I traveled to Paris this past weekend to pick up our family Christmas Tree.  Yes, I know, it’s crazy to think that someone would go to Paris for a Tree!!!   Well, for those who don’t know, the Paris I went to is a bit closer than what you may think.  Paris, ID a beautiful area of Southeast Idaho is where the Cache National Forest is located and that is where I went in search of the ‘perfect’ Christmas Tree.

After driving up three canyons in my trusty Toyota FJ Cruiser, some canyons a little more snow packed and muddy than others, and hiking up and down mountainsides, I stumbled upon a tree that was laying on it’s side, already cut, the perfect size, the perfect shape, the perfect Christmas tree!  I thought to myself, ‘this has got to be someone’s tree that was cut earlier in the day and will be picked up by nightfall’.   So I continued on with my search hiking and looking, thinking about the tree I had found earlier in the day… ‘O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How lovely are thy branches!’

I had not found ‘the perfect tree’ that looked just like the ‘one’ I had found early on in the day, so I thought to myself, it’s not tagged, it’s not marked, what if no one picks it up!?  It would be a waste of a perfectly good looking tree!    So, I told myself, ‘let me give it the weekend, I’ll find a ‘backup’ tree to the ‘perfect’ tree and before I leave back home and if the ‘perfect’ tree is no longer there, then it was as I predicted, the tree of someone else that cut it early on and left to be picked up at a later time in the day.  Yet, if the tree was still there, then it was destiny that the tree found me and I found the tree and meant to be our Christmas Tree!’

So, I continued my 4-wheeling in the mountains, helped a couple of people with trees they were cutting down, found my ‘back-up’ tree to cut down and take home; drove back to where I was staying; went to bed; and started thinking ‘O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How lovely are thy branches!’

Just before leaving home, I drove back up to the canyon in Paris, ID, hiked in to the spot where the ‘perfect’ tree laid and lo and behold, it was still there!!!   I again checked to see if it had been tagged by someone else, and nothing!  So, I wrapped it up; loaded it up; and brought it home singing to myself, ‘O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How lovely are thy branches!’

So, if you’re ever in search for the ‘perfect’ tree, or anything perfect for that matter, remember to UnPlug; travel to somewhere fun, like Paris; enjoy the mountains, and who knows, that ‘perfect’ tree or ‘perfect’ anything may just find YOU!

What a memorable weekend at Nellis Air Force Base where the United States Air Force celebrated their 70 years of ‘Breaking Barriers’.   What made it even more memorable was that I was able to celebrate my Dad’s 70th Birthday week at the same time!

This last weekend was Veterans Day weekend and it was an honor to sit side by side with my Dad who in the late 60’s enlisted into the Marines by choice in order to go out to the Vietnam War.   Being an immigrant, he was faced with many challenges at a young age and for him to choose to serve this amazing country of the United States has always been an inspiration to me growing up.   I too enlisted into the Armed Forces, US Air Force, at the age of 17 and served as a reservist working as an avionics systems specials of the F-16 fighter jet.

‘Breaking Barrier’s’ was the theme at this year’s expo.   A barrier that I am passionate about and continue working on breaking is to find ways to UnPlug from the world and PlugIn to life.   There is so much to experience, so many memories to make, so many challenges to overcome, so much to do and if we waste our lives on social media; computer games; television; and all other sorts of technology distractions, I feel we will ‘miss out’ on life’s true journey.

As Peter Gersten, Major General, Commander, US Air Force Warfare Center stated ‘American Airmen have been breaking barriers for 70 years in air, space and cyberspace, resulting in global vigilance, reach and power.’  When I read this today, I recollected of how in awe my dad and I were with all of the airshows performed, the precision of the planes flying high above the sky; the amazing stunts and acrobatic maneuvers; the awe inspiring men and women who dedicated countless hours to be masters in their craft.   We too can break barriers throughout our lives resulting in our own predetermined ‘global vigilance, reach and power’!

So, let us Aim High and be off to to our own Wild Blue Yonder, Flying High into the Sun!  Happy flying all and a big Thank You to the servicemen and women who have served; currently serve; and will serve our country with honor and dedication!

