Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Things to Smile About

I was at the McKay Library this morning and I found a well worn thick little red book entitled Lengthen Your Smile. Its by Robert Nash and published in 1996. It looked interesting so I picked it up and checked it out. To my unexpected amusement I discovered that the book contains short stories for a Latter-day Saint for every day of the year but Leap Day. I randomly opened to a page, read, and then started laughing. Here are some of the stories and the day it is to coincide with (not that the day matters, but just incase you want to look for yourself sometime):

April 21
"Four Religious Myths:
1. It's easy op get credit for doing good, but hard to get cash.
2. Noah's wife was Joan of Ark.
3. The fifth commandment is 'Humor thy father and mother.'
4. It's hard to hear anything in church because the agnostics are so terrible."


May 15
"A Poem quoted by author Alma Heaton probably contains some good advice for young men and young women:

Before I heard the doctors tell
The danger of a kiss,
I had considered kissing you
The nearest thing to bliss

But now I know biology
I sit and sigh and moan,
Six million mad bacteria
And I thought we were alone."

June 2
"Spencer W. Kimball told the story of a young Mormon soldier in World War II who wore both a standard wristwatch and an older, larger pocket watch. His buddies noticed him regularly looking at both watches, and asked why he checked the time twice.
'The wristwatch tells me the time here where we are, but the big watch Pa gave me tells me the time it is in Utah,' said the soldier. 'When the big watch says 5:00 A.M., I know dad is rolling out to milk the cows. And any night when it says 7:30, I know the whole family is around a well-spread table on their knees thanking the Lord for what's on the table and asking him to watch over me and keep me clean and honorable.
'It's those things that make me want to fight when the going gets tough,' said the young man. 'I can find out what time it is here easy enough. What I want to know is what time it is in Utah.' "

June 5
"Just when you think you've escaped pride . . .
A Sunday School teacher gave a lesson about the arrogant Pharisee who prayed in the temple next to the humble publican and expressed thanks to the Lord that he wasn't like his prayer-mate. The publican, meanwhile, bowed his head and smote his breast and asked the Lord to forgive him for his sins.
The Sunday School teacher's suggestion? The members of the class should all thank God they were not like that Pharisee!"

July 23
"A rancher in Kamas, at the base of Utah's Uinta mountains, decided he wanted to sell his ranch. He hired a real estate agent, who came out to inspect his property and write up an ad.
Later the realtor called the rancher to go over the ad copy with him before placing it in the paper. 'For sale,' read the realtor, 'Picturesque white frame ranch house with white picket fence and eighty acres of rich farmland in the middle of beautiful Kamas Valley. Clear streams of mountain water flow nearby, well-stocked with rainbow trout. House faces rugged mountain peaks and is located in a small, friendly farming community with good schools and a new church.'
'Stop!' said the rancher. 'The deal's off! This is the kind of place I've wanted all my life!'
The moral: 'Hold fast to the blessings which God has provided for you,' said J. Reuben Clark. 'Yours is not the task to gain them. They are here; yours is the part of cherishing them.' "

August 26
"A positive mental attitude is important - and so is a firm grip on reality. Charles Ora Card was called by President John Taylor to build a Mormon settlement in western Canada in 1887. The town he founded - Cardston, in the province of Alberta - became a wonderful settlement, but on the high Canadian plains, it was wind-swept and cold.
One gusty, frigid morning, Brother Card was walking to Church with his father. 'Isn't the air fresh and invigorating?' he asked.
'Yes,' said the father, 'and isn't there a lot of it?' "

October 19
"Lucile C. Reading, a former counselor in the general Primary presidency and managing editor of The Friend magazine, illustrated her belief in the joys of work with a story about Thomas Edison.
Edison's wife worried her husband was working too hard and encouraged him to take a vacation.
'But where would I go? asked the inventor.
'Just decide where you'd rather be than anywhere else on the earth, and then go there,' Mrs. Edison advised.
Her husband agreed. 'Very well,' he said. 'I will go there tomorrow.'
The next morning found him right back in his laboratory."

