Some great thoughts for the New Year

While working on a present for my sister, I was searching for a quote by President Hinckley and came across all sorts of great thoughts. I thought I'd share. Man, I love President Hinckley - what a wise, happy man!

"In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"Work at your responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"It is both relaxing and invigorating to occasionally set aside the worries of life, seek the company of a friendly book...from the reading of 'good books' there comes a richness of life that can be obtained in no other way."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"There are four pillars to a happy marriage: respect one another as individuals; (give) soft answers; (practice)financial honesty; (conduct) family prayer."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"It is not so much the major events as the small day-to-day decisions that map the course of our living. . . Our lives are, in reality, the sum total of our seemingly unimportant decisions and of our capacity to live by those decisions."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it's your choice"

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"The remedy for most marital stress is not in divorce. It is in repentance and forgiveness, in sincere expressions of charity and service. It is not in separation. It is in simple integrity that leads a man and a woman to square up their shoulders and meet their obligations. It is found in the Golden Rule, a time-honored principle that should first and foremost find expression in marriage."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"If we are worried about the future, then we must look today at the upbringing of children."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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"There is something wonderful about a book. We can pick it up. We can heft it. We can read it. We can set it down. We can think of what we have read. It does something for us. We can share great minds, great actions, and great undertakings in the pages of a book."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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And for my favorite (at least for today. :) They're all pretty incredible thoughts.):

"Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

I think those things he listed (walk with faith, rejoice in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, and in your testimony) are really a huge key to being happy. It's all about the little things - learning to see the Lord's hand hundreds of time a day in the little things in your life. Being grateful and remembering are huge keys to happiness. Seriously, reread that quote about two or three times. It's good stuff. :)