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Discuss w/ Friends (Hallmarks of Happiness)

Discuss w/ Friends (Hallmarks of Happiness)

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The transcription discusses the importance of building on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the principles that can bring lasting happiness. Elder Gary B. Saban of the Seventy talks about five points: building upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, remembering we are children of a loving Heavenly Father, always remembering the worth of a soul, maintaining an eternal perspective, and being grateful. The discussion also touches on the importance of being intentional in focusing on Christ and studying the scriptures and conference talks. Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. How blessed we are to have a living prophet today. Brothers and sisters, the Savior declared, whether by my own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. Welcome to Conference Chronicles, where we systematically take one conference talk per week from the previous conference and dissect it and learn from it. I'm your host, Taylor Lithgow, and I firmly believe that as we listen to and apply the Lord's teachings through His living prophets, we will fulfill the full measure of our creation and we will be prepared for the Lord at His second coming. So please join with me each week as we take this quest called Conference Chronicles. Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome on into this week's episode of Discuss with Friends. We have the OGs, Alex and Jeremy, back with us for a good discussion. Hey, guys. What's up? What's up? Happy to have you. So this week's talk is given by Elder Gary B. Saban of the Seventy, entitled Hallmarks of Happiness. He starts by explaining how he was on a flight once with a man from the Netherlands, and it kind of piqued his interest because he served his mission there. And so they started a conversation, and the guy gave him his business card with the title on it, Professor of Happiness. So it kind of got him thinking about what a professor of happiness might do, what are some of the things in life that truly invite real happiness. And Elder Saban comes up with five points or principles that he thought of that invites real and lasting happiness. The first one is build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. The second one is remember we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. The third one is always remember the worth of a soul. The fourth one is maintain an eternal perspective. And then the fifth one is be grateful. So we're kind of going to take these one by one and have a little bit of a discussion on each one to see these fine young men's thoughts on those topics. So first of all, when it comes to building upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, there's a couple of thoughts I had, and then I want to turn it over to you guys. When it comes to a foundation, like building on a foundation, when you think about a home, that is definitely the primary thing, the first thing. You need the foundation to be strong or else everything else will crumble, and then everything else builds on top of that. So I like the imagery of the foundation. With that being said, there are a lot of things in the world today that try to teach us how to be happy, for instance. There's not a shortage of self-help gurus or self-help books or public speakers that are motivational, all of the above, and they might offer a variety of different things. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first principle that Elder Sabin talks about is building on the foundation of Jesus Christ as the first thing that brings happiness in our lives, which probably isn't discussed a lot when it comes to all of these self-help gurus, you know, Jesus Christ being the center point. And then on the flip side of that, you go into a hobby lobby or something, and you see these signs, like I saw this one recently, all I need today is a little bit of coffee and a whole lot of Jesus. Or this one, this girl runs on cupcakes and Jesus. No offense to anyone listening that might have one of those things hung up in your house. If you're listening to this, you're probably not in the coffee one, it's probably not in your house, but maybe the cupcake ones. And so if you like those types of signs, more power to you. Sometimes they're a little cringy to me and maybe oversimplified, you know, to put coffee and Jesus in the same bucket, or cupcakes and Jesus in the same bucket, you know? So with all that being said, I've kind of rambled on. What does it actually mean to you guys to build on the foundation of Christ? It starts with cupcakes, for sure. Cupcakes, what else? A little bit of coffee. Well, to me, it's building on the foundation of Jesus, remembering that He is the foundation. And so nothing else replaces Him. And like you said, the signs, I get the humor in it, like, you know, we all need, like, I could say, all I need is the gym and Jesus, like something that, I do love going to the gym. I do love, or I could say, like, breath work. I love doing that. I love my polar plunges in Jesus. Polar plunge in Jesus, right? So I get, like, how it's kind of a funny thing. Sure. But of course, in reality, I do kind of cringe at them, too, a little bit, because, yeah, the only thing we truly, really need is Jesus, and then everything else is helpful. And it's not that self-help, a lot of, I've had a lot of professionals help me in my life. Could I have made it to the celestial kingdom without them? Yeah. But they were able to help me to apply gospel principles, truly, help me to come unto Jesus. And so just making sure that sometimes it's easy to get a little bit cluttered with things that are helpful, and then forgetting the main thing, because if you forget the main thing, then none of those things are really going to help you. And so