WEBVTT 00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:07.675 Paisley: Music. Hi everybody. Paisley, I perfect here again, 00:00:07.751 --> 00:00:12.410 and today we're going to take the Be of good cheer thing just 00:00:12.486 --> 00:00:16.992 a little bit further. I got thinking about it. And being of 00:00:17.068 --> 00:00:21.422 good cheer, it really bleeds into all of the other things 00:00:21.498 --> 00:00:26.004 that President Nelson has told us that he needs from strong 00:00:26.081 --> 00:00:30.510 women of the church, right? So you may remember the list I 00:00:30.587 --> 00:00:35.093 shared, the list of things from President Nelson and sister 00:00:35.169 --> 00:00:39.293 Eubank back. I think it was episode nine. It's the one 00:00:39.369 --> 00:00:44.105 called we are needed us and our strong personalities, and I'll 00:00:44.181 --> 00:00:49.069 give a quick run down here, just in a quick second. As I thought 00:00:49.145 --> 00:00:53.651 about being of good cheer, and I thought about this list of 00:00:53.728 --> 00:00:58.157 qualities, characteristics, things that the church and the 00:00:58.234 --> 00:01:02.740 world need from us as strong women, I I started to think of 00:01:02.816 --> 00:01:06.711 the difference between approaching them cheerfully, 00:01:06.788 --> 00:01:11.370 because remember distinct and different and happy ways right 00:01:11.446 --> 00:01:15.647 from President Nelson's talk and President Kimball, the 00:01:15.723 --> 00:01:19.924 difference between approaching each one of these things 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.819 cheerfully versus not cheerfully. Okay, so a quick 00:01:23.895 --> 00:01:28.325 rundown of these qualities, and think about these as we go 00:01:28.401 --> 00:01:33.365 through them. Think about how to or think rather, think about the 00:01:33.442 --> 00:01:37.719 difference between, if you approach it cheerfully versus 00:01:37.795 --> 00:01:42.530 begrudgingly or not cheerfully, just not cheerfully. Let's not 00:01:42.607 --> 00:01:43.600 get dramatic. 00:01:43.600 --> 00:01:46.900 The first one is love, 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:52.840 happiness. How do you approach happiness Not cheerfully? 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:54.220 Virtue, 00:01:54.220 --> 00:01:55.720 intuition, 00:01:55.720 --> 00:01:57.640 gifts from God, 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:01.660 the gift and power of discernment, 00:02:01.660 --> 00:02:04.560 building strong relationships, 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:06.660 administering, 00:02:06.660 --> 00:02:08.880 teaching fearlessly, 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:10.620 organizing, 00:02:10.620 --> 00:02:12.060 leading, 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:15.660 strengthening children and families, 00:02:15.660 --> 00:02:20.880 understanding the power and peace of the temple endowment, 00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:23.360 our own conversion, 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.900 our ability to receive personal revelation, 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:28.580 our voices, 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:30.440 our callings, 00:02:30.440 --> 00:02:32.720 our conviction 00:02:32.720 --> 00:02:36.140 being courageous defenders of truth 00:02:36.140 --> 00:02:39.136 and protecting children and families. There's strengthening 00:02:39.186 --> 00:02:42.640 children and families, and there's protecting children and families. 00:02:42.640 --> 00:02:47.629 So again, think about the difference between approaching 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:53.154 these things with a cheerful heart versus not. Which approach 00:02:53.243 --> 00:02:58.590 do you think would be more most effective? It's a rhetorical 00:02:58.679 --> 00:03:04.292 question. The answer is pretty obvious, right? But in our crazy 00:03:04.382 --> 00:03:09.639 sin sick world, what is there exactly to be cheerful about? 00:03:09.728 --> 00:03:15.074 There's a lot of stuff going on in this world, and the media 00:03:15.163 --> 00:03:20.332 does a really good job of pointing out all of the junk. So 00:03:20.421 --> 00:03:23.540 what is there to be cheerful about? 00:03:23.540 --> 00:03:27.981 And when I asked myself that question, and then I sat there 00:03:28.057 --> 00:03:32.574 and stared at it for a second, there were a couple of things 00:03:32.649 --> 00:03:37.091 that came to mind. The first thing that came to my mind for 00:03:37.166 --> 00:03:41.683 myself things to be cheerful about when we've been apart for 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:46.577 a couple of hours, when we come back together again, my husband, 00:03:46.652 --> 00:03:51.245 my daughters and I, like after school, or maybe I've gone out 00:03:51.320 --> 00:03:56.138 running errands for a few hours, and I come home when my husband 00:03:56.214 --> 00:04:00.731 gets home from work, the smiles and just the happiness To be 00:04:00.806 --> 00:04:05.398 back together again, that makes me cheerful. The second thing 00:04:05.474 --> 00:04:09.690 that popped into my mind was my knowledge of the plan of 00:04:09.765 --> 00:04:14.282 happiness that also makes me cheerful, gives me reason to be 00:04:14.357 --> 00:04:17.520 reason to be cheerful, reason to be happy. 