The Sun is Always Shining: Finding Joy Through the Light of Christ

I just got done reading this book by Ryan J. Hulbert, Ph.D. He is an LDS psychologist. I really enjoyed it. He used analogies that I could relate to in everyday life. I dog-earred a lot of pages that had analogies or quotes that work for me. I guess yoou could technically call it a self-help book, but for me it was more of an eye opener on how you effect your mood and how living in the present is the only way to be fully alive. We tend to dwell on the past or focus to much on the future. This book really put it all in perspective. It was relevant to my life as a LDS woman with Biblical and Book of Mormon references that applied.

Overall a good read, I already use some of the analogies and quotes daily when I start to stress and have anxiety about the future, and when I ponder to long on the what-if's. If the tid-bits below inspire you, read the book!

A few tid-bits I really liked:

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could: some blunders and absurdities crept in: forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. R.W. Emerson

The only place we can breathe is the present. We cannot breathe in the past, and we cannot breathe in the future. Similarly , the only place we can fully be alive is in the present, when our being is fueled by its proper Fuel of Inspiration. It is interesting to note that the word "spirit" comes from the latin spirare, which means "to breathe".

The mind has been liked to a stage on which only one act at a time can be performed. From one side of the wings the Lord, who loves us, is trying to put on the stage of our minds that which will bless us. From the other side of the wings the devil, who hates us, is trying to put on the stage of our minds that which will curse us. We are the stage managers; we are the ones who decide which thought will occupy the stage. We are the one who must decide whose thoughts will prevail...we will be what we think about - what we consistantly allow to occupy the stage of our minds. Ezra Taft Benson