I mentioned in my blog a couple of weeks ago that the trees were beginning to bloom. There are still many trees just coming out in their full glory and some that still just have the buds. Many streets and beaches are lined with pohutukawa trees. They are everywhere. I think the blossoms are more prolific this year than last.
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| These
pictures were taken by a lady that I have met while walking on the beach. She always has her camera with her and often her tripod. I believe that she is a professional or self-taught photographer. |
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| These are trees along the beach. |
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| This tree is just outside my front door. I live on the 1st floor (2nd floor in the US) so I have this great bird’s eye view of this young tree. Last year it had few blossoms. |
If you missed the earlier post and you want to read/learn about pohutukawa, you may do so here.
I have thoroughly loved this week of expressing gratitude every day! I have enjoyed reading the things that others are grateful for as well. It has been a very positive social media experience. I like to think that I am grateful EVERY day and not just when our Prophet invites us to express our gratitude but I know that I don’t always express it in such a public way.
President Nelson in his message last week, mentioned that being grateful can have positive effects on our mental and physical health. That statement and seeing the many manifestations of gratitude shared on social media caused me to think of a BYU talk I read and used in teaching missionaries on my mission in New York. I believe that I referenced this talk in a previous blog but it has been 5 years, give or take, so I thought I would share it again.
In this talk given by Ray L. Huntington in 2012 titled A Grateful Heart, Brother Huntington says:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. . . . Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
He goes on to say:
“It now appears that some psychologists have arrived at the same conclusion. Being mindfully grateful for our blessings and expressing gratitude has a strong correlation with increasing our personal happiness and well-being. For example, Dr. Robert Emmons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, and one of the leading scholars in the scientific study of gratitude, said the following:
It is possible that psychology has ignored gratitude because it appears, on the surface, to be a very obvious emotion, lacking in interesting complications: we receive a gift—from friends, from family, from God—and then we feel pleasurably grateful. But while the emotion seemed simplistic even to me as I began my research, I soon discovered that gratitude is a deeper, more complex phenomenon that plays a critical role in human happiness. Gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change people’s lives.
Dr. Emmons and his colleagues found scientific proof that people who practice gratitude through activities such as keeping a gratitude journal are more loving, forgiving, and optimistic about the future. They exercise more frequently, report fewer illnesses, and generally feel better about their lives.
For example, in a ten-week study Dr. Emmons randomly assigned participants into one of three groups. One group of participants was encouraged to briefly record five things they were grateful for each week; a second group was asked to describe five hassles or negative events that had happened to them each week; and the third group was simply asked to list five events, but they were not told to emphasize the positive or the negative. Before each participant wrote about their blessings or hassles, they completed a daily journal in which they rated their moods, their physical health, and their overall well-being. The moods they rated included feelings like distress, excitement, sadness, stress, and happiness, while their physical health included ratings such as headaches, sore muscles, stomach pain, nausea, coughing, sore throat, and poor appetite. The participants also rated how they felt about their lives, selecting from descriptions ranging from terrible to delighted.
The results of the ten-week study are impressive for the gratitude group. The gratitude participants felt better about their lives and were more optimistic about the future than people in the other two groups. The gratitude group also reported fewer health concerns, like headaches, and spent significantly more time exercising than people in the other two groups. According to the scale Dr. Emmons used to calculate well-being, the people in the gratitude group were a full 25 percent happier than the participants in the hassles or neutral groups.
In subsequent studies Dr. Emmons also reported that people who regularly kept a gratitude journal and were in the habit of recognizing and expressing gratitude for their blessings reported feeling closer and more connected to people, had better relationships, were more likely to help others, felt less lonely, felt less depressed, slept better, and were more pleasant to be around.”
If you would like to read the entire talk, which I suggest you would find beneficial, you may read it here.
This week we had a mission tour or conference led by Elder and Sister Yamashita. Elder Yamashita is a member of the Pacific Area Presidency. We had all day conferences on Thursday and Friday with missionary training taught by Elder and Sister Yamashita, President and Sister Parr, and a few missionaries.
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| Elder and Sister Yamasita |
All of the missionaries in the entire mission came to Takapuna where the conference was held. It was a wonderful opportunity to see many missionaries and to feel the Spirit strongly in the meetings.
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| Lunch - The senior missionaries and dignitaries got to get lunch first. |
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| Sister Sanchez, the photo bomber. Love her! |
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| Sister Vea and Finau |
At the end of the conference the missionaries joined in singing this
tribute/farewell till we meet again song. It always touches my heart.
Thursday evening after the conference, the senior missionaries went to dinner at Talay Thai. I was treated to dinner by Elder and Sister Burton and Elder and Sister Lewis as I was not able to go with them the day of my birthday. So thoughtful of them.
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| I had tom kha soup and satay gai (Lemon grass/coconut soup and marinated chicken with peanut sauce.) |
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| Left to right: Elder and Sister Lewis, Elder and Sister Burton, Sisters Taitoko and Briggs, Elder and Sister Barnes |
Saturday evening, I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at the area office. Food was great and the company made it even better. There was a short program and a lot of visiting and, of course, eating!
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| Each sister at dinner was given a plant to take home. Sister Lucas claims that she “kills” plants so I inherited hers too. I placed them outside my front door. What a cheery greeting I get each time I come home. |
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| Wednesday morning at the beach |
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| A rose for you |
This week dedicated to expressions of gratitude has been, in a sense, difficult for me. I have so many blessings that I have had a difficult time selecting people and things for which I can be publicly grateful. Everything I am or I have is a gift from a loving Heavenly Father. From my Savior, to my family, the Gospel, the Temple, knowledge of the Plan of Happiness, this earth and all of its beauty, my physical body, my spirit, my trials, my education, the hard things I must do from time to time, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, and I could go on endlessly. I am grateful for you my family and friends.
I love my Savior. I love you my family and friends.