December 15
"Parents: If you ever wonder whether or not you have an influence on your children, remember the story of a father who took his three young sons on a summertime trip to Yellowstone Park. Upon their return, they dropped by Grandma's to report their adventures. And the first thing out of their mouths? They didn't describe the bears, geysers, elk, moose, hot pots, mountains, fish, rivers, or lakes. 'Grandma!' they said, 'Daddy got a ticket for speeding!'

I would highly recommend this little book to everyone and anyone. Although, I think that with most of them your probably going to have to be LDS to really understand. Otherwise your going to think we are a bit peculiar. In which you would be entirely right.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Weekly Goals

I am reading Mormon Essays by D. James Cannon and it got me thinking. The author came up for the idea with the idea of these essays from the scripture Alma 32:27 which says, "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." The phrase I wish you to focus upon is "experiment upon my words".

Cannon decided to choose a scripture for a week and then try to apply it in his life for that week. When the week ended, he would write a little essay on the the scripture and what he learned about it. Cannon: "My personal experience in taking one scripture per week and putting it to the test, living by it, and applying it to my problems, decisions, and attitudes of daily pursuits has been most rewarding."

How motivating that is! How I wish to do the same!

And I shall!

That just shows a true and deep understanding and intellect, or at least a wish to gain it. It's an admirable trait: the wish to progress.

I shall try to do this.

I think it will also make my daily scripture study more effective as I seek for the ways I can take that scripture and apply it to my life. Could you imagine if I ended up taking every verse in order and assign each a week?? How much progress I would make in the time period of several hundred weeks? I think I shall try that. I really shall. but maybe not every single verse. yet. :)

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Drawings and Thoughts

I love looking up quotes. I love it. Quotes on Life, Love, Friendship, Family, Happiness, Joy, Wisdom, Knowledge, Smiles, etc. I just love it all. Some of my favorite are as follows:

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”

"A laugh is a smile that bursts" ~Mary H. Waldrip

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face" ~Victor Hugo

I was in class today and decided to draw some. :D It was a lot of fun. It just makes me smile. They are rather simple drawings, but they were fun to make and then scan... :D so I hope some of them just kinda make your day and have you smiling.



I don't really know what to call this. A fuzzball? A fluffy? Whatever it is, people like them. I love to draw them.



My Blue Flower.



Luv ya!!



This? I just wished to randomly draw. :D Love the quote too. However, wings are very difficult to draw. But I think I did ok. :)



All about Living. :)



Another Happy Quote!!



I wanted to draw a home with a nice little quote. I like this a lot.



Girl + Boy


So that's really all in the drawing department for the day. But It was nice to do. Wish my mind could come up with actual amazing things as this was just kinda doodling in a somewhat thoughtful manner. But it certainly gets you to think calmly, or in other words, it's a kind of meditation. It's enjoyable.

Drawing can get you to think in a different manner then you perhaps normally do. Even if it is only doodling. Love it.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Registration: The Craziness of it All

It is my firm belief that the hours between 2 and 5 in the morning are meant for sleep.

Sure you can stay up until 1 am and take an hour to get in your bed, but by 2:01 am you are to be asleep at the latest. Then 5 am should be the absolute earliest in which you wake.

Of course, this is only for the average person. If you have a job that requires you to have different hours then of course you should not live by this way of sleeping. But for the average college student... this is the MINIMUM of sleep we should get.

Last night I went to bed at 3:30 am and not because I was having a social life or any such thing. Nope that's not why at all. It's because of reregistering for classes. Amazingly I was able to get all the classes I wished to have. After several hours because the site was being extraordinarily slow...

But here is my schedule now (you can click on it to see it up close):



I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to have the classes that I wished to have because of overlapping or conflicts and whatever else could go wrong... But goodness, prayer really does work you know. It really does. It even helps you get through a day of classes with little sleep. You learn to go into a deep sleep from the time your head hits the pillow to the time which the alarm goes off and feel well rested.