it's just about missing the mark. Again, I don't think that's necessarily bad. Sometimes it's actually really kind of needed to have professional help. But yes, I just think, you know, if I'm looking at myself honestly and thinking, am I doing my best to keep my covenants, am I repenting, am I striving to keep the commandments God is giving me, you know, first and foremost, and then fill in the other good things that will also support that, is what it means to me. I love that. There's lots of other things that are complementary, but not the main thing, you know, make the main thing the main thing. Yeah. One of the things I heard you say is covenants, and essentially the gospel of Jesus Christ, repentance, you know, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, making, keeping covenants, right, and then enduring to the end. Right. So I like that. What about you, Jer Bear? I would say building on the foundation of Jesus Christ, to me, just looks like intentionally doing things each day to focus on him. I'm really grateful for the part of the Gospel Library app where it allows you to make a study plan, and then it tells you how you're doing and all of that. So I've been using that now for, I think, over half a year, and it helps me. Like every day, I can't say that I am perfect at it, as in being just perfectly anxiously engaged, but I do try to read from the Book of Mormon and read a general conference talk daily. Again, I'm not perfect at it, but I try to do that, and to me, that helps me to focus on him. So that's one thing that I strive to do, to help me build on that foundation, which is centered on him. Yeah, for sure. I like the word intentionality you used. The world will give us plenty of things to distract us, so if we're just kind of going with the flow, we will never make time for the main thing, Christ, because we'll be so distracted. So I like that word. You just need to be intentional with it. If I can just add, again, I am very imperfect and I have a lot to learn, and I will say that as I have specifically made time each day to now study the Scriptures and study a conference talk, typically in the morning, I physically don't feel like I can go on in a day until I do that. So it's interesting how that has actually happened. You could ask my wife, if I am asked to do something else or I have another thing that needs my attention, I feel obligated to first study so that I can then just give the rest of myself to what needs to be done. So it's a blessing. It might sound bad, but it is a blessing. I am now just programmed to first seek those things, and I hope that doesn't sound to people listening like just kind of rote or like a recitation. I just read each day and let the words go into my mind. I think it can be that, but if we're striving, again, to be intentional, then it doesn't have to be that way. It can help with knowing that there's a part of me missing until I study this, and if I really put intent into studying it, then it helps you progress. It's just been interesting as I've realized that I kind of find myself like, dang, there's nothing else on my mind right now. I need to do this or it's going to drive me crazy. That's amazing. It's interesting. No, it is. There's many things like that in my day, too, that it's almost like once I do this, it can unlock me to do this or this. I am that way with scripture study as well as like the gym. There's certain things that I just feel like I have to do first before I get to the next thing. That's great that you've built those habits and those systems for yourself. You brought up study a lot when it comes to building on the foundation of Christ. I read this this morning in 3 Nephi 28. This is where I'm at in my Book of Mormon study. It says, And woe be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he has chosen and sent among them, a.k.a. prophets. For whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus, and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him, and therefore he will not receive them at the last. So it just really reminded me of what you said in terms of receiving the words of Jesus and receiving the words of those whom he has sent. You are literally doing both of those things every single morning. The words of Jesus are found in the scriptures and in the words of his prophets, those whom he has sent. So you're reading general conference talks, you're reading the scriptures every morning, and I think that is one of the keys to building on the foundation of Christ. Moving along to the next point that he makes, number two, the principle that can build happiness in our lives, is remember we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. So we actually had a long discussion about this point a couple weeks ago, if you guys remember. It was a talk by Elder Phillips entitled, God Knows and Loves You. He tells the story about his son Jasper, him leaving him at the gas station, and then how God loves us so deeply, so on and so forth. So for anyone listening, you can go back and listen to that episode, it was really amazing. But we'll briefly touch on this point. Remembering we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. I wanted to ask you guys, how does knowing your identity bring you happiness in your life? Sharing it is one way that I find joy and happiness. When I'm able to testify of that, and really, when I think about it, just a short example, I know you're both familiar with the young woman in my seminary class who isn't a member, and who has made the choice to be baptized. I've asked her this, we've talked regularly, obviously, about the church, and she asks me questions, and I talk to the sisters who are teaching her about whatever, and just seeing her change and continue to learn of the gospel has been joyous for our whole seminary class, I think. So that's really what comes to my mind, is like, when we really internalize that we are children of God, and He loves