We'll see if I become a crazy, consistent poster or not, I have a number of different blogs I've started, but I feel that this one--just sharing my thoughts and perspectives on things--might actually be one of the most valuable and interesting ones I've done. I look forward to seeing what I'll be sharing. :)
So, I haven´t written a post here in years but I actually enjoyed reading old posts. I think there is power and value in publishing one's thoughts and opinions, even if they may change over time. Self-reflection often encourages others to self-reflect; it also encourages feedback, which can lead to improvement if accepted and applied when appropriate.
We'll see if I become a crazy, consistent poster or not, I have a number of different blogs I've started, but I feel that this one--just sharing my thoughts and perspectives on things--might actually be one of the most valuable and interesting ones I've done. I look forward to seeing what I'll be sharing. :)
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Well, now it's June 2015 and I just started an online Master's in International Development in May with St. Mary's University of Minnesota. The topic is very important to me and a Master's degree is often required in many development jobs and internships as professional and academic experience are both very important and the knowledge of many fields such as sociology, economics, geography, anthropology, health and business are all important and have an effect. I am pretty happy with the plan as it is cheaper than some of the others options and still allows me to work, move and spend time with my family. The negative is we won't be going to some new countries but we will be able to live in Argentina while I continue to study. It'll also allow me to get some experience in developmental issues that are important to me. I also found online an online post-graduate certificate at a university in Florida on Anthropology research studies that should help me get into a doctorate program in a field that's important to me. I'm still not sure where or what yet but I do have options and should continue to move in that direction as I know that's a place I'd like to arrive if I can focus and do small things each day to reach my goal. I will try and note a few things that are on my mind:
I've been reading Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and I'm reading about Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind. I am trying to work on it and figure out what my end is, especially with my career and graduate school because it's hard for me to know what to do currently that will be worth the time and money. I am pretty sure I want to be a professor eventually; I know I want to live abroad. If I got a Master Degree abroad I am pretty sure I could get a degree abroad immediately. If I did the Master of International Business AND the 23-credit MBA a few years later, I could participate in every single campus Hult International University offers. It would be cool to go there and meet the professors so I could possibly work and teach someday. Those professors have the type of career I'm looking for--one that mixes the pragmatic and theoretical, a business school, that's modern, innovative and global; I think I will really like working for them and hopefully attending the school. It will be kind of expensive. It will not be easy to do; but if I have the end in mind, then the daily things will make sense and will make a difference. I'm not sure if I should start immediately or not...I think it should be next year so Julieta has more time to settle here, we can have the baby and those costs covered and yes, it makes a lot more sense to start a year from now. That's my goal; that's what I'll work toward, the question will be whether I do an MIB or if I should just do an MBA since I will have more than 2 years of work experience, maybe that will be better....I need to think about that one. I love this song, it moves me every time I listen to it. There's some passion, some soul in that melody, it's awesome; the original by Coldplay is at the bottom. I wanted to talk about passion. It seems to be what gives life to the monotonous and is also the impulse that pushes people through the tough times toward a worthy goal or purpose. I have a hard time determining what I'm most passionate about, and yet it's really easy at the same time. I love maps; I love learning about PLACES and what's associated with each place, the people, the culture, nature, the homes, but not the details as much as the entire intake. I like to take in that info and compare. I like to see a place and have it affect me and change my viewpoint; I'm passionate about that. I like to do the same with books, I love to read. I love to share knowledge and help other people learn. I also learned I have to be proactive and less self-centered. Focusing on others will allow me to fulfill my passions and desires by applying them in a good way; I still have to understand this better; but somehow getting to where what I do for others is most important to me is going to make the biggest difference; it's not easy to get there though; it takes effort and proactivity. As promised (I like the elephants in Africa; random, but cool): Sometimes I feel I am blind. I don´t always see things as they really are. What an annoying thing!! What is it that blinds me? I think it´s laziness and too much focus on me. Serving and thinking of others helps one to understand how others think which helps one to better understand the world around him or her. I have really isolated myself from deep relationships in a way, I don´t contact my dear friends and forget about things if it has no benefit to me; quite selfish of me in all reality. How frustrating...:(