 

So, I had a break in my day… decided that I would UnPlug for a minute and eat an apple… not just any ordinary apple, a beautiful… bright… delicious Red Apple.   How awesome it is that although red delicious apples aren’t even in season where I live or even where I was eating this apple, I was able to buy one from the local grocery store and enjoy it!

To the grocery store, Thank You for ordering my apple from wherever you ordered it!   To the delivery truck driver, Thank You for driving the apple to my local grocery store!  To the packaging facility, Thank You for packaging my apple so well!   To the picker, Thank You for picking the right apple!  To the grower, Thank You for growing such a nice tree!  To the tree, Thank You for making such a tasty apple!  To the Red-Delicious, Thank You, for brightening my day!

I most recently read a couple articles regarding the business in our lives.  One was titled ‘Overwhelmed, 10 ways to feel less busy’ another ‘The ‘Busy’ Trap’.   Many articles tout how we as humans have began to wear how busy we are on or sleeves.  I’ll admit, I’ve done the same, just yesterday I was at lunch and told those I was having lunch with how crazy my daily schedule has become where some days I’m booked out from 6am to 8pm so any time available for future appointments had to be thought out meticulously to ensure I could accomplish all the tasks that I had.

As much as being busy makes us feel productive; important; needed; fulfilled, etc.  We, ok let’s be honest, mostly I, need to remind ourselves that how ‘busy‘ we are comes from our own actions.  We are busy because we ‘want to’, not because we ‘have to’.    As I’ve said in previous posts, The more ‘want tos’ we have, the more ‘have tos’ we will have to do to accomplish what we set out to do.

I’ve had this goal most recently to find simplicity in life; to not be so ‘busy’ (trust me, it’s more complicated than I imagined) and continue to seek out ways to UnPlug from the world, looking up instead of looking down, finding joy in each day that God has blessed me with.

Here are some things I’ve tried to do on a recurring basis (and will re-commit to doing) to UnPlug and feel less ‘busy’ and remind myself how I don’t ‘have to’ do everything that comes to me, it’s ok to say ‘no’ and do less not more:

• 10 min morning yoga stretching before picking up my phone
• No phones at the food table for any meal of the day
• 10 min power naps where you do nothing
• Go outside for a few minutes regardless of the weather
• No matter how busy you are Put your family first
• Set your phone to ‘do not disturb’ from 8 PM to 8 AM
• Completely, I mean completely, no text, no notifications, shut off all electronic devices on Sundays

There are other things I’m still working on and would totally like comments on what YOU do to work on being less busy.  It’s a life pursuit and we can achieve what may feel impossible.

So, one new thing I decided to commit this day, is to stand and respond to the world when asked ‘How are you?’, to not immediately respond with the default ‘Crazy Busy’, yet instead respond with a resounding ‘I’m great, Life is Good,’ or be honest and say how you really are, i.e. ‘I’m tired’ when you’re actually tired, ‘I’m down’ when you’re actually depressed, ‘I’m stressed’ when you’re actually dealing with something big.   Most of the time the reality is, Life Is Good, we have so much to be grateful for and the more we focus on what we already have vs what we have not, the more we will realize how blessed we are!  Yet at the same time, we are human, we make mistakes and need each other to get thru the down times of our lives.  Let others help you to help yourself.

Being less busy is the goal, reach for it and you will find it!  Your yin will become your yang.  Have fun and live life, it’s a good one!

Quite some time ago, I read a quote (I can’t remember who it was from) stated “Live a simple; focused; honest and happy life”.  This has stuck in my mind over the years, especially as I get older and find that life can get more complicated; distracting; and unhappy.   I don’t know about you, yet in my opinion we all have ‘those day’s’ where we feel like we can’t get everything on our plate done; we are pulled like taffy, distracted by many different needs and wants; we may feel we have to be dishonest to move ahead and resolve pressing matters; and in turn we ask ourselves, ‘Am I happy with that which I have accomplished?’.