us, and we're of infinite worth to Him, and then we share that and we see it around us, that's what helps me to feel joy, I think. And obviously, I can be so much better at it, but I'm grateful for this experience I've had with this young lady in seminary. It's been amazing. Yeah, it is amazing, right? All those experiences you've had with her, I'm really happy for her. So thinking about us being children, that obviously means that all of the others, people on the earth, are our brothers and sisters. And when you guys think about your relationships with your actual physical brothers and sisters that you have on this earth life, I don't know about you, but I can typically be a little bit more forward or candid with my family members, just because we know each other so well and we know that we love each other, so it's kind of easier to be kind of, I guess, forward. But I thought of that with this girl and with everyone else in the earth, I think it allows us to be a little bit more forward and loving to all the people we meet when it comes to sharing the gospel and just providing love when we remember that point. That, hey, they're my brother, they're my sister, I can treat them as such. Anything you want to add, Alex, to that point? For me, remembering that I'm a son of God is everything. It's the most important thing. It's the first truth, I feel, that we all, seeing as primary kids, and just knowing that, like you said, the parallel there with earth life, earth parents and families, my kids are individuals, they're their own people, but they are me, too. I'm in them. And I can see me in them because literally they're from Candice and I, and so they're part of us. Part of me is in my son and my daughter, and so it just, that's what makes me love them even more is it's like you're mine, like the last talk we talked about, or that I was on. And so just remembering that I'm not just like a creation of God, I'm his son, he is in me, and therefore I'm of infinite worth. And that makes you a little bit happy? Makes me pretty happy, yeah. When you said it's everything, it just reminded me of the quote from Elder Ballard, and this was shared a couple weeks ago, but he says there is one important identity we all share now and forever, that is that you are, and have always been, a son or daughter of God. Understanding this, truly understanding it and embracing it, is life changing. So it means everything, right? The next point that Elder Sabin brings up that can invite happiness into our lives is, he says always remember the worth of a soul. He tells a story about his son and his wife and a skunk, and if I'm being honest, at first I didn't really make the connection between like how this story relates to always remembering the worth of a soul. I'll kind of recap the story, so his son walks out of his house and he accidentally kicks what he thought was his cat, you know he's like his foot hits it, and it wasn't his cat, it was a skunk that sprayed him and his wife, right? So they're covered in all this skunk spray, and they heard that the surefire remedy was cleaning yourself with tomato juice, so they scrubbed themselves down with tomato juice, and after a while he said they just became desensitized to the smell, and they had planned to go out to a movie at the movie theater, and so they're like, okay, well I guess we're better now, so let's go, we're going to still go to the movie, and they go, and they sit down in their seats, and they realize quickly that all the people around them kind of, they leave to go get popcorn, and when they come back they didn't sit in their original seats, they kind of all spread out and went away from them. So it was a funny story, and he goes on to ask, what if our sins had an odor to them? You know, how we might differently approach the way that we look at others, and maybe it might impact our level of compassion, right? At first I didn't really understand how that story related to remember the worth of the soul, but I did like the story, and I think it poses a really good question, what if our sins had an odor, you know, how would that change the way we thought, and then how does this help you have more compassion on other people? I'll turn that over to you guys, what are some of your thoughts on that? Well, I think if they did have an odor, we'd all stink pretty bad, so, it'd be terrible, you know, it's like everywhere you go would be stinky, and it'd be a good reminder of we're all in this together, you know, even if you're in a room, that room, only a couple of them had the skunk odor, but the whole room stank, and so, you know, let's say you really repented and you didn't have that stank anymore, so if you were in a group of people, you'd be like, well, it doesn't affect me, because I smell good, no, you're going to start stinking too, and so it's going to affect you, there's a lot of good things you can pull out of that, I guess, but a couple of thoughts I have is that, yeah, we can't judge someone else because they sin differently than we do, some people's sins are very obvious, you can smell it, you know, or you can see it, but then mine might be extremely secretive and they would never have an idea, and I might appear more perfect, so that's kind of one thought that comes, and then, you know, like I said, you hang around people, they're going to rub off on you, those actions, and then also just to have a little more compassion of just like, hey, we're all in this together, if I'm repenting and I smell better now, I'm not going to be like, oh, it sucks for you that you don't, because it's actually going to affect me, and so not just a selfish thing, but I'm going to seek to help you to repent too, for both of our sakes there, you know, like in that analogy, but truly in life, it's like, I want my brothers and sisters to do better, I'm not going to think, oh, like, I'm doing better than them, you know, if I can see a fault in somebody else, or something