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

Think A Happy Thought

As I was sitting in the living room this morning, I was thinking about my dreams, aspirations, challenges, Etc. And my little sister came up to me and asked me why I was smiling.

I simply said, "Because I'm thinking happy thoughts."

As I said that, her mouth beamed and the sides of her mouth curved up to form a smile so deep, I could see it in her eyes and they were as bright as any light I have ever seen.

Then she opened her mouth and spoke words as profound as any, words that I had already known, but not come to know of their depth.

"Then you're going to fly."

Our success isn't completely based on how hard we work, it's based on our attitudes when we are working.

Dream about the things that make you happy, find your center, and you'll fly.

Your friend and brother,

Dallin H.

Who am I? Who are you?

For my entire life, I have known that I have a purpose. There's a reason that I am who I am.

Every decision, every experience I've ever had has put me in the position I am in today. I am the sum of my choices, with the ability to make many more choices, and the unlimited possibilities therein.

So who am I?

 I am Dallin Hughes. I am a singer/songwriter, an instrumentalist, a slightly lazy perfectionist, the second oldest in a family of fifteen, (including parents) an entertainer, a dancer, and many other things, but the title that I hold dearest to me is Child Of God. 

I have the privelidge of writing to all you and telling you that I know this to be true. I know it with every part of my soul.

You are all children of God, and don't you forget it! There is nothing more valuable than a human being. We have the greatest potential out of all of God's creations. We have the potential to become like Him!

So this reason that I spoke about earlier... This reason that I am who I am. I have gifts and abilities, talents and opportunities to spread this message to the whole world, and that is what I will do. That is what I have been called to do, and I will not shirk or sluff my responsibility.

Now that I have given you part of the truth, I emplore you to search out the rest. It is now your responsibility to spread the message I have spread to you. 

Spread it like butter. All over your toast. (Or the world, if you haven't caught the drift yet. ;) Slap on a huge glob of truth and goodness! Haha.

Every talent, ability, gift, opportunity you have been given has been given to you to play your specific and personal part in this game of life. So play your cards.

Dallin H.

My Journey

Imagine yourself in the most comfortable place, with the most comfortable things, eating the most comfortable foods. Now imagine yourself staying there for the next two years of your life. What do you think you look like now? What would have happened to you had you gotten up and worked? Would your outcome have been different? Of course! You would probably be an entirely different person!

 What do I call that getting up off of your bottom? I call it a journey. Journeys are how we learn, grow, become.

So what do I want you to do? Leave your comfort zone! When you push yourself to your limits, your capacity grows and expands.

So I challenge everyone who reads this to do something good, out of their comfort zone twenty times. It shouldn't be the same thing twenty times, but try this, and I guarantee you will be so much happier after it is done.

 At my first dance, I was soooooo scared to ask anyone to dance. I was anxious beyond the butterflies in my stomache. I was still dancing with all of the "jumping" songs, but I couldn't bring myself to ask anyone to slow dance with me. After about half of the dance was over, I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror and wondered why I couldn't ask anyone to dance. The thought then came to me that, maybe everyone in that room had an experience like I am having now. I thought back on the faces of all of the older kids in that room, realized that I would have to make a decision that had already been made by so many before myself. So I decided that I would then be known as the nicest boy there, and the dance king. I walked out of that bathroom after spiffing up a little bit, and searched for a girl that looked about my age. I found one, and with the butterflies still bugging me, (pun intended) I asked her to dance. It turned out that she was actually 17! For that one dance, I told her that it was my first, we talked a little bit, and for the rest of that dance, she taught and inspired me to be able to continue on with what I like to call, my "intention", or the intended result of my journey.

This was the beginning of my reputation at dances. I now know almost every youth in my stake. I love them, and I feel their love for me every time I see them. Because of that experience, I have grown mountains above the person I was. It opened up the opportunity for many more learning experiences than I will ever be able to count, and I will forever be grateful for those small thoughts of inspiration that I received that one dance.

The avalanche that resulted from one single decision with an intention behind it was monumental. I have forever been changed by that experience.

 I personally testify that when you set an intention, and leave on your journey to fulfil that intention, that you will gain what you intended to gain.  Look for the end goal, but remember to keep an eye on the road you take, cause sometimes we trip. Be faithful to yourself and take one step of faith at a time. 

 Your friend and brother, Dallin H.