What Motivates You?

“Only to the extent that someone is living out this self transcendence of human existence, is he truly human or does he become his true self. He becomes so, not by concerning himself with his self's actualization, but by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward.”

~ Viktor E. Frankl

I love this thought - I want to be human, I want to take advantage of all the things God intended for me as he setup the Plan of Salvation. I want to become my true self. Thanks for thought Mr. Frankl.

Andrew "wants to be truly human" Brown

Sahuaro Ranch Scout Outing - Chase stretching his limits

For those of you that know Chase, he can't swim much more than to save his life - or so I thought. He hung out with his old Young Mens group last weekend and they got him to stretch his boundaries and I gotta say that after watching this video I had to sew a few of my shirt buttons back on (for those of you that are slow, that means my chest swelled with pride). Special thanks to the adult leaders that gave him the extra leash to do this and to capture the moment on video. Kudos Chase!

Andrew "What was that kid thinking!" Brown

Political Quote - thanks to Van & Sarah

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else."

Author unknown

It's not my story but I'm telling it anyways . . .

My older boys have been working on their biking merit badge since last September. They had several distances that had to be accomplished, culminating in a 50 miler. On the way to this point they did 10, 15, and two 25 milers. Several attempts were made at having an overnighter to do the 50 miler but things kept coming up. On my oldest sons birthday I purchased entrance into the Pat Tillman run. The next Sunday we learned that the 50 miler would be on the same day as the Pat Tillman run - bummer. Chase and I did the 50 miler together earlier in the week on one of his days off from school.

On the day of the Pat Tillman run we had our own bit of excitement but had a great time running. As we were heading home Glory called to say that the Scout Leaders had called her from Northern Arizona to say that Bradley had wrecked and had a bump on his arm and the felt the should take him into the closest hospital (Cottonwood Hospital). Glory told them to tell Bradley to get back on the bike and finish the 50 miler; he still had 45 miles to go. Glory asked me if I agreed with her and I told her we should trust the judgment of those that were with him. She was really frustrated with the long process it has taken for the boys to get this merit badge and just wanted it to be done.

About an hour later we got another call and were informed that Bradley had in fact broken his arm. The hospital splinted his arm (but didn’t bother setting it for him) and sent him home. The details of the crash came out later that night as I attended the daddy daughter activity – here is the play by play:

Bradley can’t “hold a line” worth beans on a bike and they were biking down a road with a small shoulder. He managed to swerve off the road and overcorrected to get back on and took a spill going about 15 mph. His leader had been biking close behind him and was frantically trying to break and swerve around Bradley. Bradley just exploded when he went down with gloves flying off, bike flipping through the air etc. He “balled” up until he came to his final roll and at the conclusion he let his arms drop away from his body . . . just in time for his leader to run over the arm and break it. They ended up finding Bradley’s glasses in the leaders spokes. Besides his arm he had some small abrasions on his face, arm, and legs but nothing major.

When we were able to finally get Bradley in to get his cast put on they discovered the Cottonwood hospital had not set the bone. We scheduled to put him under the next day and re-break his arm and then cast it. He was pretty nervous about being put under. This was quickly overshadowed when he woke up from the procedure and realized he had a purple cast on. HA, HA, HA – tears – Ha, ha, ha – we was absolutely mortified and got real vocal about it to the nurse (male nurse) who he made sure his thoughts of a man ever becoming a nurse was made clear (Bradley doesn’t approve). Bradley was still groggy from the meds and he held nothing back as Glory looked on totally mortified by his behavior. Yeah, he wanted a blue cast and was mad he didn’t get to make his selection and got such a gender neutral color (ok, everybody gets purple now-a-days but he feels it is a girls color). This was the worst part of getting his arm broken and of course the family gave him plenty of grief about this.

To end this story on a fun note; he had his advisor, the one that ran over and broke his arm, sign his cast. He signed it after the words “I did it”.

Andrew "set the bone the first time!" Brown

How do we see problems?

We see problems, not as they are, but as we are. That's why attitude plays such a crucial role in separating those who lead from those who follow. Alfred Armand Montapert said, "The majority see the obstacles; the few see the objectives; history records the successes of the latter, while oblivion is the reward of the former." Leaders look at problems from a healthy, self-confident vantage point.