that needs to be repented of, it only means that I also can improve somewhere in my life. I totally agree with what you said, and he does point out Elder Sabin later that he loves the smell of tobacco at church, Brigham Young actually said that first, but it just means that there's somebody that's trying to change, right, somebody trying to repent. Totally. What about you, JerBear? Ah, I love what Alex said, I don't know if there's anything I could add, other than I agree we would smell it, but I do think it would help us to have more compassion because we'd realize that everyone, even President Nelson, makes mistakes, so, yeah, I think it would definitely help, but I think that there's a way we can incorporate that, even though we don't smell from our sins, I think it will help, and hopefully it will help me to be more compassionate and understanding about that, so, I loved what Alex said. Something that came to my mind was that, we kind of joked about, but it's true, literally everybody would stink, right, because there's somebody, but how beautiful to think about how if this were true, if you could smell our sins, as we all go to church, if everybody is partaking of the sacrament in a proper way, we wouldn't smell any more stinkiness in the chapel, like literally, even if somebody in the congregation that I've been here before felt that I wasn't ready to partake of the sacrament this week, or I was encouraged to wait a little bit, showing up to sacrament meeting, choosing to not partake of the sacrament, is that person's repentance, and they are receiving forgiveness in that very moment, I believe. I don't think that they have to wait until they can partake of the sacrament to, okay, now you're forgiven. I don't believe that, I believe that God forgives us frankly, and that we have to strive to do things to be more prepared to take on covenants, but the whole room would smell good, and how beautiful is that we get to do that every single week, and that would be a serious testimony builder for, let's say, somebody investigating the church, and all of us, too, if you go out in the world, and it stinks bad, and then you walk into the chapel, and it doesn't, it smells good in there, that would be a real testimony builder of feeling, wow, this is a clean place, right? We might be used to that feeling, but people come in, they do notice that, because it is the only place like that, that in the temple. Right, totally. Ultimately, and probably thankfully, our sins don't stink. They do, they're terrible, they stink, but they don't stink in that way, they don't produce an odor, but you'd like to hope that the Spirit could still teach somebody the same thing, you know, so that's just a little invitation for us to partake of the sacrament every week, go to church, and invite other people to come, so they can feel the same thing. Totally. Okay, and moving on to his fourth point, you know, principle that invites happiness into our lives, he says that maintaining an eternal perspective brings happiness. He shares a cool story of his daughter who has a surgery on her lungs, she was having a hard time breathing, and it was a really stressful time for the whole family, and before the surgery, you know, there's a high likelihood she might not make it through the surgery, and she said to him, it's okay, after the surgery, there will essentially be one of two outcomes. I'll wake up with new lungs, the ability to breathe, or I'll wake up in heaven, and I'll be able to breathe there too, of course, and it was just a really impactful moment for him as her father, and he said every day now, he thanks Heavenly Father for the ability to breathe, to have good lungs, but I wanted to turn this over to you guys, and ask if you or anyone you know has, you know, gone through a hard time, and has demonstrated this ability to maintain an eternal perspective, and how that helped them in their happiness levels. A few come to my mind, the one that I'll share though, is growing up, my brother Greg, really we're best friends, but he's like a brother to me, we've known each other probably since junior high-ish, but we just always, always ran together, you could say, but his, both of his parents have passed away now, he's at least one year older than me, he lost his dad when he was very young, and then he lost his mom in high school, and he has just always been a great example to me of maintaining an eternal perspective, he has had his fair share of trials, even outside of losing his parents, he carries on, I am grateful for his example, and actually, forgive me Greg, you're probably listening to this, I believe that he actually lost his mom while he was on his mission, we left on our missions on the same day, yeah, it's amazing, we're at the airport together, and the MTC together, and that was a blessing, and yeah, I believe he lost his mom while he was on his mission, and he just continues to this day, now he's married, sealed in the temple, and he has a little daughter, and he just remains focused on God's plan, so I appreciate his example. Yeah, that's amazing, thank you Greg, I couldn't imagine losing both of my parents at that age on my mission, and then on the same token, there's maybe people that couldn't imagine some of the trials I've gone through, or some of the trials Alex or Jeremy has gone through, and I think they're all tailored and so unique, but grateful for examples like Greg that maintains an eternal perspective, it's motivating, right, it's inspiring, it makes me want to be better, and it's clearly paying off, you know, in his life, the fruits of his eternal perspective seem evident, you know, the fact that he's married in the temple with a little girl, and all the above, so that's really cool. So kind of transitioning into the fifth and final point he brings up, where, you know, I told the story of his daughter, right, with the lung surgery and whatnot, and he said, now