I'm excited for them. I really am. I didn't really want to have my classes start at 7:45 and 8 am every day... but those were really the only times in which they were offered and I need to take them for my major. But I am excited about the fact that my classes will be done by noon, expect on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they'll end at 11 am.

I'm also quite proud of the fact that I've limited myself to 16 credits rather then 21 or 18... It was a very difficult thing to do, just to let you know. But I'm extraordinarily excited!

It's amazing to me that my semester is almost over. Three more weekends... and that's all. Crazy.

Just have to finish up on this one first. Insane. Time goes by so fast! It seems like I only just got up here! So much has happened. So much has been learned. It's wonderful.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Library: the Collection

I was about 8 years old when my parents began looking for a new house to live in, because we were having an addition to the family, my little brother Robert. Once in awhile, they'd take the rest of us children with them. One time we were looking at different house models, and I clearly remember wanting a certain model because they had two high walls of bookshelves. My parents had to explain to me that the house we were building wouldn't automatically have the bookshelves in it. I knew that, but didn't really believe it, because since I could now visualize it, I wanted that house just because the dream of having a little library like that seemed more realistic when living in that house.

Cicero has said, "To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul."

Since I was little I began to picture owning a library in my home. But what amazed me was that as I grew and matured, so did the context of my imaginary library. The shelves were first filled with the Harry Potter books, the Eragon books, the Alex Rider books, the Dr. Seuss books, mostly the entertainment and fantasy books. Soon, the were filled with a more classical, science and historical fiction angle. But I never really had much of an interest in the non-fiction genre. Until recently.

As Holbrook Jackson said, "Your library is your portrait."

Now my library would include all the perviously mentioned books, along with Way to Be! by Gordon B. Hinckley, as well as some of his other books like Standing for Something. It would include Elder Neal A. Maxwell's books such as Moving in His Majesty and Power. Also, I'd love to get some works by President Thomas S. Monson and the other church presidents. It would also contain Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach their Kids that the Poor and Middle Class do not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter, The Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Seven Miracles that Saved America: Why they Matter and Why we Should have Hope by Chris Stewart and Ted Stewart, Live your Life for Half the Price by Lyle and Tracy Shamo, Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Of course, this isn't all. I'd include all my textbooks from college, some literary journals, some encyclopedias, church magazines, talks on CDs like The John Bytheway Collection Vol. I & II and The Little Things that can make a Big Difference by Daryle Hoole. I'd add on biographies, "How To" books on different skills, essays by Thoreau and Emerson, and journals of my ancestors and relatives, including my own. My library would also contain little inspirational thought books like Small and Simple Things by Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

I'm sure that in a few days I would even have more to add to this imaginary collection.

President Hinckley has said, "I love libraries. I love books. There is something sacred, I think, about a great library because it represents the preservation of the wisdom, the learning, the pondering, of men and women of all the ages accumulated together under one roof to which we can have access as our needs require."

What a wealth of Knowledge! What a wealth of Wisdom!

There are few things I wish to collect in my life: friends, family, and wisdom.

"A library of wisdom, then, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it," says Richard de Bury, one of the very first English collectors of books.

I don't entirely agree, as there are more important things then books, such as family, the gospel and the goal of achieving Eternal Life, but a collection of wisdom, even if it is only located in the mind, is something to always increase and magnify.

How I wish to make my dream a reality. And I am working on it. But it'll take awhile. Books and the like cost a bit of money, and poor college students do not have that much to spare. Except slowly and surely. The textbooks will be a required buy, and every once in awhile I shall buy a book to add to my currently non-exsistant shelves. It'll be an adventure.

When I was little I learned about the Library of Alexandria. I noticed it because, well, Alexandria is my name, then the word "library", and I discovered that it was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I learned it was the largest library of the ancient world. I then came to the startling question of "What is the largest library in the world today?" I learned that the Library of Congress was in fact the largest library. It soon became my goal to visit that place someday and own a library card for that library (though not long after, I learned that public can't check out books, though they can use them). So someday I would visit. What's rather ironic of course in the fact that my family this Spring Break is going to D.C. without me. Sad sad sad. Oh well, I shall accomplish this goal someday! I have a whole life ahead of me!