00:04:17.520 --> 00:04:21.997 And then I got curious, and I opened up a fairly well known AI 00:04:22.070 --> 00:04:26.114 tool, and I asked it this question. Exactly. I typed in, 00:04:26.186 --> 00:04:30.375 in our crazy, messed up world, what exactly is there to be 00:04:30.447 --> 00:04:34.420 cheerful about? So the same question I asked myself now 00:04:34.492 --> 00:04:38.681 going to ask this AI tool. Now, something to know about AI 00:04:38.753 --> 00:04:42.870 tools. They're trainable. You can train them. They learn. 00:04:42.942 --> 00:04:46.986 That's part of artificial intelligence, right? You teach 00:04:47.059 --> 00:04:51.537 them things, they learn things, and they spit things out based 00:04:51.609 --> 00:04:55.798 on the things that you've taught them, things that they've 00:04:55.870 --> 00:05:00.059 learned. I use this AI tool pretty frequently when I can't 00:05:00.131 --> 00:05:04.464 think. Of exactly the right way to say something, especially 00:05:04.537 --> 00:05:08.437 when I'm posting stuff online for Paisley. And so this 00:05:08.509 --> 00:05:13.131 particular AI tool is trained to give me the answers that I want 00:05:13.203 --> 00:05:17.609 or the answers that it thinks that I want. And so here's what 00:05:17.681 --> 00:05:22.304 it told me number one. So again, the question was, in our crazy, 00:05:22.376 --> 00:05:26.998 messed up world, what exactly is there to be cheerful about? And 00:05:27.070 --> 00:05:31.042 it gave me six things. Number one, God's love and plan, 00:05:31.115 --> 00:05:35.593 knowing that we are children of God with a divine purpose, can 00:05:35.665 --> 00:05:40.143 bring a deep sense of peace and joy. His love is constant, and 00:05:40.215 --> 00:05:44.620 he has a plan for each of us, even when life feels uncertain, 00:05:44.693 --> 00:05:49.026 true and something perfect for me. Number two, small acts of 00:05:49.098 --> 00:05:52.782 kindness in the midst of negativity, kindness still 00:05:52.854 --> 00:05:57.187 thrives. Simple acts of love, whether given or received, can 00:05:57.259 --> 00:06:01.232 be powerful reminders of goodness in the world. Yes, we 00:06:01.304 --> 00:06:05.565 can be cheerful about small acts of kindness, and we can be 00:06:05.637 --> 00:06:09.754 cheerful and happy that they still exist, that people are 00:06:09.826 --> 00:06:14.160 still doing these things. Number three, growth and learning. 00:06:14.232 --> 00:06:18.565 Every challenge we face offers an opportunity for growth. We 00:06:18.637 --> 00:06:23.260 can be cheerful in knowing that through our trials, we are being 00:06:23.332 --> 00:06:27.593 refined and strengthened, that one's a little tougher, that 00:06:27.665 --> 00:06:31.638 one's a little bit tougher to swallow, because that one 00:06:31.710 --> 00:06:36.043 requires that we be grateful for our trials, not necessarily 00:06:36.115 --> 00:06:40.088 while we are experiencing experiencing them, but we can 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:44.493 find cheer or happiness, or gladness or gratitude in knowing 00:06:44.565 --> 00:06:48.682 gratitude is number four. So spoiler alert, but we can be 00:06:48.754 --> 00:06:53.088 cheerful in knowing that the outcome of our trials is growth 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:57.566 and refinement. We are becoming closer to our Savior and more 00:06:57.638 --> 00:07:01.105 like him. So number four, gratitude, focusing on 00:07:01.177 --> 00:07:05.582 blessings, even small ones, can bring a shift in perspective. 00:07:05.655 --> 00:07:10.060 Being thankful for things like family nature or even a simple 00:07:10.132 --> 00:07:14.177 act of service can spark joy. Number five, community and 00:07:14.249 --> 00:07:18.438 support, the love and support of family, friends and faith 00:07:18.510 --> 00:07:23.133 communities can provide us with strength and comfort and provide 00:07:23.205 --> 00:07:27.827 us with something to be cheerful about. I just added that one in 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:32.233 there myself. I love to go to church on Sundays. I just do I 00:07:32.305 --> 00:07:36.277 love to be around my ward family. I don't I'm not gonna 00:07:36.349 --> 00:07:40.827 pretend like I love everybody in my ward. I don't know anybody 00:07:40.899 --> 00:07:45.016 who loves everybody in their ward, there's always the one 00:07:45.088 --> 00:07:49.566 person, right? But I love being around other people that I can 00:07:49.638 --> 00:07:53.394 share my testimony with on Sundays. So community and 00:07:53.466 --> 00:07:57.944 support something we can find cheerfulness in. And then number 00:07:58.016 --> 00:08:02.638 six, Christ's Atonement, through the Savior, we have the promise 00:08:02.711 --> 00:08:07.189 of peace, healing and hope for a brighter future. His infinite 00:08:07.261 --> 00:08:11.233 sacrifice means that we can overcome anything, and that 00:08:11.305 --> 00:08:16.000 should give us a great cause for cheer. Because of His Atonement, 00:08:16.072 --> 00:08:20.405 we can overcome everything, anything and everything hope for 00:08:20.478 --> 00:08:24.739 a brighter future that may or may not be in this life, hope 00:08:24.811 --> 00:08:29.289 for a brighter future. We have