Faith

Countless times in the scriptures the Lord says to have faith.

I was thinking about that today. And struggling with it a bit. Because I ask the Lord for help a lot. So, so very much. Maybe 100 times a day. On a slow day. And when I ask, believe me, I ask in faith.

I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

With every fiber of my being I believe in him.

Thus I have faith.

But I feel like even though I ask with so much faith, I feel like receive so little. Especially with school. I struggle with school so much. I wish I could describe it to you. It's not that it's especially hard. I just get especially frustrated with the monotony of it. 

I think I figured it out today though.

When God asks a person to have faith, I think much of the time we misunderstand. Even the great prophets God told to have faith. And they had more than most of us ever will.

I think that sometimes God wants us to have faith in ourselves. I know it's something I lack in certain areas. I think He's saying, "Hey, I know you trust me. But I'm not going to do everything for you. I'll help you, but you need to believe in yourself. You need to do for yourself."

God is the great developer of beings. He has created and molded the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. Leaders not necessarily because of quickness of thought or smoothness of speech. Leaders of men because they were first leaders of themselves. The very best leader.

So basically... I need to believe in myself, if I'm understanding myself correctly. 

Great.

That's even harder than believing in God.

Lucid Dreaming

For a while now I've been trying to learn how to lucid dream.
Lucid dreaming is a state of being in which one is dreaming, and one knows that they are dreaming. Thus one can control the dream because they are conscious in it as it goes on in their head.
Lucid dreams are used for many things. People talk to their subconscious sometimes to try and figure out life. Other people use it to overcome fears, such as heights. See, a person doesn't die in real life when they die in a dream. So one can jump out of a plane a thousand times without a parachute, and be perfectly fine. The interesting thing is that the mind builds the pathways in the brain from practice of real life things in lucid dreaming. Thus overcoming fear in a lucid dream is a viable option because your brain does the same thing it would in real life. So the reason I've wanted to learn lucid dreaming is to practice wrestling, because as long as I understand the basic motions of my moves my brain can fine tune them in my head while I'm sleeping.
Pretty cool, huh? :D
Last night I finally got it.
I dreamed that I was outback of my house in the night. It was dark, but I was waiting for my cousins to show up. I was preparing, really. One of them, Josh, was going to come hunting for me. So I was hiding. I don't remember if it was just a game or if I was really, physically scared, but whatever the case, I was taking it pretty seriously. At this point the dream was just moving. I was not conscious to it yet. I had a sleeping bag, and was a couple of backyards over from my own figuring that he wouldn't look too hard in my neighbor's back yard. So I got down in my sleeping bag and was watching very carefully because I had seen their van pull up, so I knew he was searching. I turned around to look behind me, and Gollum from Lord of the Rings was RIGHT BEHIND ME. Gee. That was scary. So he proceeded to tackle me and generally just make me feel pain. Then something clicked. I realized that I was dreaming, because Gollum is not a figure in the real world. So I looked up at him and shouted something like, "Stop! This is my dream. I don't want you here. Go away." He looked really disappointed, and went and sulked in a corner. Now, I must not have been fully lucid, because thinking back on it now I realize that he went and sulked in the corner, which was actually next to a door, which was the door of a train car with scenery speeding by outside. So somehow I ended up in a train car from my neighbor's back yard.
Do you know what I love about dreams? I seem to totally roll with whatever comes in them. Like, it's not a big deal for me to all of a sudden be in a train car, I just accept that fact and move on. It's so cool. xD
Anyway, there was a nice old lady in the train car, (which was also a piece of a house at this point) and a couple of guys that looked like they had come straight home from World War II who were sitting near Gollum. I talked with the old lady for a moment, but I don't remember what was said. Then the dream started to slip. But I didn't want it to end, I wanted to go practice my wrestling, so I focused on being on a wrestling mat. But it was too late. The dream was over.
BUT IT WAS SO COOL. :D
Seriously, that made me so happy. :D
So I'm going to keep practicing. Soon I'll be able to get them more frequently and hold them for longer. :)
Productivity in my sleep. I must be dreaming. ;)

Of God and Time

I wonder if God created time for man, so that man would have a structure to the world and a way to measure the experiences past. Maybe so that life would make some sort of sense to man without memory of our past experiences.

Going even deeper, I wonder if time is the cause of mortality.