So, let’s  break it down, SIMPLE – FOCUSED – HONEST – HAPPY:

SIMPLE – This is where it all begins.   Ask yourself, is your life clear, uncomplicated and manageable?  I many times feel that in my pursuit of simplifying my life I’m finding it’s becoming more complicated!  There are quite a few forums and posts out there on this topic, and in a nutshell, I have found that there are three core ways to make your life more simple:

1) De-Junk – Get rid of stuff you haven’t used and/or won’t use in the future.  As crazy as it sounds, this is actually something that for me has been quite difficult as I have a hard time letting go of my favorite t-shirts; mugs; and even old shoes that I’ve had for years!  Start with your wardrobe closet, then go from there.

2) Get Organized –  Make a ‘To-Do’ list of things that you feel you need to get done, don’t worry if this list gets long, the first step is to take it out of your mind and put on paper so you can then Plan Out how to accomplish your tasks. De-Junking the task items by priority is something you will find will help with your path to simplification.   It’s ok to say ‘No’ to things as you decide for yourself, can I manage this new task, to-do, and/or assignment?

3) UnPlug – That’s right, turn that phone off; go into the mountains where there is no cell phone coverage, no distractions; lock yourself in your room.  Do whatever you need to do to by like Winnie the Pooh and sit and Think in your ‘Thinking  Spot’.   As you sit and meditate, you will receive inspiration on what to do to improve yourself and your life.

I really like this article from wikihow on 4 Ways to Simplify,  Simplify-Your-Life. Remember, just keep it ‘simple’!

FOCUSED – This area is an area that can seem daunting.   Deciding what to ‘aim’ your attention at can be difficult.   For myself, I have learned over the years that if I break things down to what matters most to me, I can then focus my energy, time, and talents on the things that will give me the most return on my investment.   For example, I list out my most priority items which for me include Family > Work > Church > Play.   I then decide, what’s my objective which each priority?  Then I make goals and tasks to achieve those objectives.   Decide what’s important to you, then you will get inspiration on how to fulfill your mission on what’s important to you.

HONEST – Know that you will be tempted to make dishonest choices, cut corners, cheat, lie, etc.  You will have opportunities to chose wrong over right.  I have found  the the biblical golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matt. 7:12); being sincere in your actions; truthful; candid; and trustworthy will give you the most peace and happiness in this life.   Besides, the more dishonest you are, the more unfocused and complicated your life becomes, and that defeats the purpose of living a simple life.

HAPPY – This is what we all want in our lives, right!?   Well, it should be, yet at the same time let’s be honest, it’s probably the most difficult thing to tell someone to do, ‘Just be Happy’.  I use to say, ‘Happiness is an illusion’.   Yes, that’s right, I said that, and my wife use to hate it when she heard those words come from my mouth.   Again, there are great articles out there that dive deep on how to ‘Be Happy’.   For me, I focus on three things:

1) PMA – Positive Mental Attitude.   It’s amazing how we can either focus our thoughts on the negative parts and aspects of our lives or we can focus on the positive parts and aspects of our lives.   Being optimistic vs. pessimistic is so much more rewarding.   When you find yourself worried, negative, down on yourself, try this exercise:  Write all your thoughts and feelings on a piece of paper; fold that piece of paper in half; fold it in half again; then either stick that paper in a shredder, crumple it up and throw it away, or just take it outside and light it on fire!  All these thoughts you are having are not what you are, we all are divine beings, on this earth to live a divine purpose and life.   If you have serious struggles with PMA and are really hard on yourself, get some help, there are free anonymous hotlines you can turn to:

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is: 1-800-273-8255

The Crisis Center Hotline is: 775-784-8090 or text ANSWER to 839863

2) Gratitude – Have an attitude of gratitude!  Be grateful for what you have been given.  Some fun exercises for this is to start writing in a personal journal, listing the things you are grateful for.   How about writing a ‘Thank You’ note to a friend, family member for something they have recently done for you.   You can also smile to the next person you interact with and give them a warm ‘Thank You’ for just being who they are.   I can go on and on this subject.  Just remember, being grateful brings happiness.

