A Good Read

So, each month I attend this very curious book group. It's made up of some women in my ward, some women who used to be in the ward, some women who are friends with other women that may or may not have ever been in the ward, and a few who no one is quite sure where they came from. The strange part for me is that I am the youngest in the group by probably 20 years. Don't get me wrong, I love going. The women are fascinating and wonderful and the discussion is always great. It's just that it is always a little strange to feel like such a little kid (at age 30) in a room of people where no one really knows anyone, really.

Anyway, my curious little book group read this great book this month that really touched me and I wanted to recommend to anyone interested. It's called This I Believe

It's a collection of short essays gathered by NPR over a 50 year time span about what people believe. It's not as much about what people believe religiously as it is what people believe is the real way to find happiness and meaning in life. It's about all the little things that truly matter to people; everyday experiences that change lives, thoughts that lead to action, or just reevaluating what brings true happiness. It's about being nice to the pizza guy, it's about believing in the good of mankind, believing in our country, believing in yourself and at the same time, believing in your duty to serve others.

It had so many good little mantras to live by scattered throughout the book. Here are some of my favorites:

"In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn't been good vs. evil. It's hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good vs. doing nothing." - Deidre Sullivan

"I believe in imagining a life, and then trying to live it." - Jane Hamill

"I am repeatedly struck by the healing power of connection created by being fully there in the quiet understanding of another. I believe in the power of presence, and it is not only something we give to others. It always changes me - and always for the better." - Debbie Hall

"My story is really my mother's story - a woman with little formal education or worldly goods who used her position as a parent to change the lives of many people around the globe. There is no job more important than parenting. This I believe."

"It is in giving that I connect with others, with the world, and with the divine." - Isabel Allende

"I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. " - Steve Porter

"What would happen if we listened to children as much as we talked to them? Or what would happen if even one generation were raised with respect and without violence?" - Gloria Steinem

"i hope that there are always things that we don't know - about the physical world as well as about ourselves...I believe in the exhilaration of standing at th boundary between the known and the unknown." - Alan Lightman

" I don't believe anyone can enjoy living in this world unless he can accept its imperfection. He must know and admit that he is imperfect, that all other mortals are imperfect, that it is childish to allow these imperfections to destroy all his hope and all his desire to live. Nature is older than man, and she is still far from perfect. Her summers do not always start promptly on June 21. Her bugs and beetles and other insects often go beyond her obvious intentions, devouring the leaves and buds with which she has adorned her countryside. After the land has remained too dry for too long, she sends relieving rains. But frequently they come in torrents so violent that they do more harm than good. Over the years, however, nature keeps going on in her imperfect way, and the result--in spite of her many mistakes--is a continuing miracle. It would be folly for an individual to seek to do better--to do better than to go on in his own imperfect way, making his mistakes, riding out the rough and bewildering, exciting and beautiful storm of life until the day he dies." - Oscar Hammerstein

"I believe in the ingredients of love, the elements from which it is made. I believe in love's humble, practical components and their combined power." Jackie Lantry

Okay. I could just keep going. I'll just say that it is really good book full of little jewels to ponder. Although I know what I believe religiously, and that I am sure it shapes me as a person, I think there are a lot of other forces at work that make us who we are and determine how we find happiness. It made me really want to sit down and write an essay myself. I am stopped by the knowledge that I could never express myself as well as the writers in the book, and that would frustrate me. Maybe someday when I feel a bit more eloquent....not today.

So I ask you...what do you believe?