grew them into something I could use as a mission statement of sorts, a few years ago.

I found this week's thought in a book of compiled stories, thoughts and quotes I've been collecting all of my life. It's from Mary Kay - THE Mary Kay. It's one I've always really liked:

"You truly are wonderful and when God created you, He had a beautiful and special plan for your life. He knew that He had created within you the abilities and the talents that you needed to be the beautiful creature he had destined you to be. He planted in you the seeds of greatness. You can be anything you want to be; you can climb any mountain you want to climb; you can reach any goal you want to reach. it all lies within you. Believe in yourself. Have faith in yourself. Look for the best qualities in yourself. Believe that you are becoming the best you that you can be. Remember that all human activity is prompted by desire, and desire will develop a sense of urgency in you to make your dreams a reality."