What an adventure it will be! To collect knowledge, wisdom, and experiences.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Spirit of a Home

Being away from my parent's home causes me to think a little more about what the word "Home" means to me. As I ponder only upon that simple word I become more determined to create my own little home where ever I am.

A home is not just a place where you live; that is a definition of a house. A House becomes a Home when a certain spirit resides there: A Spirit of Love, Joy, Kindness, Service, and many other qualities.

D&C 88:124-125 says, "Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace."

This, I think, is something that can be applied to our homes. I mean imagine if we could incorporate it into our lives.

There would be no idleness. We would be extraordinarily productive if only because the ordinary are not. If we accomplished everything that is on our "To Do" list, then we have time to develop a talent, serve someone, visit someone, learn something, etc.

There would be order and cleanness. A Spirit of peace, tranquility, openness, etc in which allows a person to more easily express love and learn different things.

There would be no arguments. There would be peace in the home. Growth in healthy relationships. Helping each other progress. More love.

Not taking naps that are not needed cause you to be more involved in your day and in your life and in those around you. Going to bed early and waking up early causes you to become more productive and healthy. (Benefits of Sleep)

Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul. Moroni 7:45 says, "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

Imagine if we took all of this upon ourselves. Upon our homes.

It is no wonder that President Hinckley has said, "Imagine how our own families, let alone the world, would change it we vowed to keep faith with one another, strengthen on another, look for an accentuate the virtues in on another, and speak graciously concerning one another. Imagine the cumulative effect if we treated each other with respect and acceptance, if we willingly provided support. Such interactions practiced on a small scale would surely have a rippling effect throughout our homes and communities and, eventually, society at large."

Married, Single, or still in your parents home, can you not imagine the wonders that would happen if we took these simple principles into our homes? Even if it be with only with roommates, rather then immediate or extended family. Life is a fantastical thing. It is amazing what progress we can make in it, if only we put forth the effort of doing so.

As President Kimball has once said, "When Satan is bound in a single home – when Satan is bound in a single life – the Millennium has already begun in that home, in that life" (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], 172).

This is what we strive for: the Millennium, the Zion within our home. It will grow outward from there into the communities around us, into other's lives. Not just our own.

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Reason why to Gain Wisdom and Knowledge

There is a question that has been repeated to me over and over again since I was in Kindergarten: What do you want to be when you grow up?

I had no idea in Kindergarten. I had no idea in First Grade. I had no idea in Second Grade. I didn’t know what sort of things I could be when I grew up. Being the oldest child, I honestly didn’t know what there was. So the standard question was treated with a standard answer that I thought they expected of me: a doctor, a policewoman, a fire-woman, the first female president, a teacher, a lawyer. That was the extent of my knowledge of what I could be when I grew up, perhaps because that was all I was exposed to. William Golding in “Thinking as a Hobby” explains how as a kid he was to mold himself into a certain way of thinking and this is how I felt the question tried to mold me as well. However, every year, my answer would be different, because I had no real interest in any of those careers.

But if I could talk to my younger self now, I would make my self aware of the goals that I already had at that age. I cannot remember a time in which I have not had a great hunger for gaining Knowledge and Wisdom continuously. I cannot recall a time in my life where I had thought knowledge and wisdom were the same; I always knew they were separate meanings.

My family owned many children’s books before I was five years old. I would pull them down and follow the words on the page with my finger and make up the story as it continued; I knew I could not read and I wished to learn. My mother told me that I would learn to read when I was five. On my fifth birthday, I had run to the bookshelf, pulled out a book, and tried to read, then immediately burst into tears; I could not read. My mother then told me that I would learn when I start school. Three months later that day came, and my mother sent her oldest child out into the world and worried all day. When my mother came to pick me up I was in tears. She worried and panicked that her daughter was picked on and bullied and had a horrible day. Once I was able to speak to where she could understand what it was I was saying she had a hard time trying not to laugh; I was crying because I couldn’t read yet.

