Week 12: Entrepreneurial Journal

Lessons Learned:
This week was focused on gratitude.  Having and expressing an attitude of gratitude helps us to maintain a positive outlook and to recognize all the blessings we receive.  President Monson’s talk, An Attitude of Gratitude, reminded me of so many things I am thankful for.  From the big things to the small things, we are blessed with so much.  One of the points that President Monson discussed was that of focusing on the positive and eliminating the negative in our lives.  He said “We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude.”  I have seen this to be so true in my own life.  A positive attitude is contagious, just as a negative one is.  We can spread happiness as we show gratitude for the things we have rather than mope about the things we don’t have.
Furthermore, President Monson discussed the importance of having gratitude for our friends.  He said “let us have gratitude for our friends. Our most cherished friend is our partner in marriage. This old world would be so much better off today if kindness and deference were daily a reflection of our gratitude for wife, for husband.”  I think that showing gratitude for those we love is so important.  I think that more than expressing gratitude by word, we must express gratitude by action.

Week 11: Entrepreneurial Journal

Lessons Learned:

This week we focused on how the world is changing, but President Monson’s talk reminded me that eternal truths never change.  One thing that stood out to me in his talk, “Constant Truths for Changing Times,” is the importance of shaping our young children in a positive way!  I loved the analogy of the mind being a cupboard and we stock the shelves.  President Monson quoted Dr. Glenn J. Doman saying, “What is placed in the child’s [mind] during the first eight years of life is probably there to stay. … If you put misinformation into his [mind] during [this period], it is extremely difficult to erase it.”  He also pointed out that “the most receptive age in human life is that of two or three years.”  This made me reflect on what I should be doing as I raise my 1 year old daughter.  This information has encouraged me to be more mindful of the movies we watch and the music we listen to.  I remember movies that I only saw once as a 2 year old, so I know that we must be careful of what we allow our families to be exposed to. 

We can strengthen and inspire those around us, from the people we live with to strangers we meet on the street.  We also read an article about Microlending by Muhammad Yunus who started the Grameen Bank.  He said “don’t give up dreaming.  Be a dreamer.  And keep on trying to make the dream come true.  Dream about the world you would like to have.  If we all dream about a better world, I can guarantee you that we will create a better world.”  This is such a positive attitude, and I know that if we do this, we can improve the world and society in which we live.