Think about that for a minute.
I think it's very plausible.
It it seems unlikely that God even exists within or is bound by time at all. Thus immortality. And if God exists in a state of being in which time is not a factor, we have an explanation as to how he answers the millions or billions of prayers sent to him in every moment. It explains how he knows the future. He's independent of time, and thus controls it.

So, to take this deeper.

This means that we as people cannot physically travel in time. It is impossible, because we live in mortal and thus time-bound bodies.
But our spirits are immortal.
So maybe it is possible to time travel as a spirit. It would require removal of the spirit from the body, which in turn requires death or other means of removing one's spirit from one's body, and thus is not advisable. But maybe possible.

So anyways. Think about that for a while. Let me know what you think in the comments section. :)
Have a wonderful day. :D

Finding a Purpose

I believe that I have found the reason that I do not enjoy my education.

But I need to take the story back a few years to explain.

So let us start at the beginning.

I really enjoyed my education as a young child. I hated school. But I loved the learning. And that made school worth it. It was exciting to learn how to put my thoughts into words and my words into characters on a page. It boggled my mind that night my Dad sat me down and taught me how to stack my numbers when I subtracted rather than putting them to the side of each other. <-- I legitimately still remember that day. Learning was enthusing to me. And back then my purpose for learning was learning just for the sake of learning. I was happy with that reason, and didn't need another.

But then I started getting older. About the time I turned 12, I started forming this dream.

It was simple at first. A little house on a hill. A happy family.

Then I started to realize that there are practical sides and pieces of life that have to be figured out in order to live. Things like food, water, clothing, and ways to obtain these commodities in a sustainable manner. So I looked into them. And thus my dream started to fill with basic things like solar panels and livestock. But more than that was needed. Livestock need food. Money is needed to buy solar panels. More importantly, money is needed to buy land. So a plan to make money ensued. 

But I decided that I didn't want to be dependent on a piece of paper to prosper. So I set out to find ways to do all of this sustainably, and I found permaculture. I learned that I could plant food forests that would be almost completely self-sustainable. Swales would help keep the water that comes to my land stay on my land, and even give me an abundance of this uncommon resource. Managed correctly, livestock can take care of themselves and each other, as well as keep the food forest in good shape. 

And that was it right there. The ultimate in sustainability. My dream could then be a reality.

But my little house with my family and my farm isn't my whole dream.

When it comes right down to it, my dream is about joy.

I want to be the happiest person alive.

And my dream isn't complete until everyone else's is too.

Because the thing that brings me more joy than anything else is seeing my friends succeed and knowing that I was a part of that success.

But success on a massive scale of individuals requires freedom.

And I fear that we are losing freedom in America. I fear that it will be soon gone. 

So the question then is, "How do I fix my country?"

Well, I go into politics. Or I go into radio. Television. The media. Maybe be a religious leader. As has been said many times by Glenn Beck, the way to change a country is to change it's culture. So to turn the country around from heading to less freedom to heading to more freedom requires a cultural shift. 

Ouch. That's difficult.

I don't want to be a politician. I don't want to be Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. I don't want to be a religious leader.

I want to be that nice old man who lives with his sweet old wife in that one little house on that hill a couple miles North of town. The one who's home you always leave with a smile on your face and a renewed passion for life in your heart.

I want to change the world one person at a time. Because I believe that is the best, and most effective way to change the world. I believe it is the longest lasting.

But I don't have time. Because there are 7 Billion people on Earth today.

I won't even live as many seconds in my entire lifetime as there are people alive today.

But, I have a dream. And I have a mission in life. That mission is to change the world for the better in preparation for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So whether my calling is to be the wise old man on the hill or the martyr in the street I will stand ready to serve my God. Because I love him.

I have changed in the 45 minutes that I have been writing this post. The original intent going into this post was to explain how I now see my dream as unattainable, and thus I see no purpose in my education. Because I don't have a reason for it. I don't have a vision of where it will take me. And thus I can have all the drive in the world, but without a knowledge of where I'm going I'll only be driving. But I've changed my mind.

I do have a purpose for my education. 

The purpose of my education is to change myself. To make myself more useful to my God. So that he can work through me to change the world. 

Because I am going to change the world. 

Remember?

I invite you to change the world with me. Starting today.