there's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for the ability to breathe. That kind of segues into the last point on how to invite happiness, and that is to be grateful. He's grateful for his ability to breathe every morning. There are so many things that we can be grateful for every day. There's been a lot of studies that have been done on gratitude and how it directly affects our happiness. I wanted to turn it over to you guys and ask, how have you noticed maintaining an attitude of gratitude has helped you and your happiness levels? I think for me, seeking, we hear the scripture, seeking you shall find, but then at the same time, as I find myself constantly looking for happiness, or looking for some kind of solution to, I need to fix this problem, I need to right this wrong, I need to go get a sale, or there's some kind of lack in my life, I need to go find something to fill that up. It's like, once I get it, there is always something else of, I need something else, like I need this thing. For me, maintaining an attitude of gratitude and feeling just grateful and remembering that I literally have everything I need right now. I have all of my needs met right now. I actually don't need anything. Yeah, of course, I'm not saying I'm just gonna sit back and do nothing now. Because I got everything, it's the opposite. It's the fact that I feel and know it's true, I have everything I need right now, makes life much more enjoyable. I can say, oh, I'm choosing to go forward and do my work because I get to go help somebody. And then naturally, you're gonna gain even more blessings that way. It's just kind of cool. So it changes the way I approach my work. And just every day. Yeah, most definitely. I think there's a huge difference between being content and being complacent. Totally. Yeah, huge difference. Contentment really does bring peace and satisfaction. I am. I'm so content with my life. I don't need anything, right? Everything I need has been given to me. And like you said, it changes the way you view everything you do. What about you, Jeremy? Anything you've noticed on how being grateful impacts your happiness levels? I would say when I'm focused on the blessings in my life, it does help me to just have joy, no matter what is going on. That is another way that I can for sure improve just working harder to think about those blessings each day. I think, yeah, I've just seen in my life when I am focused on how much good is around me and the people around me or the joy that the gospel brings me, it just helps me to feel just joy through Christ. President Nelson talks about how I might not say it word for word, but I believe he says the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. So as I have tried to shift my focus to Christ and be grateful, it just makes all the difference. It totally does. I really like that quote from President Nelson. I started to think of the hymn as you were talking, Count Your Many Blessings. There's a few lines I'll read. Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Another line, count your many blessings, every doubt will fly and you will be singing as the days go by. Count your many blessings, money cannot buy your reward in heaven nor your home on high. Count your many blessings, angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your journey's end. Those are some pretty cool promises, you know, as we sing them in the hymn. Angels will attend us as we count our blessings. Our doubts will fly away as we count our blessings. I believe it's the very first line of that hymn is when upon life's billows your tempest tossed and you are discouraged thinking all is lost. Yeah. Count your many blessings. And just a reminder that even when we are going through trials or tribulations or feeling maybe tossed around, we just need to shift our focus. Yeah. It's a great antidote. Yeah. It's the medicine we need. This was, yeah, something I needed to hear. So that's good. Have you ever, have you ever been like a kid or even now watching a movie? I remember specifically though being a child, being so engaged in this movie and so concerned with the conflict that's happening and like the bad guys getting like, like being so into it. And I remember being a kid and being like, remembering it was a movie. I feel like, oh, this is just a movie and feeling this relief. I love this. If anyone can relate to that. I remember feeling that way as a kid. Yeah. And sure, I can get into a movie now and like, I recognize it's a movie, but I still get into it and I still feel those emotions. And I still, that's why movies can be so cool. Yeah. But then you just have to remember, oh yeah, this is just a movie. Life is actually totally good. And I think that's how life is. A lot of times we have these things that we are really stressed about. And it doesn't mean that it's not really helpful if a friend comes along and be like, yeah, but like, look at all these good things. Like, don't worry about this thing. It's okay to feel discouraged. It's okay to feel lost. It's okay to feel upset or frustrated, even if it's something that's seemingly small. But it's just a good reminder to just, this really is an illusion. This really doesn't actually matter. Like, this is a movie, basically. This is what I'm really stressed about right now. Yeah. I've had that where I've been super frustrated, kids. I'm feeling like I didn't do enough work that day, whatever it is. I have a lot of stresses. And then yesterday I felt this way a little bit. And I looked outside and I saw all my kids' toys and they were in bed. And I was like, I have these two amazing kids. And they're just, they're here. They're alive. They're incredible. I am so grateful that they're both here and they're both alive. Yeah. All those little things I was worried about earlier in the day had no significance at all. So just to be grateful for the things we've been given. Yeah. I have experienced that with movies. Really? I've also experienced