Elder Dallin H. Oaks: "Let us remember that desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. In addition, it is our actions and our desires that cause us to become something, whether a true friend, a gifted teacher, or one who has qualified for eternal life." (April 2011 General Conference)
What DO I VALUE? What are my Desires?
Alma 32:27 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.
Alma 22:16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.
What did Adam & Eve value that motivated them to act? Moses 4:11-5:2
What were some of Captain Moroni's values? Alma 46:12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.
Elder Oaks: "How do we develop desires? Few will have the kind of crisis that motivated Aron Ralston, but his experience provides a valuable lesson about developing desires. While Ralston was hiking in a remote canyon in southern Utah, an 800-pound (360 kg) rock shifted suddenly and trapped his right arm. For five lonely days he struggled to free himself. When he was about to give up and accept death, he had a vision of a three-year-old boy running toward him and being scooped up with his left arm. Understanding this as a vision of his future son and an assurance that he could still live, Ralston summoned the courage and took drastic action to save his life before his strength ran out. He broke the two bones in his trapped right arm and then used the knife in his multitool to cut off that arm. He then summoned the strength to hike five miles (8 km) for help. What an example of the power of an overwhelming desire! When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously." (April 2011 General Conference)
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: "Our motives and thoughts ultimately influence our actions. Let me share a personal experience from my own youth about the power of righteous motives.
After the turmoil of the Second World War, my family ended up in Russian-occupied East Germany. When I attended fourth grade, I had to learn Russian as my first foreign language in school. I found this quite difficult because of the Cyrillic alphabet, but as time went on I seemed to do all right.
"When I turned 11, we had to leave East Germany overnight because of the political orientation of my father. Now I was going to school in West Germany, which was American-occupied at that time. There in school all children were required to learn English. To learn Russian had been difficult, but English was impossible for me. I thought my mouth was not made for speaking English. My teachers struggled. My parents suffered. And I knew English was definitely not my language.
"But then something changed in my young life. Almost daily I rode my bicycle to the airport and watched airplanes take off and land. I read, studied, and learned everything I could find about aviation. It was my greatest desire to become a pilot. I could already picture myself in the cockpit of an airliner or in a military fighter plane. I felt deep in my heart that this was my thing!
"Then I learned that to become a pilot I needed to speak English. Overnight, to the total surprise of everybody, it appeared as if my mouth had changed. I was able to learn English. It still took a lot of work, persistence, and patience, but I was able to learn English!
Why? Because of a righteous and strong motive!" August 2008 Friend
MODALITY: A.C.T. (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy)
Values (Know What Matters)
Deep in your heart, what do you want your life to be about? What do you want to stand for?
What you want to do with your brief time on this planet? What truly matters to you in the big
picture? Values are desired qualities of ongoing action. In other words, they describe how we want to behave on an ongoing basis. Clarifying values is an essential step in creating a meaningful life. In ACT, we often refer to values as “chosen life directions.” We commonly compare values to a compass because they give us direction and guide our ongoing journey. (ACT Made Simple)
Committed Action (Do What It Takes)
Committed action means taking effective action, guided by our values. It’s all well and good to know our values, but it’s only via ongoing values-congruent action that life becomes rich, full, and meaningful. In other words, we won’t have much of a journey if we simply stare at the compass; our journey only happens when we move our arms and legs in our chosen direction. Values-guided action gives rise to a wide range of thoughts and feelings, both pleasant and unpleasant, both pleasurable and painful. So committed action means “doing what it takes” to live by our values even if that brings up pain and discomfort. (ACT Made Simple)
PRACTICE: CHOICE POINT
List 5-7 life values and/or desires. What drives you? Motivates you? Why do you get up in the morning? If you had a day that you had no other obligations or responsibilities, what would you spend it doing? Values PDF
Recap your day TODAY. How did you spend most of your day today? Did your choices move you TOWARD or AWAY FROM your values and desires?
Compare your list to what you did today. Are you living a values-centered life? What is getting in the way? You may not be able to change circumstances, but what about your thoughts, feelings and behavior toward the circumstances?
How does this congruence or incongruence make you feel? Write those words on the sheet of paper provided.
Case STudY
Anna is 23 and values spending time with loved ones. She has two best friends, Kat and Anthony. Her older brother, Brad, is one of her best friends and she feels close to her mom. She likes her dad, but their relationship is not as tight. Anna is more introverted in nature, so she derives her energy from doing things on her own. She likes to read, write and journal. She keeps a blog of poetry that she has written since was in the 7th grade. She gives the site URL only to those whom she trusts, but her friends and family love her poetry so much that they give the address to others and Anna has received a lot of positive feedback about her poetry from people that she doesn't even know. She likes the attention... sort of.
Anna has been frustrated lately because her roommates like to stay up late at night listening to music and having lots of friends over. She likes music, too. She likes her roommate's friends, but Anna likes to get up early in the mornings. She values her sleep. She likes to workout and meditate in the morning before classes and work. Lately, though, she's been sleeping in and she feels irritated most of the day. She's starting to resent her roommates, too.
Commentaires