Today is Easter. We will celebrate the overcoming of death and sin by the Savior. It is a symbol of a new beginning. So start one.

Begin with yourself. Clear your conscience of any regret or doubt. Educate yourself. Become what He wants you to be.

Once you've come to honest terms with yourself and your God, you'll know what to do. I don't know what you should do. But you will. 

Then, together, we will change the world.

But it starts,

Today.

The Anti-PDA Campaign of the Future

Today I had an idea.
An idea that may change the future of college students and their awful affair with PDA.
This idea came while I was talking with a dear friend of mine.
Her name is Chip, you may know her, you may not. But whether or not you do, you should. Because she's awesome. (So is her blog, by the way.)
What if we started selling tee-shirts at college shunning "PDA Offenders"?
Wouldn't that be awesome? xD
Something like this. :D

And then we could like... Have several variations of this shirt and similar shirts, and sell them at a shirt stand.
But the crowing point of the whole thing would be to hire couples to awkwardly make out near the stand to influence potential buyers.
Isn't that brilliant? xD
We could even start a hashtag. Something like,
#PDAbeGone
You know.
Anyways. This is a silly post. But I'm not silly very often. So I thought I may as well be for once. ^_^
Have a wonderful day. :)

Concentration and Anger

I have tried for a long time to figure out why sometimes I simply explode. Why I go from content to Get-out-of-my-way-or-die type of angry in only an instant. And I think I've figured it out.
For the longest time I thought it was the result of bottled up emotions all released at once. But I don't bottle up emotions, and I knew that, but it was the only explanation that I could find. So I stuck with it.
Today though, I have another idea. I noticed a common thread. I usually get angry when I am focused on something and then am torn away from it to do something else - especially a mundane task like house work. I don't mind housework. I actually enjoy it if I have the right music to go along with it. But for some reason when I am taken from strict concentration to something mundane, of which things housework is the most common example, I snap. And it seems to me that the reason why is because it takes so much effort to concentrate that when I actually get it my brain is like, "Ahh! I've focused! Okay, I have this module to do, and that essay to write, and this other thing, and I only have until I run out of focus. I had better hurry." And then all of a sudden 5 minutes into my work somebody calls my name. Or somebody else starts making lots of noise. And I am instantly furious with them. Something like,
"HOW DARE YOU DESTROY MY FOCUS! IT WAS A WORK OF ART! SOMETHING THAT TOOK WHAT FELT LIKE YEARS TO CREATE! DIE DIE DIE."
^^^ Something like that.
And then I feel so bad, because I usually do things that I normally wouldn't when I am angry. I say things I wouldn't normally say. And I hurt other people.
And so I try to fix this problem within myself. Because that's what I do. I fix myself. All the time. And in the process, I think I have become hesitant to even try to concentrate, because if I do and someone bothers me, I might hurt them. And I don't like hurting people. It hurts me. 
But I think I've got the problem figured out now. Unless there's another part I don't understand yet. So anyways. Thanks for being interested enough in me to read that. Haha. :D

Have a wonderful day. :)