it with dreams. Have you ever had that before? Yeah. Where you're in the, in a dream and then you like remember that you're having a dream or right when you wake up, you're so relieved. Yeah. The worst ones, I don't know if you guys have had these, but like the worst ones for me is if I've like cheated on my wife, on Cassidy or something in my dream. I don't know if you've ever had that before, but I'm terrified in my dream. I am, I hate, I hate it. Right. And I'm thinking like, I've got to tell her, I've got to tell her, and this is the worst day of my life. And then you wake up and you feel so happy. But yeah, counting blessings can be like that. Yeah. It can wash away our, our fears, our doubts. Do you guys have any, with that being said, do you have any systems in place in your life that help you be more grateful? Like for instance, we all work at the same, in the same office with Sunrun and every meeting we have, we have three meetings a week and Stu will invite us all to write down three things we're grateful for. We do it every single meeting and everyone just goes quiet for a minute and writes down three things they're grateful for. And that's a good system in place, right? We do that at least three times a week at work. Do you guys have anything else in your life that, that you do to kind of help you? Or if you don't do it, do you have any ideas or goals for yourself on maybe some things you can do to help yourself be more grateful? Well, for me, my system is definitely first thing I do in the morning is I get on my knees and say a prayer. I have my phone on airplane mode actually through the night and on Do Not Disturb. And so it used to be really the first thing is just grab my phone, check notifications, and then pray. I won't turn my phone off of airplane mode until I've made a connection with my Father in heaven. That's just something that I've set up in my life. And I've made it, I put it even further where there's other things I want to do even before that. I do that in my morning routine before I turn my phone on. That helps me a lot. And in that prayer, I just do my best to express my gratitude. I think that I'll catch myself making just a laundry list or asking for a lot of things. But the best prayers I've ever had are the ones that are just simply just gratitude. And if there's things I'm even asking for, I will say thank you for blessing me with this thing that I haven't necessarily received yet. Because to me, that's like faith where it's just believing that you will receive that. And so I think that there's power. I think there's more power in receiving something if you say thank you for this, then please give this to me. It's like, there's that energy of, I don't think I can get it. I don't even know if you can give it to me. It's just that energy. I think energy is so much more than the words we say. The words are important too. So I might be rambling, but just I do my best to have a spirit of gratitude while I'm praying. And then throughout the day. Yeah, that's a great system. You have your phone in airplane mode. So when you wake up, you can't even see the notifications, right? Because it's on airplane mode. And you won't turn it on until you have that connection with him first. That's an amazing system. Anything for you, Jeremy, you want to add? I love that. I also just say a prayer in the morning and at night. And that helps me to think about blessings. I think the one thing that I would like to do, I've thought about this a lot now, but the story that you told of the guy who had set his watch. Yeah, my institute professor. Yeah. For every 10 or 15 minutes to go off or was it every hour? It was every hour. Okay. And then he would think about a, you know, a blessing or what he was grateful for. He'd think about Christ. Yeah. I've thought about that a lot. And honestly, I might implement it and then just get into where I don't need the timer anymore. But I really want to do something like that. There have been points in my life where I've sent a gratitude text each morning. So yeah, I want to put more of an emphasis on this for sure. Yeah. I like that. I need to put action to it and decide what I'm going to do. Sure. Yeah. The beeper, the gratitude texts are great. Are you saying you send a text to somebody that you're grateful for? I have. Yeah. Yeah. Before. Yeah. Yeah. Not, not right now. But there's been points where I would, and I enjoyed it. I think that kills two birds with one stone, really. It changes you and your feelings of gratitude, but it also can change somebody else. Totally. Yeah. And help them feel loved. And then they might pass that forward to somebody else. And then it's just this chain, right? And it's kind of hard to measure where it started and where it's ending. Yeah. So that's a really good one. Jeremy, I love you guys. I am grateful for you two. Me too. I'm grateful for you guys. And I'm, and I'm happy that you came on. I'm grateful for this discussion that we have that we've had, and that we will continue to have. I'm grateful for this window that's open right next to us. And you can hear some birds chirping and some breeze coming in. It feels so good to be alive. So I wanted to thank also everyone who listened. We're grateful for you. And I hope you're enjoying the content. Don't forget to tune into this Sunday's episode as well. I wanted to close with my testimony. I know that as we build on the foundation of Christ and remember that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and always remember the worth of a soul and maintain an eternal perspective and be grateful that we will truly be happy, real happiness, not something that's fleeting, but something that will be lasting in this life and in the next. And I close that in the name of Jesus Christ. Thanks everyone. Look forward to next week as well. And I hope you all have a wonderful week. Talk to you soon.

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