In primary, I remember of learning of King Solomon, how he was the wisest man. In 1 Kings 4:29-34 it says, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much . . . And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; . . . and his fame was in all nations round about. . . . And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard his wisdom.” I was determined then and there that I wanted wisdom. I thought that he was very clever and I wanted to be as well.

Growing up in a family who has been strong and active form the time in which all of my ancestors were converted before they traveled West, the Gospel is just a part of life. It defines my family. It defines our traditions. It defines our thoughts. It defines our philosophy. It defines how we see the world and the events that occur in it. We talk of math and it somehow relates. We talk of friends and it relates. We talk of money and it relates. We talk of anything and it’ll relate.

Before my tenth birthday, I came to a conclusion as to why gaining knowledge and wisdom is important. The gospel is all about progression; if we do not progress, then that is the definition of damnation. The reason we wish to gain entry into the highest kingdom in the Celestial Kingdom is because it means we can progress and increase. Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19 says, “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.” I take this to heart.

Knowledge and wisdom are not just to be gained for money and wealth and public recognition; They are gained as preparation for the Eternities. That is my goal in all my mortal life. I realized that this life is only a probationary stage, but a stage in which we experience because we can only truly learn by experiencing it so I should take full advantage of it as I do not think I will ever experience it again, even in the Eternities. The Life Lessons I learn here are lessons that I’m going to be able to use forever, but only if I take the right wisdom and knowledge from the experience, otherwise it would almost be an entire waste of mortal time and useless to me in the Eternities. Then how could you progress without any real wisdom gained?

President Gordon B. Hinckley has said in Stand a Little Taller, “It is not a sacrifice to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never a sacrifice when you get back more than you give. It is an investment. And the living gospel of Jesus Christ becomes a greater investment than any of which we know because its dividends are eternal and everlasting.”

Keeping the commandments of God, being obedient, it just makes you gain knowledge and wisdom and more blessings. It is not that difficult to practice and live the gospel. You are the one that gains in the long run, in the Eternities. I do not think we can adequately comprehend all the blessings we gain just by following the law.

So I’ve always had this thirst for knowledge, but not always the classical school knowledge. I don’t much care for geology for example. I’ve always wanted to learn how to care for a horse. Or how exactly it is that the words can be phrased in such as way that it means different things. Or what a true friend is. Or how I can help the world be a little better. Or just the workings of the government and economy. Or how to live within a budget. Or how to better interact with people.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Seek for the real things, not the artificial. Seek for the everlasting truths, not the passing whim, Seek for the eternal things of God, not for that which is here today, gone tomorrow. Look to God and live, as the scripture enjoins us.”

There are many who seek knowledge that could advance them in this world. But in the Eternal perspective, there are things that you could learn here in our mortal life that would have not as much value in the next life than other possible things to learn. It is much better to seek for those things that have true value. These are more of a type of the things I wish to learn.

Jacob 6:12 “O be wise; what can I say more?” is one of my favorite scriptures that I try to apply to my life. I think of that scripture every day and what it means to me. The phrase, or command, “be wise” continues to change its meaning for me. Wise in the ways of the Lord. Wise in the workings of the planet. Wise in the abstract ideas. Wise in material things. Wise in relationships. Wise in how I manage my life. Wise in how I interact. Wise in my schooling and education and learning. Wise in my finances. Wise in my health. Wise in exercising my agency. Wise in preparing for the future and Eternity.

My family has cultivated the habit of thinking and pondering. Before coming to college, it’s a tradition in my family to just philosophize and bounce ideas off each other and be open to learning by inspiration. We recognize that we do not know everything; that the things we do know may be wrong. However, no matter what we learn from the world we always have Faith and confidence that it somehow fits into the complex plan of our Father in Heaven. That the holes and questions we have on life, on the missing parts of history, on understanding the standard works, will be answered eventually. We just need to be faithful and obedient and all will be answered.