Staring at the Keys

I stare at the keys. And my fingers itch to play. Something deep inside of me remembers how. But I can't spit it out. The music doesn't flow through my fingers like a cool stream runs along a river bank on a warm summer day as it used to. Like I remember it did. And like walking through a now dead but once vibrant garden, or seeing a once great but now broken friendship makes a person feel, I feel solemn as I continue to stare. I remember the bits of Les Miserables that I used to play. I remember the silly songs I used to make up. And in my head I can see the notes. But they are muddled now. Like I put on a pair of someone else's glasses. Like I'm staring at another language.
Oh my friends. Remember to make good use of your life. Don't waste yours as I have wasted mine. Not to say that my entire life is wasted, but I certainly haven't made good use of it. Or at least as good of use of it as I could have.
Do you know how many YouTube videos I've watched to date?
9,713
And that's just the ones I've watched on my account.
According to this site, the average YouTube video is 3 minutes and 53 seconds long.
Let's do a conservative estimate. Let's say that the average length of the YouTube videos that I have watched is 3.5 minutes. Just going off of the videos that I have viewed on my account to date, that equates to 33,995.5 minutes spent watching YouTube videos. That's 566 and a half hours. 23 and a half days worth of YouTube videos. And that's a conservative estimate.
That doesn't include movies I've watched. Videos watched on Vimeo. Videos I've watched on Facebook. Time spent on YouTube while not logged into my account. Replays of videos. Time spent looking for videos.
It doesn't include the hours and hours I spent playing Pokemon on my Gameboy when I was younger. It doesn't include the time on the GameCube. It doesn't include the time on the Play Station. The Xbox.
It doesn't include time still spent on Facebook, and Google+.
I am not saying that all forms of media and entertainment are bad. But there are better things to do.
Let's put this in perspective.
I work at my family's feed store for 6 dollars an hour, unless I'm working for commission. If I had spent just the time that I have spent on my account on YouTube at work, I would be 3,399 dollars richer. That's just at 6 dollars an hour, which is less than most people make by far.
I read books on average at about 12 hours per book. If I had spent all that time reading, I would be 47 books wiser than I am today.
It takes me about three hours to learn a new piano song. If I had spent all that time working on the piano, I would be 188 songs better.
I can practice one wrestling move about 120 times in an hour. If I had spent all that time practicing wrestling, I'd be 67,980 repetitions closer to perfection.
And a new friend... I can make one of those in less than a minute. That's 33,995 potential friends not made.
Those things just mentioned, they are worthy and noble causes. Causes in which I have spent much of my life. But not as much as I could have. Certainly not as much as I should have.
And what do I have to show for all the time I've spent watching YouTube videos? A whole bunch of things to make small talk about?
Pretty much.

Next time you look back at your life, your week, your day, or even your hour, and wonder what you have done with your time, think about this.
Remember this post.
Remember what you have the potential to do, and to be.
And then go do it.
Go be it.

I can't promise in this post that I will never watch another YouTube video.
I can't promise that I will never waste another second of my life.
But I can promise that I will sincerely try.
Will you make the same promise?

And So the World is Changed Forever

It started with this video.

And continued with this one.

And now we're here.

The world is changing, my friends.

It is not the same tomorrow as it was today.

Tomorrow, you might print a working gun in your home with a plan from off the internet.

Next week you might print furniture.

By next year you may be printing food.

You might even print yourself a new printer.

And why not? You may as well. No one is going to stop you.

The future is filled with endless possibilities, my friend. And you are one of them.
Remember that.

School (AKA Life Eater, Soul Crusher, Stem of All Dull Things, etc.)

I am so tired of school. So very, very tired.
I just don't understand. I really want to like school. I've tried to make it interesting, but it just isn't. I don't like it. I don't get fulfillment out of it. I need to do something with my hands.
I need to live.
But I don't feel like I'm living when I'm sitting at this computer trying to figure out how to like something that I really don't. And I need to feel like I'm alive. Because if I don't, life seems pretty pointless. Like right now.
I even went out and cleaned out the chicken coop today. Not because I really wanted to. But it was more fulfilling than school.
I only want to understand how to like school. How to embrace it. Because trust me, I will. Show me that answer to making Earth Science and Mind and Body Stewardship fulfilling, and I'll do it all day.
I just don't feel like I'm doing what God wants me to do while I'm sitting here basically doing nothing. And while the fact that I'm sitting here doing nothing is not the schoolwork's fault, I just can't find it in me to go do the school work. It's that depressing to me. And schoolwork isn't a bad thing. I just don't think it's the best thing I could be doing. I don't see how forcing myself to learn things that will never apply to my life are going to bring me joy.
I dunno. Really this is a pointless post. You may stop reading now if you wish. Just remember that your friend Dallin could use advise if you have any regarding making school fulfilling. :-P
Just go do something awesome today and come back and tell me about it, okay?
Thank you. :)

Women In the Priesthood

I was thinking about women in the LDS church desiring to have to priesthood today, a rather funny thought came into my head.
Who in the world are these women? What are they, bored? Seriously. Maybe they need to have another child to keep busy or something to give these poor, boring people something to do. ;) I know my Mom would tell you straight up that she's too busy for the priesthood.
Really though. It's silly. If you're not busy, make yourself that way.
It seems to me that if they have enough time on their hands to ask for the Men's responsibility as well as their own, clearly they're not fulfilling their own obligations.
Just my two cents. Carry on. :)

In their quest for the impossible answers to the impossible questions, many people are perceived to be wasting their lives. But in that moment when one catches the impossible, the world is forever changed.
Don't ever stop chasing the impossible.