The songs, the philosophies and even the gospel teach that charity or love is more important than anything else or the only thing that endures. How do we obtain charity. Moroni says that you must pray with all of one´s one soul to possess it and to be filled with it, and charity makes the sacrifices and natural man melt away. That´s why giving also helps one to obtain charity--to stop learning to be so selfish. That selfishness is what is blinding me and it is what is robbing me of greater joy. It's what I'd like to work on. So, today I got a chance to go to the Mt. Timpanogos Utah Temple in American Fork, Utah. Anyway, it was storming outside today, the opposite of the weather in the picture below. The Temple (like all temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is considered to be the house of God, a place where he can dwell and for that reason only members of the Church who are living a life considered consistently in line with God's commandments are permitted to enter. There they receive ordinances for themselves and do work for those who have died. It's a special place. I always feel at peace when I think things out in these houses of God. I love them. :)
So today I received permission to take 3 weeks off to visit my girlfriend in Argentina and also to attend my sister's wedding. My boss is great. :) I'm grateful for her. I don't ever get tired of the following video done by BYU's Divine Comedy. They are a skit troupe who have moved into YouTube Video musicals. This one is my favorite one yet. It's well but together, has creative lyrics and is entertaining to watch. Enjoy! Have you ever wondered why the Atonement of Jesus Christ was necessary? What's the big deal? I find I do not ask that question when I make a mistake and need His healing power to make me feel whole and new again. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it astounding that one man's (or half-man's) suffering could allow the price of many men and women's mistakes to be paid? Only a God (or a Son of God and of man) could possibly do that. That's what's astounding as well. I love my God and my Savior Jesus, He is amazing for caring about me so much to pay a price so I could return to His heavenly kingdom.It's astounding as I've already said. May you learn to reach to Jesus in your times of need and learn that He is always there and that the price of peace, joy, and happiness has already been paid. That's why Jesus came and that's why He suffered and died, so that we ALL may enjoy the blessings and the joy without having to pay the awful price see D&C 19: 15-20:
[15 Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. 16For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; 17But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; 18Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink-- 19Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men. 20Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.] So, in the end, I have much to learn about life, suffering, death, pain, forgiveness, and peace. I have only just begun my journey. I sense pain, misery, misfortune, trial, unkindess, hatred, venom, weakness, disease and many other things in my future. I feel and believe they will be as much a part of my life as they are part of almost everyone else's life, especially the best men and woman whom have ever lived. yet, I sense joy, happiness, pleasantness, peace, fulfillment, grace, greatness, success, and happiness in the future as well and recognize that the two go hand in hand. "It must needs be there is an opposition in all things" the scripture says, "if not...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility" (2 Nephi 2:11). Anyway, there is a purpose to life and thus in order for there to be a purpose there must exist the lack or failing to reach that purpose as well. There is good and there is bad in this world. We get to choose which we hold to. And that which we hold to makes up what our life is, what it becomes and what we become as well. It is important to come to understand this purpose of life. And through the Lord of the Universe and this Earth, Jesus Christ, one will understand that greater purpose and who the it is who make it possible for there to be a life or any life at all, the Bread of Life and the Living Water, Jesus Christ. This blog is going to be about how I view the world. It'll focus on global, philosophical, political, religious or any other topic I feel like talking about. There will likely be little structure to the content except for the seeing how my mind thinks and what it focuses on.
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AuthorI'm an average-looking not-so-average Mormon Utah boy who loves Jesus, my family and all of God's children on this planet. I like tennis & basketball, love singing and am obsessed with learning; I also find contentment in making new friends each day. Improvement is where it's at. Archives
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