3) Socialize – Ok, you introverts out there, you’re not going to like what I have to say here… Interacting with others brings happiness!   Theres something to be said about staying close to friends and family.   We are all here to help each other with our burdens as well as support each other with our successes.   Deepen your existing family relationships; make new friends; and the next time you want to text, Instagram, tweet, message someone, think of how much better it would be to have a phone and or in person meaningful conversation.  Studies have shown that people who openly share their positive feelings with others have greater connection than people who don’t share. The next time you experience something awesome, go start a conversation about it with a friend or family member. It’ll bring you closer together and make you both happier.  : )

There you have it, hopefully you have gained some insight on how to “Live a simple; focused; honest and happy life”.  Happiness is real, it’s not an illusion.   We all have the ability to attain it in this life and the life to come!

Recently I read an article published and written by David Cain on his blog site www.raptitute.com.  In his article he says:

“This elusive state of “enough time” is possible. We only need more time to budget, or fewer pursuits eating it all up.

It’s a simple equation:

Time available to you

divided by

Time required to do everything you have to do

If the result is greater than 1, you have enough time.”

This made me think.  Our ‘Time’ is consumed by our ‘Have To’s’, i.e. ‘I have to pay my bills; I have to go to work; I have to take care of my kids; I have to manage my business; I have to go to church.   So, the question I pose is, What is the source of all of our ‘Have To’s’?  The answer is simple.  Our ‘Have To’s’ are a direct result of our ‘Want To’s’. 

The great thing about being here on this blessed earth is that we have a thing called ‘Agency’, which is the ability to make choices, our choices.  We are able to choose what we want to do with the time of our lives; who to spend our time with; what to spend our time on;  when to spend time on certain things; where to spend our time doing the things we decided to do; all a result of our why we decided what we want.

In the end, if you are like myself and many of us out there who just don’t have ‘enough time’, our focus should not be on our ‘Have To’s’ but instead on our ‘Want To’s’.  Doing so will open our minds and eyes to the realization that in order to free ourselves from your our ‘time deficits’, we need to decide what matters most to us.    Focus on the vital few and  be ok with not being ‘Everything’, to ‘Everyone’.

The next time you’re given a vast amount of choices, which in today’s world we have more than a vast amount, understand that the less ‘Want to’s’ will lead you to less ‘Have tos’ which in turn will naturally equate to more time available to you!

Recently, I asked my family to help me out with what I called the ‘7 day media test’.   Starting on a Sunday, we would track how much time each of us spent on our electronic devices playing on games; surfing the web; cruising social media sites like Facebook, Instgram, Twitter, Pinterist; as well as SnapChatting either ourselves, friends or family.

I told my family that I wanted them to not ‘try’ to ‘unplug’, yet to go about their normal routine of using electronic devices so we could get a true and accurate finding of how much time is spent on media throughout the day and week   Here are the findings listed in order of our top winner of the week with most hours ‘plugged in’:

18 Year Old – 1420 min = 23 hours, 3.3 hr/day

16 Year Old – 780 min = 13 hours, 1.8 hr/day

38 Year Old – 540 min = 9 hours, 1.2 hr/day

42 Year Old – 125 min = 2 hours, .29 hr/day

Family Average – 716 min = 12 hours, 1.7 hr/day

As you can see, these were interesting results.   Oldest child with the most time, youngest with the least.  I was actually suprised at the numbers as I was really thinking my family was spending ‘more’ time on media than they actually were.   Granted, this test was conducted on a work/school week and much time of our day was spent either in school or at work (good to know my kids actually put their phone downs during class), yet at the same time, I was happy to see that they were less than what I was thinking they were at.

So, how does this compare to say… the naitonal average?   Well, I came across this interesting article this morning:

Generation X More Addicted to Social Media Than Millennials, Report Finds | The New York Times by Jonah Engel Bromwich. Adults 35 to 49 were found to spend an average of 6 hours 58 minutes a week on social media networks, compared with 6 hours 19 minutes for the younger group.