eternity. We're looking at this 00:08:29.361 --> 00:08:33.983 through an eternal lens. It may not get better. In fact, I think 00:08:34.055 --> 00:08:38.244 we all know that the world is going to get worse before it 00:08:38.317 --> 00:08:42.506 gets better, but there, there is a light at the end of the 00:08:42.578 --> 00:08:47.056 tunnel. So those are six pretty strong Reasons to be Cheerful, 00:08:47.128 --> 00:08:51.606 but honestly, it it deepened my curiosity, because each one of 00:08:51.678 --> 00:08:55.722 those reasons is also very specific to Christians, and a 00:08:55.795 --> 00:08:59.622 few of them are very, very specific to members of the 00:08:59.695 --> 00:09:03.811 Church of Jesus, Christ, of Latter Day, saints. And so it 00:09:03.884 --> 00:09:08.578 deepened my curiosity. It got me thinking about, well, what about 00:09:08.650 --> 00:09:13.056 other people? What do they find cheerfulness in if they don't 00:09:13.128 --> 00:09:17.534 believe that Christ has come yet and performed the atonement? 00:09:17.606 --> 00:09:22.156 What do they find? How do they find their cheerfulness, if they 00:09:22.228 --> 00:09:26.562 don't believe in Jesus Christ at all? How do they find their 00:09:26.634 --> 00:09:31.112 cheerfulness? What is it that they so I went to a different AI 00:09:31.184 --> 00:09:35.806 tool, one that I don't use very often and rarely use for Paisley 00:09:35.878 --> 00:09:40.356 stuff. I went to a different AI tool, and I asked it the exact 00:09:40.428 --> 00:09:41.440 same question. 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:46.900 Here's what it came back with. In our tumultuous world, finding 00:09:46.900 --> 00:09:49.960 Reasons to be Cheerful can be challenging, but it's essential 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:53.020 for our well being. Here are a few ways you can cultivate 00:09:53.020 --> 00:09:56.320 cheerfulness, and I'm going to stop right there. Yes, it gave 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.020 me three ways, and I'll share those in just a second. But 00:09:59.020 --> 00:10:03.060 first I wanted to put. Point out two really important things in 00:10:03.060 --> 00:10:08.400 that statement. Number one, being cheerful is essential for 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:13.500 our well being. It's not just a gospel principle, it's a mental 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:18.660 health necessity. Everybody needs to find cheer in 00:10:18.660 --> 00:10:23.600 something. And then number two, the list to keep me was not a 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:28.820 list of things to be cheerful about. It was a list of ways to 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:35.600 cultivate, create, develop cheerfulness. So it wasn't 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:41.140 things to be happy about. It was ways to make yourself happy sort 00:10:41.140 --> 00:10:44.860 of okay. So here's the list. Ready. Number one, smile on 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:48.880 purpose. Even during tough times, intentionally smile. It 00:10:48.880 --> 00:10:55.240 can positively impact your mood and those around you. Number 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:59.320 two, hold your tongue when tempted to complain or 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:04.860 criticize, pause, silence can prevent regrettable words and 00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:09.240 help you navigate stress gracefully. Just take a pause. 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.500 Is this something I need to say? Is it something that needs to be 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:18.000 said? The answer is yes, just say it. The answer is maybe not 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.880 right now, save it and then number three, fake it till you 00:11:22.880 --> 00:11:25.940 make it sometimes. Acting cheerful, even when you don't 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:29.600 feel it, can lead to genuine positivity. Try faking a laugh 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:37.820 or confidence when needed. I'm not I'm not sure that I 00:11:37.820 --> 00:11:43.540 completely endorse number three. Number one feels a little 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:52.060 forced. I mean, it is smile on purpose, right? You are 00:11:52.060 --> 00:11:59.020 purposely the advice is to smile until you feel it. Which number 00:11:59.020 --> 00:12:01.200 three is? Fake it till you make it. They're both kind of the 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:08.520 same. I don't know today, today's world is all about being 00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:12.480 authentic, right? Be your authentic self. I don't know how 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.920 to smile on purpose. I've we've talked about this before in 00:12:16.920 --> 00:12:20.900 other episodes, I am not blessed with a smiley face. I am blessed 00:12:20.900 --> 00:12:26.300 with a resting grump face. Smiling on purpose gives me a 00:12:26.300 --> 00:12:30.200 face ache. It's like a headache, but it's in your face like it. 