Above Yourself

Welcome to Above Yourself, a blog about self-improvement and faith. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe in a reader or subscribe by email. Many of the topics here are related to my faith in Jesus Christ and Mormonism, but all are welcome to share their own beliefs. Thanks for visiting!

We hear about emergency situations and disasters more and more frequently these days, and it’s important to be prepared should something happen. Although the chances something like this would happen to us are somewhat small, it definitely happens. I never expected to see something like this in my own lifetime, but in May 2000, our family was evacuated from our home because of the Cerro Grande Fire in Northern New Mexico. Without any sense of preparation, we wouldn’t have had any idea of what to do. In other situations, you might benefit from a 72-hour kit, or simple emergency preparations. Building up your preparedness isn’t something that happens overnight; it’s a topic that needs to be revisited often. As a result, our own stock of emergency supplies should be built up over time. At his blog The Simple Dollar, Trent takes a look at how to frugally build up your emergency supplies. Here are a few of my favorite ideas:

• Stock canned goods for food to start with. We have often been advised to build up our food storages, so stocking up on foods in cans that we would actually eat is a good way to begin. They last a long time and frequently go on sale, so we should try to buy a can or two extra instead of just what we’ll use that week.
• Request some of these items as gifts. A good first aid kit or emergency kit for your car really does make a good gift. I can’t count how many of these little things we always run out of - personally, I wouldn’t be against getting a box of band-aids as a stocking stuffer, because we all know I get plenty of candy at Halloween.

What are your emergency essentials? What is your strategy for building them up?

I’m a bit of a baseball nut. I can’t help but get excited for the playoffs every October, and I get even more excited if the team I’m rooting for is doing well. For baseball players, this is not just fun, it’s a job. They study and practice different aspects of the game, watching videos and doing drills to hone their skills. During a baseball game last night, the camera focused briefly on Micah Owings, the starting pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He had just sat down after striking out Rockies slugger Todd Helton and was writing in a small book. In that book, Owings keeps information about his approach when facing different batters, including what worked and what didn’t work. The next time he prepares to face Helton, he will look back in his book and try to repeat his performance, basing his strategy on the knowledge he has of his opponent.

Do we have a personal game plan? Do we keep a record of the things that we do, including what works and what doesn’t? If we don’t attempt to learn from past mistakes or successes, we can’t expect to progress. Personally, I’ve set a goal to apply this at work, basically creating a personal user’s manual for all of the things that I routinely do. What other aspects of life could this be applied to?

It’s about three months earlier than I usually think about being grateful for everything around me, but some recent experiences have really caused me to realize how blessed I am for everything I have. I have a healthy family including a very happy little girl, a good place to live, and I have the chance to continue my education before my family grows too large. So in lieu of a longer post, I would simply like to post this quote from James E. Faust, an apostle in the Mormon Church who recently passed away:

In the closing moments of this conference, I come to this pulpit to speak about gratitude as an expression of faith and as a saving principle. The Lord has said, “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.” (D&C 59:21.) It is clear to me from this scripture that to “thank the Lord thy God in all things” (D&C 59:7) is more than a social courtesy; it is a binding commandment.

One of the advantages of having lived a long time is that you can often remember when you had it worse. I am grateful to have lived long enough to have known some of the blessings of adversity. My memory goes back to the Great Depression, when we had certain values burned into our souls. One of these values was gratitude for that which we had because we had so little. The Great Depression in the United States in the early thirties was a terrible schoolmaster. We had to learn provident living in order to survive. Rather than create in us a spirit of envy or anger for what we did not have, it developed in many a spirit of gratitude for the meager, simple things with which we were blessed, like hot, homemade bread and oatmeal cereal and many other things.

–James E. Faust, “Gratitude As a Saving Principle,” Ensign, May 1990, 85

Several years ago, I had the chance to attend church in a city where I had lived when I was younger. I’m not sure why, but I remember a challenge that the teacher gave us that day in Sunday School: instead of jumping quickly into bed after praying, listen and meditate so that we can receive an answer to our prayers. The teacher that day explained to us that we should treat our prayers as a two-way communication with one of our closest friends; if we wanted God to be able communicate to us, we shouldn’t hang up on him after we’re finished with our side of the conversation.

I remember going home and trying this out that night. I was a teenager at the time, and my main focus seemed to be spending as much time as I could enjoying myself. Since my family was on vacation, I wasn’t in my normal routine so I had to really make an effort to not only remember to pray but to meditate for a time afterward. I remained in the same position for a few minutes until I became a bit uncomfortable. It was then that I realized that I wasn’t really meditating, I was just kind of sitting there.

After a while longer, I began to think a little bit deeper. I forgot about my previous discomfort, and I was able to clear my mind a little more. This kind of preparation allowed me to receive a very calm feeling all around me, and I began to realize that inspiration was only possible if we opened our hearts and really wanted to learn.

Since then I’ve had that same feeling many times, but it has only come when I have opened up my heart and slowed down my mind. I’m extremely grateful for that Sunday School lesson, when I learned how to communicate with my Heavenly Father.

Have you considered the effectiveness of your prayers, your efforts to reach toward Him from this mortal life? How close do you feel to your Heavenly Father? Do you feel that your prayers are answered? Do you feel that the time you spend in prayer enriches and uplifts your soul? Is there room for improvement?

–Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Improving Our Prayers,” Ensign, Mar 2004, 24–31

It’s hard to justify preparing for a disaster if we’ve never been in one, but news of events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes seem to come more frequently all the time. Preparing ourselves for these types of situations helps us focus on more important things during times of need and helps us rise above ourselves and help others. My wife and I have both experienced situations where we’ve been in extended power outages, and on a separate occasion my family had to evacuate our house because of a fire that came into our town. To help us prepare for situations like this, it’s important to put a some items together in a 72-hour kit. Below are some resources for putting together a 72-hour kit. If you are just getting started (like we are), I recommend buying some pieces of the kit each week so that the cost is spread out and the kit is easier to manage.

Recommended items:
• Weekly plan to add items
• Ready.gov’s list
• About.com’s list
• More advanced kit ideas

For Kids:
• Ready.gov’s site for kids