More on being adult.......

Can happiness and difficulty or sadness coexist? I didn't used to think so. When I had a belly ache I couldn't find much else good about life. But life is riddled with this juxtaposed scenario. Childbirth is riddled with the worst pain ever conceived (no pun intended) and yet we absolutely do it to arrive at the beautiful and hopeful ending a new life, joy, happiness!!

Hard work is another example of this strange fulfilling pain of life. If a child is asked to work for hours at something pain ensues and moaning and groaning eventually lead the little one to quit and find something like sugar to ease their woes and hardships. But many people grow up and learn to live with the difficulties of work(even work they don't particularly enjoy) and still find joy and happiness in it or the fulfillment of it...

When a friend of mine suddenly inherited three children from a sister seriously injured, I gave one bit of advice (why do I have to do that....argh...I'll try to improve and keep my mouth shut) "Try to enjoy things even though they are hard."

I finally realized that this could be one of the secrets of a happy life. Regardless of the severity of the moment....I absolutely believe that if I can enjoy it, I can be happy. Don't get me wrong, happiness is a fickle barometer. I don't think it should be a measure of much in this life...its so subjective...but lets face it...we all want it and it is a driving factor in many of the things that we do....so my point is...if you are gathering honey from your new beehive, and you get stung, don't let it stop you from realizing the complexity and beauty of the hive and then continuing to gather the honey...then eating it with a peanut butter sandwich.

I relistend to Elder Worthlin's last talk in conference and I think what he was trying to say is similar to my point, "Come what may and love it."