This ‘test’ was conducted during a 3 month period and was not ‘self-reported’ as our family test was.   More interestingly to ths report was that the older ‘Gen X’ were found to spend more time than the younger ‘Millenial’s’.

In either case, my opinion is that we should be aware of how much time we spend on media vs. other wholesome activities.    Imagine if we were to replace one to two hours a week away from media with one to two hours of wholesome activities with family; friends and ourselves.

Minimilizing our screen time with face to face time is a goal I continue to work on and it’s great to see the immediate results!   So, take on the challenge yourself, turn off all technology distractions for a set period of time each and every day and see where it takes you!

One of the most fun things to do in the winter is to UnPlug and join in the Garden City, UT winter festivities!   My favorite of all the fun is the Monster Polar Plunge.  Believe it or not, the crazy locals and non locals, get together and plunge into the frozen Bear Lake!   This year there were over 70 plus daring the cold, wicked cold.  It was even -1 degree in the am and there was even ice re-forming on the water while waiting for the first plunge!

The temps were so cold that there was 5″ of ice on the top layer of the water, local search and rescue spent an hour chainsawing thru the ice to clear way for the monster plunge!

And this is what crazy people do, when they decide to unplug from media and join in the local fun of Bear Lake Monster Winter Fest!   Way to be brave Team Gilligan!  You won ‘best plunge’ of the day for sure:

So, if you ever need to find a way to disconnect; when you’re bored and looking for things to do; instead of immediately going to your electronic device; video game; television… think of something crazy, something fun, something daring and go out there and take the plunge!

Happy UnPlugging!

 

This summer our family had the opportunity to go back East to visit the sites of the Eastern Seaboard.   We had planned this together as a family as our older boys, now Junior and Senior in High School, wanted to experience the ‘big city’ life and visit places like Boston, Washington DC and of ofcourse the ‘Big Apple’, New York City!

It took a few months of planning, getting together weekly to discuss where we would go, where we would stay, how we would travel to and fro to complete our trip on the East Coast.   The monthly and weekly planning turned into daily planning up until the week of our trip and off we went, a ‘short’ red eye flight later, we arrived to our first stop, Boston, MA!

Our red eye flight definitely left us red eyed zombies with no sleep but we somehow managed to still walk miles and miles and see lots of awesome things before we checked in to our place to CRASH. Boston is definitely a beautiful and cool place.

The next day we went to sacrament meeting at a local LDS church. It’s always a cool experience to attend in new places.  We learned the hard way why we should not bother driving ourselves anywhere as it took us 2 hours to try and drive what would have been 20 minutes on the train! So after 2 hours of the maps apps leading us astray we literally gave up, parked back at our place and walked to take the train. A lot of walking of course each day but it was fun to be right in the middle of everything on the historic streets seeing the beautiful sites of Boston.

We honestly would have loved to have one more day in Boston, but it was time for the next leg of our adventure. We spent the afternoon road trippin’ through the beautiful, wooded country of Massachusetts. We stayed 3 nights in the Berkshires and after being in the busy city it was quite a shocker to check in. Our youngest boy had some kind of shock at the feeing of it.   We were expecting a small town like Park City but instead it’s more like dairy farm country. It was VERY remote We so had to get creative to keep our boys entertained but on the up-side it was restful before we hit the Big Apple and DC. Our highlights of the day was the amazing LDS Boston temple, our pit stop in Turner Falls at the Black Cow Burger, and our surprise to find way nice theater in the middle of nowhere to watch Now You See Me 2. Seriously the seats recline! Another fun day of adventures on the East Coast.

The next two days in NYC flew by in a blur of lots of things to see and experience and LOTS of walking. Our average day was around 10 miles. We definitely were wearing down and yet we still had one big city to go before home. Favorites from NYC would be walking the harbor, Joe’s Pizza, 911 memorial, an old video game place, and shopping. Another favorite was Central Park which is a beautiful place, and BIG! During our stay in NYC, we met quite a few ‘colorful’ people both physically and spiritually speaking; we took a 2 hour journey to get the boys pizza; and even learned how the ‘New Yorker’s’talk’… ‘Hey, I’m walking here!’