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:34.220 Smiling on purpose makes my face tired, and at the end of the 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:38.960 day, it hurts. So smiling on purpose is very difficult. I'm 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:44.620 not saying that it won't work. We should probably try it. Those 00:12:44.620 --> 00:12:49.840 are the three ways that our friendly AI gave us to try and 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.560 cultivate cheerfulness. Now if you're faking it till you make 00:12:53.560 --> 00:12:56.620 it, or if you're smiling on purpose, yes, it can have an 00:12:56.620 --> 00:13:00.240 effect on those around you. They think you're happy, they're 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:09.300 happy anyway, okay, the hold your tongue. One, yes, the hold 00:13:09.300 --> 00:13:11.820 your tongue one, that's just general good advice. In my 00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:15.420 opinion, when you're tempted to complain or criticize, take a 00:13:15.420 --> 00:13:19.320 pause. We're trying to cultivate, create, develop. 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:23.420 We're trying to cultivate cheerfulness. So complaining or 00:13:23.420 --> 00:13:29.420 criticizing probably not the best way to go. It's the other 00:13:29.420 --> 00:13:31.580 two, the smile on purpose and the fake it till you make it 00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:34.340 that I kind of struggle with a little bit. It might just be me, 00:13:34.340 --> 00:13:40.400 though I'd love to hear your opinion. It also so this other 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:44.080 AI also provided a link to a site called Reasons to be 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:48.040 Cheerful. I'll make sure and put it, put a link in the episode 00:13:48.040 --> 00:13:51.520 description. I didn't I had no idea that there was a website 00:13:51.520 --> 00:13:54.460 for that Reasons to be Cheerful. I think it was Reasons to be 00:13:54.460 --> 00:14:00.100 Cheerful, dot world. But again, I'll make sure it's in the it's 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:06.060 in the video description. Also, just so, you know, I checked the 00:14:06.060 --> 00:14:09.660 website and they have recent content. So, like, they had 00:14:09.660 --> 00:14:12.360 something that they posted today, so it's even current. 00:14:12.660 --> 00:14:14.940 Somebody has taken the initiative and put it, brought 00:14:14.940 --> 00:14:18.060 it upon themselves to make sure that they are getting good 00:14:18.060 --> 00:14:23.120 content out there under Reasons to be Cheerful. I thought that 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:28.880 was really cool. Okay, so that list of six other things that 00:14:28.880 --> 00:14:32.000 the first AI gave us God's love and plan small acts of kindness, 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.940 growth and learning, gratitude, community and support and 00:14:34.940 --> 00:14:37.280 Christ's Atonement. You know, I could go back through the 00:14:37.280 --> 00:14:40.120 church's website and find quotes about each one of those and how 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.540 and what it means to be cheerful about each one of those things, 00:14:43.540 --> 00:14:48.040 and why those are things that we can be cheerful about. We all 00:14:48.040 --> 00:14:50.320 know that we could go back and find quotes for that. I don't 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:55.360 think we need to. I think that what we've been given is fine. I 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.300 will say this, though, and I know that I've said this before, 00:14:58.300 --> 00:15:01.980 but it's been a while, so I'll say it again. I think that the 00:15:01.980 --> 00:15:06.360 world has happiness and cheerfulness confused with 00:15:06.420 --> 00:15:12.360 excitement and thrill. I don't think that's what happiness or 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:16.740 cheerfulness means. And I think if you sit and you think about 00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:22.100 the differences between cheerful and happiness, joy versus 00:15:22.160 --> 00:15:29.240 excitement and thrill, maybe some stimulation. I think we're 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:32.300 talking about two different things, but the world likes to 00:15:32.300 --> 00:15:34.940 confuse happiness and cheerfulness with excitement and 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:38.300 thrill to get you to think that you have to have excitement and 00:15:38.300 --> 00:15:43.660 thrill in your life in order to be happy. And I, I just think 00:15:43.660 --> 00:15:47.080 that that's one of the big I think that's one of the big 00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:50.200 messages that the world is trying to confuse us with right 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:54.640 now. Anyway, that's it for today. That's all I wanted to 00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:59.080 talk about today. Keep learning, keep growing, and be of good 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:01.980 cheer and until next time my friends. Thank you. You.