As Doctrine and Covenants 6:7 says, “Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.” This seems to be the theme of my family’s way of learning; realizing that we do not know everything, nor is it likely we will in this life and so ask our Father in Heaven, yet be grateful for the knowledge we are blessed with and continue to learn all we can from it.

Here in college, Life has been wonderful. Because I am learning, but I am learning things that I can see be actually applicable to my life. My mind is exploding with knowledge, wisdom, ideas, and how that can be utilize in my life and in making the world a little bit better then before, even if it’s just the way I live my life.

I am now making the habit of thinking better professional.

Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-8 says, “You have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right.” President Hinckley has says, “Knowledge without labor is profitless. Knowledge with labor is genius.” In my belief, this is what the professional thinker should be. Gaining knowledge with labor, with work, not just something you do every day, is what divides the professional from the hobbyist.

I am making my limited and slightly molded way of thinking from my time in the nest at home transform into a professional way of thinking in which there is no limits in what you can learn from every little thing you come in contact with. Much like William Golding’s highest way of thinking; the first grade thinker; the professional.


“The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” ~D&C 93:36

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Well-Being of a Lazy Student

Family Nursing Skills - Women aka SFN 302
That is the class I have to tell me about being Healthy and all the health things a woman should know.

Well. The other day, we were talking of blood pressure. The normal is 120/80. The first number is the systolic pressure, or the pressure generated when then heart contracts. The second is the diastolic pressure, or the blood pressure when the heart is relaxed.

We then measured everyone in the class. Mine is 93/56. That's quite low. I didn't know it at the time, but this other girl in my class, who knows more about nursing than I, looks at it, and then exclaims, "Wow! Your's is really low Alex." In fact, my teacher, hearing this comment, turned and read my blood pressure then examined my face. She was a tad worried that I was going to faint right then and there. She asked me if I felt dizzy or faint. I just looked at her in confusion as I tried to figure out if I was dizzy or faint. I felt normal. But she told me that when the class was over, that I am not to stand up too fast because I would black out.

Now. I should probably get my blood pressure up higher. Because that way, when I stand up too fast, I won't black out for a little bit. Which happens at least 5 or so times a month. It's never really bothered me before. I just have to stand perfectly still until I can see again and the floor stops moving then I'm normal. But it would probably be a good idea to higher it. Maybe. Because perhaps its just what I am. I could higher it unhealthily and become average, but then I'd be unhealthy even if it is average.

But I'm on the "Borderline Low", meaning that for athletes and children this is normal. But I am not very athlete and nor am I a child. At least, not physically. Mentally? Perhaps every once in awhile.

Here is a chart I found on the internet called Systolic vs. Diastolic Blood Pressure Range and then here is and article discussing blood pressure called Low Blood Pressure (Hypotension) in which I am trying to figure out how to healthily increase my blood pressure.

Well, as I am reading this I am figuring out that low blood pressure is not actually measured by the numbers, unless I have the symptoms. Which I might have if only because I stand or sit up and black out a little. One thing to be worried about with low blood pressure is the fact that if "the flow of blood is too low to deliver enough oxygen and nutrients to vital organs such as the brain, heart, and kidney, the organs do not function normally and may be permanently damaged". Now I don't know about you, but that does now sound good at all.

Reasons as to why I could have low blood pressure: Option A: less blood is being pumped into the arteries. Option B: the arterioles are larger and more flexible so less resistant to the flow of blood.

Question: Is Low blood pressure bad for your health?
Answer: "People who have lower blood pressures have a lower risk of stroke, kidney disease, and heart disease. Athletes, people who exercise regularly, people who maintain ideal body weight, and non-smokers tend to have lower blood pressures. Therefore, low blood pressure is desirable as long as it is not low enough to cause symptoms and damage organs in the body."