Following our stay in NYC, we packed up early and boarded a train at crazy Penn Station. Three and a half hours later we found ourselves in beautiful (much cleaner and calmer than NY) DC.  The train was surprisingly comfortable and we arrived safe at another great east coast spot.  Unfortunately, our oldest son woke up with food poisoning and had a super rough day. We didn’t go out and do much as we were caring for him and going shopping to get what he needed but it was ok because we are all tired, and it was a hot time of year in DC.

After a couple of calm, relaxing and healing days in DC, we left on our plane and made it home safe and sound. We were all tired and glad to be home to spend some time to recover yet looking back we had a great time and made some fun memories.

All in all, I would summarize our Eastern Seaboard as GREAT >>> GOOD >>> NOT SO GOOD >>> BAD >>> NOT SO GOOD >>> GOOD >>> TO GREAT!!!

As I reflect on this most recent family vacation, my thoughts go to a bigger picture, that is of the current life we are living.   We all are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father, and just as we Plan out a family vacation here on earth, we too planned with our Heavenly parents our charted course of leaving them in the pre-earth life to come to earth to obtain a body, being born to earthly parents; grow; learn from our experiences; in many cases be given the opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ; experiencing happiness and sorrow; all so we can return to live with them again.

I can imagine how we sat in a Heavenly Family Council, talking about how we would arrive to earth, the things that we would do, who we would interact with, what families we would be a part of, etc.  In essence, planning out our earthly ‘vacation’.   We then arrive to our destination.   We are given the opportunity to experience, day by day, week by week, year by year, the things that we were pre-destined to experience.  Some of life’s opportunities are GREAT, some BAD, some NOT SO GOOD, and others GOOD.   In the end, I know that we we will reflect on the whole experience and tell ourselves how great the time was on earth, remembering the fun and great memories created and will be happy to have made it home, safe and sound to live again with our Heavenly Parents.

Each of us have our own Charted Course, similar in design, yet different in experience… Life will naturally take it’s course… We will have our good to great, not so good to bad, and in the end it will be GREAT!   We will all return and live again with our Heavenly Parents, so keep on track, no matter how hard it gets, and enjoy the journey, as it’s the most amazing vacation we will experience!

…special thanks to my lovely wife for letting me cut and paste her posts to FB 🙂 

On unplugged.blog, we are challenged to become ‘Weekend Warrior’s’, unplugging from the world replacing worldly media; entertainment; and music with wholesome activities and recreation.   Would you be willing and able to take on and commit to a ‘Two Year’ challenge??...

Well, this is what’s asked of thousands of young adults from the age of 18 to 25.   These young adults, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are ‘called to serve’ as missionaries for a period of 18 months to 24 months.   Once set apart as a missionary, they are given certain conduct standards, one of them specifically related to entertainment.

“Oh ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day… And faith, hope, charity and love, with an ey single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work”  (D&C 4:2,5)

This conduct standard is one of my favorites, yet one of the most difficult standards for today’s youth to follow.   I, from personal experience, know first hand how in order to keep your eye single to the Lord and His work while serving a mission, know how important it is to avoid all forms of worldly entertainment.

Missionary’s, like my nephew who recently was called to serve an LDS mission, are asked to not watch television, go to movies, listen to the radio, or use the Internet while on their mission.   They are asked to listen only to music that is consistent with the sacred spirit of their calling.   They are not authorized to have a personal computer nor have use of any computer or electronic games while they are serving the Lord.

You may think this is crazy thinking and impossible feet to accomplish, yet ask the thousands of missionaries around the world who have accepted this challenge of being unplugged from the world to work on a service greater than many on this earth will ever understand.  They will first hand tell you how difficult it is, yet at the same time how rewarding the fruits of their labors are.

So, when you tell yourself, it’s impossible for me to ‘unplug’ from the world for a short period of time, think of the thousands of young adults who have not only ‘unplugged’ from worldly entertainment, they have ‘plugged in’ to their spirituality and are building relationships that will last through the eternities!