Why not me?

I just heard an excerpt from a podcast by an interesting gentleman named Naval Ravikant. He said that he heard one time of a person asserting that there must be a happiest person in the world. And then he asked himself, "Why not me?"

I love that. Why not me? Why not unleash myself? Why not stop holding myself back.

(Paul Harmon clipped some of the interesting highlights.)

I think that this is part of the joy of daily repentance that President Nelson talks about. It's sloughing away the things that drag us down. It's lightening us to be able to reach toward light and truth and beauty and joy, unencumbered.

Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God

Joseph Smith

Men are, that they might have joy.

2 Nephi 2:25

Like Mr. Martin of whom he, himself speaks, Mr. Knightley is full of wisdom.

'There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do if he chooses, and that is, his duty; not by manuevering and finessing, but by vigor and resolution... If he wished to do it, it might be done.'

'...A sensible man would find no difficulty in it. He would feel himself in the right; and the declaration -- made, of course, as a man of sense would make it, in proper manner -- would do him more good, raise him higher, fix his interest stronger with the people he depended on, than all that a line of shifts and expedients can ever do. Respect would be added to affection. They would feel that they could trust him... Respect for right conduct is felt by everybody. If he would act in this sort of manner, on principle, consistently, regularly, their little minds would bend to his.'

...

'Your amiable young man is a very weak young man, if this be the first occasion of his carrying through a resolution to do right against the will of others. It ought to have been a habit with him by this time, of following his duty, instead of consulting expediency. I can allow for the fears of the child, but not of the man. As he became rational, he ought to have roused himself and shaken off all that was unworthy in their authority.'

Mr. Knightly, c/o Miss Austen

Beautiful, searching questions.

When all is said and done
As the season slips away
When I've taken steps beyond my sight
Will I find my strength in greater light
Will my courage grow with every passing day
And will my faith be constant as the setting sun
When all is said and done

When all is said and done
And the years have turned to gold
Will my life become a legacy
Of the things that matter most to me
Will the fire of faith grow bright inside me
And will I want to be the person I've become
When all is said and done

When all is said and done
When my eyes can finally see
Will I glory in the sweet release
And will mercy fill my soul with peace
Will I kneel and wonder at the savior's feet
Will I hear him say, "well done"
When he sees who I've become
Will I live with him
When all is said and done

Katherine Nelson

Expect to work. Do your best. Expecting otherwise does not lead to prosperity.

In London, he had expected neither to walk on pavements of gold, nor to lie on beds of roses; if he had had any such exalted expectation, he would not have prospered. He had expected labor, and he found it, and did it, and made the best of it. In this, his prosperity consisted.

Dickens

Frantic clicking and switching on the computer lead to the same behavior in life.

The hours we spend flitting constantly among task train us to treat our time and our attention as infinitely divisible commodities. On a screen, it's easy to jam more busyness into each moment, so that is exactly what we do. Eventually the mind falls into a mode of thinking, a kind of nervous rhythm that's inherently about finding new stimuli, new jobs to perform. This carries over into the rest of our lives; even when we're away from screens, it's hard for our minds to stop clicking around and come to rest.

William Powers, Hamlet's Blackberry

Lots of excitement. Many possibilities.

Like most of the other things which humans are excited about, such as health and sickness, age and youth, or war and peace, it is, from the point of view of the spiritual life, mainly raw material.

• C.S. Lewis

Life will go on, and the silent, ever-advancing, but most consequential part of our lives will still be most worthy of our notice. What am I doing with my own life and my own soul?

What is a reporter's job?

What is a reporter's job? A reporter's job is to fact check the government by talking to the people. What is she doing? She's fact checking the people by talking to the government.

Yes, I'm coding a power ballad again.

Could it be that you're the one who's wrong this time?!

Toto, Pamela

The existence of this record is a loving warning to stop the cycle of self destruction and come to the Father who wants to bless us.

Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One — yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

Helaman 12:2

Captain Moroni, of the Nephite army, is a perfect example of manly virtue.

And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery;

Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.

Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.

Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

Alma 48:11-13, 17