Oh dear. I'm still reading this article and I've discovered that I probably really do have low blood pressure because of the symptoms... and guess what I have a a risk of now? Chest pain or even heart attack (when there is insufficient blood pressure to deliver blood to the coronary arteries). I hope I do not have that. I really hope. But guess what else I've discovered? Shock is a life-threatening condition to a person with low blood pressure. Persistently low blood pressure causes organs such as kidney(s), liver, heart, lung, and brain to fail rapidly.

This is bad. Why? Because I got into shock frequently, at least things that my mind doesn't want to handle and retreats from. See mom? It is a good for my health to ignore things that I know I wouldn't be able to handle. This is all rather interesting to me because last year, during spring break, I had slightly cut my finger freaked out and knew I was going into shock, and once my mom arrived and I knew she could handle it, out I went. Unconscious. And went into complete shock. But that is another story. But apparently, having low blood pressure as I have, I basically had one life-threatening experience in my life.

Well. I read it all and apparently I can be perfectly healthy but with low blood pressure or I can be not so healthy and need to visit the doctors to see if there is anything I can do. The treatment of low blood pressure is determined by the cause of the low pressure.

So that's all about the blood pressure and me.

Next, I've discovered that I am most likely have iron deficiency anemia.

It can be so mild that it goes unnoticed. But as the body becomes more deficent in iron and anemia worsens, the signs and symptoms intensify. (Iron Deficiency Anemia)

Symptoms may include:
-Extreme fatigue
-Pale skin
-Weakness
-Shortness of breath
-Headache
-Dizziness or lightheadedness
-Cold hands and feet
-Irritability
-Inflammation or soreness of your tongue
-Increased likelihood of infections
-Brittle nails
-Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
-Unusual cravings for non-nutritive substances, such as ice, dirt or pure starch
-Poor appetite, especially in infants and children with iron deficiency anemia
-Restless legs syndrome - and uncomfortable tingling or crawling feeling in your legs

There is something rather, interesting, about the situation. One complication that can come from being iron deficient are heart problems from rapid or irregular heartbeats as it tries to pump more blood to compensate for the lack of oxygen carried in the blood when you anemic. Now I just have really low blood pressure, so I wonder at how exactly they compound upon one another.

So I more or less plan that within the next year visiting a doctor just to discover if I am really anemic and what I should do about that as well as my low blood pressure.

Once thing to start doing now, that I should be doing anyways, is to exercise. I am just one of the most laziest people you will ever have the great chance of knowing. Ok. Well, physically lazy. I am rather productive while I sit and not move except to eat something. I'll just start to exercise. Small steps. Very very small steps.

Healthy eating. Well. I already do that. I should probably add more meat to my diet besides chicken nuggets and pepperoni from pizza, but the Word of Wisdom does say to eat meat sparingly (D&C 89:12). I should have more herbs. And I already have a lot of fruit, but I miss California where I can easily get them. Vegetables I eat all the time too. Same with grain. I eat a whole lotta grain here.

So yes. The Physical Well-Being of a Lazy Student. That would be me. I'm certainly learning a lot though. A lot that can be applied to my life in many different ways. Love it. and I love writing about it in here, because then I learn more as I look things up. So you are learning right along with me. :D

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Economy and Me

My American Foundations class amazes me. (Well, all my classes do.)

I was required to buy the book Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell who has also written Basic Economics. I must say, that I was not overly excited about buying a book from Amazon. Because that meant money being spent on books that I could have spent on food. Which is weird for me to say as books are normally higher on my list of priorities then food. But, no matter, I bought the book and it arrived yesterday, and while I was at my FHE brother's apartment, I began to read.

How interesting it is! How depressing it is!

I must say, that I believe America's economy seems to be heading in the wrong direction then it should for a Healthy Economy that we would all love.

Goals of all people: getting rich.

Now perhaps, that goal can be really unhealthy for you if its prioritized too far at the top of your list, but it is something that we all need to have in our lives. Plus, it creates advancement and progression. Progression in technology and standard of living and such.

Here is a question you should consider: Are you richer then the richest American, John D. Rockfeller?

