Hi! My friends called me Gert!

FIND PEACE,  JOY & LOVE,  even in the chaos: Have you ever had an experience where you were blindsided and devastated by some kind of shocking news or circumstance that came into your life? Where your brain just ran away with itself offering up to you all these made up scenarios that was causing you a lot of emotional turmoil and pain and no matter how hard you tried to get out of the turmoil in your brain you just couldn’t. My brain was always doing that to me and the thoughts, it offered me, were not serving me very well. It finally got so bad I felt I had no peace of mind. I began to think that I was going crazy! I even called to try and set up an appointment for counseling with a counselor I had heard at a Relief Society activity I had attended. Unfortunately, he was booked and not taking any new clients. I am convinced that HEAVENLY FATHER was working in my favor that day, because in my search for help, I found Life Coaching. It has transformed my life, in a HUGE way, by teaching me how to choose the experiences I want to have, no matter what the circumstances may be. It helps me manage my brain, and the thoughts it gives me, rather than letting my brain manage me. It has taught me how to take a closer look at my thoughts and be curious about them so that I can choose what thoughts I want to keep and believe that help me live a happier, peaceful, fulfilling life.

I would like to share my most recent experience with you. An experience that would have devastated me had I not been in this coaching program. I will share the tools I have learned that are giving me a calmer and more peaceful experience than I would have had, before coaching, in navigating this new circumstance in my life.

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have a testimony of its teachings and have had many undeniable personal spiritual experiences. Because of these powerful experiences, there is no way that I could ever deny that the church is true. I am deeply saddened by the increasing number of members, leaving the church completely or becoming inactive non-participating members. (This includes my own adult daughter). I am sure there are many different reasons people leave, but one of the most prevalent reasons, as of late,  seems to be related to Joseph Smith history. The information they are reading, is so disturbing to them that they are letting their brains run away with all different kinds of painful scenarios and judgements. These scenarios and judgments are not only about Joseph Smith and The Church,  but about themselves as well and what all this means about them. Their brains are telling them that something has gone very wrong here. I would like to use the tools I have learned, through coaching, to see how we can get our brains to PEACE around this, so that we can have a more empowering experience. These tools will get us to PEACE & JOY not only around this circumstance, but around every circumstance in our lives. 

This is the model we use:

C = Circumstance (this must be a fact, or something that can be proven in a court of law), the circumstance will then bring us a:

T = Thought (what our brain chooses to think about the circumstance) our thought will then bring us a: 

F = Feeling (either positive and empowering or negative and disempowering), our feeling will then bring us an:

A = Action (how we show up or act because of what we’re feeling), our action will then bring us a:

R = Result (either a feeling of PEACE and RESOLUTION or a feeling of CONFLICT and CONFUSION).

Ideally, don’t we all want to have nothing but PEACE & JOY in our lives? We can get this result by managing the thoughts our brain offers us and choosing the thoughts to keep that will bring us that PEACE & JOY!  We want to do this for our OWN BENEFIT! We cannot do this for anyone else, they must do it for themselves, if they so choose. How do we do this? Do you realize that every thought we  have is just made up by our brains? Does this mean that every thought our brain offers us is true? Maybe, maybe not! But it is better for us to choose to keep the thoughts that bring us PEACE &  JOY especially for our own mental health.

 Here’s what I mean:

CIRCUMSTANCE = history related to Joseph Smith.

THOUGHT = “ Oh my gosh, he did some horrible things, he is a total fraud, everything I have believed and thought was true about the church and him was all based on nothing but lies”.  “Everything about The Church must be false now” “What an idiot I have been”.

THOUGHT = “WOW” Joseph Smith was just as human as I am. He was subject to Satan and made bad choices like I have done. But,  he also made some difficult, but very good choices, as I have also done, choices that caused him, and his family to suffer much persecution along the way. I guess maybe he and I are more alike than we are different. I AM NOT HIS JUDGE!  His sin is not mine to carry. I choose to offer him GRACE, and by so doing, I hope Heavenly Father will offer me the same GRACE! His is the only JUDGMENT that counts and his GRACE is sufficient for everyone  

FEELING =  which thought brings us the closest to PEACE & JOY?  The first or the second? I don’t know which thought you  choose, but I choose the second, because when I choose this thought I will have….

ACTION =  more compassion and forgiveness for myself and others,  I will extend grace to myself and others, I will not let someone else’s choices and actions have power over my choices and actions, and I will get….

RESULT = PEACE & JOY by offering myself and others FORGIVENESS & GRACE!!!

There could be hundreds of different thoughts one could have about this circumstance. Is there only one thought out of the hundreds that is true? If so, who decides which one it is? Let’s just say that the first thought is true. How does this thought make you feel? Deceived, misled, upset, and probably angry just to name a few. But what is the upside to feeling this way? I had PEACE & JOY before reading this history.  Why would I let something that I read about, but had no part in, destroy my PEACE & JOY? Joseph Smith will have to answer for his sins. I won’t. I will have to answer for my own sins though, so I need to be very careful not to let his sin/sins effect me in such a way as to cause me to commit sin.

Let’s read (D&C 64: vs 6-10)

6.  There are those who have sought occasion against him       (Joseph Smith), without cause;

 7.  Nevertheless, he has sinned; but verily I say unto you, I, the Lord,  “forgive sins unto those who confess their sins before me and ask for forgiveness, who have not sinned unto death.”

 8.  My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another, and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil, they were afflicted and sorely chastened.

 9.  Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for their remaineth in him the greater sin.

 10.  I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

This is the biggest reason I have chosen to STAY!!!  Because I hear him on the cross saying,  “FATHER forgive them for they know not what they do.”  If  Jesus, my brother, can find it in his heart to forgive those who tortured and killed him, then I should be able to find it in my heart to forgive Joseph Smith for what he did. In fact, if I want forgiveness for my own sins, I MUST FORGIVE not only Joseph Smith, but everyone whom I feel has wronged me or caused me pain.

Our lives are nothing but billions of thoughts running through our brains. How HAPPY our lives are though, is totally dependent upon the thoughts we choose to keep and believe. I do not have the power to fix or make right something that someone else has done, but I do have the power to choose how I want to think about it and let it effect my life. 

Whatever the reason is or was for you leaving The Church, 
I PLEAD WITH YOU!!!
SEARCH YOUR HEART TO FIND FORGIVENESS AND THEN OFFER GRACE TO YOURSELF AND EVERYONE CHOOSE TO STAY!!! WE NEED YOU!!! and whether you want to admit it or not, you need us too! 🤗🤗🤗🤗 &🙏🙏🙏🙏