Thoughts on Interacting with People from Other Nations

I recently wanted to share how interacting with others from different nations can help us develop a greater love and understanding for others we meet in our lives.   I recently had the opportunity to take a group of Chinese students I go to school with to Temple Square to help them learn more about the history of Utah's settlers and I got to learn more about their culture too, which is awesome.  Another such opportunity came when I talked with a member of the LDS Church from England as well back in August and we had some fun interacting with one another too.    From both of those experiences, I gained a greater appreciation of the different customs each person goes through in their lives, which means I get less prideful and more humbled knowing that a simple key to peace  in our time is to respect others and not be mean to anybody.  Such interactions open our hearts to learning more knowledge.   So, be a friend to someone from another nation, it's a great way to be less prideful.  I hope I can have some more blogs coming up soon.

Thoughts on Worry and Stress

I decided to post this blog to help those who read it since many of us are busy with school or work and tend to get stressed so easily to the point that we start to stress about the unneccessary small stuff, such as worrying about what a friend thinks of you.    What I have learned through my experiences in returning back to Weber State in the fall semester is that stress is really something you put on yourself and you can choose to be stressed about a particular situation or not.   I made sure I wasn't stressed by not only taking 4 classes worth 11 credit hours, I determined that I needed a balance in my life and I made sure I added LDS Institute of Religion classes and I was part of a Campus Connection Committee that has really blessed me in my life with the Spirit and great friends whom I can talk with and associate with.   I started learning about the "grand scheme of things" idea, which helped me a lot to distinguish between what to really be stressed about and what not to be stressed out about.   The best stress to feel is constructive stress, which motivates us to change and to avoid the destructive stress that only tears us down and limits our potential.   Here's how my "Grand Scheme" test works.  When a stressful situation comes up, think about that situation  for a few minutes and ask yourself, "How will that particular situation happen if I acted or don't act upon it,"  If the stress is based from a minor source such as video games or feeling irritated by siblings, then it's mostly destructive stress, avoid it at all costs.   If you were thinking about a major source of stress, such as getting your college classes paid for and how that decision would affect your future, then it's neccessary to feel constructive stress knowing that if you get that task done today, you'll have greater peace tommorrow.  Natural stress only happens for a short time,  usually, but don't make it more painful by adding more distractions to that natural stress.   By following these tips, you'll have greater happiness in your life.

Words by Austen Snow

Thoughts on Education

In recent days,  I had the opportunity to once again be a part of a cool classroom learning experience at Education Week at Brigham Young University in Utah.   I saw how there are opportunities of learning everywhere within the campus that fit the interests of everybody and the joy that we feel from each of the Education Week as part of the learning process shows that life is really about the journey, not just the destination.   When we have a certain interest in learning, it motivates us to study further until we have a deeper problem within ourselves that we need to solve with the use of knowledge.   As I start school again this coming Tuesday, I wanted to share some thoughts on how education can impact us for the better.   A lot of times, many of us don't quite understand the value of going to school because we tend to feel stressed about the temporal demands that life places upon us.   When we desire to learn something, even a subject we hate very much, we find in ourselves a new talent and a new passion.   Nelson Mandela once said that education is the most powerful weapon we can have for changing the world.   Education also removes the barriers of ignorance and prejudice that we tend to keep in ourselves.  When we shut ourselves off to learning, we're shutting off the opportunity to grow and become better people and we don't develop talents that can bless ourselves and others around us.  So take any opportunity to educate yourself, you'll find that you have more potential than you can imagine.

Thoughts on Friends

Friends really are important.   Good friends that encourage you to do you best are just as important as your family, you can't really live life without them.    It's like this quote on a tile that's on a bookshelf at my bedroom, "Friends are: allies, supporters, companions...the family you keep."    Besides serving others, be a friend to everybody regardless of background, race, gender, religion, etc. that are really sincere and do really care about you, and try as hard as you can to keep those real relationships as possible.  Cyber friendships are good too if you know what you're doing and are careful, but unless they cultivate into a real friendship, you're just talking to a picture with words on a screen.   So take time to make real friendships, your life and the lives of others will be greatly enriched as you do and friendships are more valuable than all the super nice material things like gold and cars put together.

Thoughts on Volunteering to Be Happy

There is a wonderful feeling when we go out of our way to help others and it doesn't matter in what way we do it.   We forget about our own problems and our own worries to help erase the problems and worries of others and that we become less selfish and prideful.   Examples of the opportunities that I've had to serve others included being a part of an autism charity walk, a volunteer for special olympics, speaking with the parents of autistic children encouraging them that their autistic kids can end up in the same kind of path as me.  My biggest opportunity to serve came when i served as an especially for youth counselor this past week and I saw for the next 7 weeks of my summer how much we can learn through prayer and faith and good works.  I also had the opportunity to play frisbee with my friends, especially college, high school, and an efy friend, and it shows that by having fun with others, all can be happy as well.   Plus, I had the opportunity to meet people from all parts of Utah, the United States, even some who had backgrounds in other nations of the world.    If any one lonely, the best way to combat lonliness is to serve someone who is lonely also.