John D. Rockfeller was over Standard Oil Company. This article "John D. Rockefeller Oil Standard Time Worth Business Andrews" says, "By 1901, he was worth about $900 million and is believed to have been the world's richest man at the time. His net worth when adjusted for inflation would put him in the top twenty modern day billionaires; however, when adjusted for the size of the United States economy in his day, his net worth would dwarf that of any of today's billionaires. In 2001, it was estimated that in contemporary money Rockefeller would be worth $200 billion."

When they are talking about adjusted for the size of the U.S. economy verses adjusted for inflation, they are talking about the fact that the general standard of living for Americans increased from his day to ours verses just the money value being adjusted.

So here is a question: Would we want to take $200 billion dollars (adjusted for inflation) if we could only use it in the ways he could in the 1800s?

I personally would not. Why? Because with our standard of living today in America we are better off then the billionaires back in those days. The billionaires, if they were sick, did not have the medical advances of today. They could not travel as easily as even the poor in American can today. So we have more options and possibilities today for the average person then even the rich ever did have back in the day.

Why is that? That is a question I shall endeavor to answer in this post.

Have you ever heard of the essay I, Pencil. My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read? It was written by Leonard E. Read and first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman. If not, you should read it. The principles behind it are still in effect. It shows the advantage of capitalism and why it is so effective.

No one person knows how to make a pencil. They don't have the skill nor even the know-how of the skill. There is no human mastermind. I'm sure our Heavenly Father inspires a lot of it (which I will address later), but I think there is an abstract rule like gravity in economics that Heavenly Father knows how to use. In anycase, the Invisible Hand is a theory as to what runs the economy when no one else is as when you look at the big picture of it all its obvious that something is missing and we haven't yet discovered what it is. But we have labeled it the Invisible Hand. It's the Individual's plans that seem to run the economy. Everyone plans for his or her self-interest which could be labeled as profit and to fulfill dreams. Love of our fellowman can motivate, but not taking imperfect people. Heavenly Father has our best Self-Interest in mind. And his plans are so large that we can't really comprehend it. But through inspiration he helps us and gives us personal revelation in everything in relation to our lives.

My teacher told us a story of when he was in college and in an economic class in which he was the only LDS member, the teacher was talking about economic growth throughout the ages. The professor then taught: Imagine if aliens visit every 100 years from the beginning of time. Every time they would visit the human race would only have advanced a little bit if at all.

But then. Approximately in the 1820s the standard of living skyrocketed. If the aliens were to come back they would wonder if they landed on the wrong planet. The professor said it was the U.S. Constitution that its an economic miracle document and he wondered at how the Founding Father's knew. Because it was a total revolutionary idea. No other people or theorist ever came up with such an idea. That it took a couple years for it to start working, but that the U.S. Constitution is an economic miracle. My teacher, the only LDS member in the room, heard the year 1820 and basically fell out of his chair. That is the year of the First Vision.



My teacher remembered the scripture saying that the Spirit of the Lord, or inspiration, will come to the whole Earth again with the Restoration. The Heavens were opened once again in 1820. The Spirit fell more abundantly upon the face of the Earth. It was of my teacher's opinion that when the Gospel was once again upon the Earth it was to the benefit of all men. More inspiration. More progress. It's amazing.

Heavenly Father guides this economy giving us what we want, we just need to be in tune to the Spirit so we can benefit and be obedient without even knowing, because being in tune with the spirit will mean we are in line with God's will. There are scriptures in which the Lord tells those leaving on missions not to worry about food and material goods, that have faith, he'll provide. He talks to all people, saying that if we are righteous and obedient we will never lack. Miracles occur.

Oh how I love the gospel. and even though I read and hear of the direction the world's economy is headed towards. Even as I hear of the pride of different groups of people who refuse to look at any other option than their own. I remember that as long as I am righteous and obedient and faithful everything will turn out as God wills, which is in my best interest. I know that we do not have to worry as long as we are doing the best we can with what we have and know.