We started this week studying President Monson’s message, Formula for Success. My biggest take-a-way from that talk was this, we need to fill our minds with truth, fill our life with service, and third, will our mind with love. I know many of the stories of service from President Monson’s life—surely, he understands this topic.

In studying “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”, I was again reminded that money can’t buy
happiness. We need to understand the difference between happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Often we are looking for fulfillment but think we are in search of happiness. We will keep searching if we don’t truly pay attention to what we are looking for. Most of us are already “quite happy”. It was fascinating to learn that even though the amount of money the average citizen in the United States makes has gone up quite a bit, the level of happiness hasn’t. How powerful and life-changing it would be to realize that we are happy before wasting years searching for what we think we don’t have?

Work-life balance, is it possible? This was another topic this week. It is a struggle but you have to believe that it is worth it in the end. The advice she gave us was that if we believe we are on to something, it’s worth it to leave our families to go to work and that it’s always going to be a struggle to find a balance between the two. Although I would have preferred a black and white answer all tied up pretty with string, it’s probably the truest answer given this week on the subject.

Another message we studies was, The Richest Man in Babylon”. This was a book I had read years ago and enjoyed it but it’s much more appropriate now. I appreciated the reminder; 1. Invest a part of every paycheck, 2. Part of what you earn is yours to keep – never touch the principle. I’m setting a goal to get back on track with these two principles starting next week’s paycheck. Another great week of learning.