I Love You.

I can't hold it in any longer.  I feel like I'm in an air compressor when I can't express my love for people.  Yes, I'm more of a Touch/Feel kinda guy.  Not in an awko taco kinda way, but if you want want a hug, you better be prepared for the best hug of your life!

One of my favorite songs, "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol, has a lyric line that I used to think said, "Those three words are said too much, but not enough."  But actually ends in "They're* not enough."

I honestly like my version better.  To me, it means that while people use and abuse them all the time, they still are of tremendous power and worth and they could and should be used more, but with an understanding of the depth they contain and the potential they have.

A darling and very good friend of mine and I were talking about how we didn't want to say that we "loved" anything to much because we felt it made the word worth less when it was needed to mean more.

My perspective has changed.  A word only means the connotations it's given.  It can be said with little  or no respect for what it's meant to mean or it can be given great respect and reverence for what it is meant to mean.

However you view this, it is true for you.  I'm not saying your perspective is wrong.  I believe that however you view a word is exactly what it implies... To you.

This is all just buzzing in my mind.  Let me know if you have anything to say on this matter.  I love your input.

Your friend, brother, mentor and student,

Dallin Hughes

Stinky House Haiku

Basil drying here.

The scent is overwhelming.

Warning sign needed.


Not bad for a first try, eh? *Eyebrow dance*

Dallin Hughes

The Power Of Thought.

There are so many things I would like to say right now.  I think I'll start with a story of my own experience in a situation that I had shaped with my perspective, by my mind.

In my earlier years as a scout, I learned much.  I had a lot of fun hanging out with my peers and shared many memories with them.  Everything was as simple as it could be for a young man of my age.  All until *Cue scary music* the (we'll say) Johnson family moved in.

Their family was like my own in that theirs was also a performing family.  It was most of the Johnson side of the family with six fathers and their families.  It was just the dads that performed, though.  They also belonged to the church of which I am a proud member.  During some church youth event that took place long ago, one of the Johnson kids (we'll say John's son) had rubbed me the wrong way.  I don't remember what happened, I just remember that I felt wronged.  From that day on, I felt and thought as if he were the meanest kid I had ever met.  This was my perspective.

Going through everything at the time, it seemed as if everything he did fit the label that I had put on him.  Everything he might have possibly done to be kind to me was an act of spitty (spite and mock pity, haha) towards me.

I felt this way for two years, never allowing him a single inch of leeway, and boy, was I awakened when I finally woke up to who he really was.

My change in attitude towards him occurred when I went to my first dance (the one that I mentioned in a previous post).  I walked in during a fast song.  The dance was well underway since the car I had been traveling in was late.  I was in awe of the energy that permeated the building.  It was like I was in an ocean of energy that moved so fluidly and beautifully that I couldn't help but get caught up in it.  I was soon out on the floor with the few people I had known and met previously, dancing the night away.  After that song ended, I saw him and his group of friends, resting from the tiring amount of energy spent moving around.  The beat of the next song kicked in and he had started a dance circle with as many people as he could.  It was quite a large group considering that quite a few people liked him a lot.  In the next few moments, my brain was having trouble registering that he, who had been such a wretched and horrible person before, could ever be so good and charismatic, or have any good quality at all.  After all, I believe I had come very close to hating him.  While my conscious mind was undergoing this transformation, I decided to go and dance battle him. 

Now, he didn't know that I was battling him or challenging him in any way.  To him, it probably just looked like I wanted to have as good of a time as he was having.  My brain finally got in gear and realized that I had read him wrong.  I had judged him incorrectly and, after that dance, I said a very fervent prayer of repentance.

To this day, we are not the closest of friends, but we are good friends, and I would trust him with my life.

Now, we have addressed part of the power of perspective.  Let us move on to the power and influence of our thoughts.

Past President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, David O. McKay, said, "There is another responsibility correlated and even coexistent with free agency, which is too infrequently emphasized, and that is the effect not only of a person's actions but also of his thoughts upon others. Man radiates what he is, and that radiation affects to a greater or less degree every person who comes within that radiation."

I have indirectly been able to witness an experiment done by cousins of my cousins.  Their family decided that they wanted to expiriment with the power of words. The only question was "How would they be able to measure the affects?"

They finally came to the conclusion of an inanimate object with life sustaining properties.  Food.

So what they did was buy two tomaotoes that were exactly alike in every way they could possibly measure.  They put them in separate rooms and started their expirement.  Calling one of them names and saying horrible things to it and praising the other in every way they could.

The tomato that they had verbally abused went sour after one week, while the other stayed good for almost a month!

The next test was on water.

They filled two glasses of water and decided not to say, but to think things, and they prayed over one glass of water, while mentally abusing the other.  To measure the effects, they put both glasses in the freezer.  When the glasses where frozen, the family took them out of the freezer and broke the ice out of the glasses.  They put them under a microscope next, and to their surprise, the ice structer was comepletely different in every way.  The glass that had received all of the positive energy was beautiful, organized and absolutely breathtaking.  It was everything the negatively affected glass wasn't. The negatively affected ice was unorganized, scattered and in disarray, and quite ugly to the eye.

Now take a moment to think about what the percentage of water is in our body.  If a glass of water can be affected as much as that, then how much do we change a person when we think negative thoughts about them?  Or say something rude?

I hope that no one abuses this knowledge.  Remember that our thoughts cannot take away someone else's agency. This doesn't mean that they cannot be influenced.


Your friend, brother, mentor, and student,

Dallin Hughes

P.S. This is just a draft with more to come when I feel it necessary to write more. 

You Have A Light. Let It Shine.

After re-reading my post on courage, I've decided to take it a step further.

I have decided not only to stand up for what I believe, but I have decided to become a shining example of my beliefs.

For many of us, "shining" may well mean to do what is right, to be a good example, and to keep it small and simple. But because the world is on a downward slide and the good team is in dire need of players, we need to step up to the plate. This will be harder for some than others for many reasons, but mainly because we are all so extremely different, with different weaknesses, strengths, talents, and insecurities. We will all have our different trials, but we are never given something we cannot handle.

Your thoughts are the key to unlocking your potential. All of what you can or cannot do is based on natural law and your thoughts. Think of your comfort zone as a fence surrounding an estate. Your estate. The rest of the surrounding world is yours for the taking, but there's one catch. You have to claim it by building a fence around the land you want. What does that mean? It means there's work to be done. Hard work. Don't beat yourself up over the idea of it. You'll end up hurting yourself more than any of the cuts or bruises the hard work may give you. You have the materials, and if you want help, there are plenty of friends just waiting for you to ask them.

Go out and do what you dream of doing. If there's something along the way that looks like a shortcut, but requires you to drop your standards, don't take the risk. The path is there. Even though at times we may feel lost, there is always a way to find that path. It's called "prayer" and there is no fee but humility.

So go out and show the world your light. There are many lights that need The Painter to help them shine. Why don't we help Him reach them by shining our lights as bright as we can in this dark?

Your friend, brother, mentor and student,

Dallin Hughes