Provided by Laura deWolfe in the Supply Chain Management department of CHW

Postive Discomfort

We have all heard of peer pressure and it is normally associated with a negative influence. Positive peer pressure is your peers encouraging you to do good and amazing things. Positive discomfort falls under this same type of thought process. I heard of this phrase from David Lincoln – he is the descendant of the owners of Lincoln Electric, Lincoln Welders, Lincoln Laser, and John C Lincoln hospitals. One of his families lesser known business ventures was the one I worked for; Arizona Oxides, a pigment manufacturing facility. He was essentially my bosses, bosses, boss the entire time I was at Arizona Oxides. We would have meetings in which he presided and he’d sometimes get frustrated with a stubborn employee, customer, or supplier and he would mention applying positive discomfort. What he was trying to say was we are going to supply some pressure on all those that need to provide the needed growth or action. His intent was to bring about a positive response for all.

I am grateful for positive discomfort and what it has done in my life. School gave me much discomfort from kindergarten to my final graduate level class. My parents applied lots of discomfort through out my youth. My wife, kids, church leaders and God have all supplied plenty of discomfort. Now what I did with that discomfort was my choice – for the times I chose to make a positive situation out of it I am thankful. The growth I have received in my life has always been from positive discomfort or from having an example to learn from (and usually both).

Now I am in no means done with my share of “positive discomfort” experiences; however, I am no longer just a recipient of positive discomfort . . . I have learned that I love to dish out positive discomfort (smile).

My kids experience a lot of this – and honestly I’d have to say that I have some pretty good kids. My current ward youth view my positive discomfort with much apprehension (according to Chase my Teacher aged son). My Bishop has informed me that I’m like a “nice swift kick in the shins” in regards to my attempts to get folks on board with the missionary program. I may be a bit over zealous in my attempts to make others appreciate positive discomfort – but only because I’m grateful for the achievements in my life and I owe it to positive discomfort have provided my much of these opportunities. Some examples are:

-Serving a mission, knowing there is no way for me to comprehend what I am signing myself up for and leaving what seemed to be a perfect life
-Proposing to the love of my life before I had any idea how I would support her
-Deciding to have kids as soon as possible despite still not figuring out how to support a wife
-Going to school and sacrificing our lifestyle for a “feeling” I received from a prayer
-Buying a house after a late night conformational prayer and realizing it is right while still having no idea how the finances will be

These are just a few examples, some faith promoting, others caused intellectual growth and character growth. All of the experiences I am grateful for and I look forward to more experiences to come . . . and yes, I still look forward to causing a little positive discomfort for others along the way – after all I’m not selfish.

Andrew “causes discomfort” Brown

Arrogant Majority

I believe that I am a devout member of my faith - someone who has deep convictions that are based on faith and experiences. Having said this, I am not touting any level of spirituality on my part. I'm just trying to say that I am one who continues to strive to do those things that my faith requires of me because I believe as I succeed in being obedient I will obtain a higher level of long term happiness. Now, I am a bit unconventional by the standards of other people that would consider themselves devout in my faith. I don't have a set of traditions that I follow that were passed on to me. Any traditions that I pursue have been validated by my belief system - not to be confused with "what others think our belief system is". So here's my thought now that I explained that - what gives any majority the right to be arrogant? Feel free to discuss this point - my answer is "ignorance, insecurity, inferiority complex"; so, basically all of the things that do not exhibit meekness, faith, and hope. In any group that is a majority there is a feeling of superiority expressed by some. Naturally, being a majority, more people agree with you in effect making you "more right" than the others simply by population. This is good if you seek the approval of others and you enjoy the semblance that factually you are right. However, being arrogant automatically precludes anyone from being right. So, why is it then that we worry so much about the arrogant majority? Because if we are not in agreement with them, we are considered "wrong", ignorant, and incapable of gaining the higher light that others have received. I'm sure I'm missing a plethora of other reasons, feel free to enlighten me. Only one more point after this one - if you are a majority, please don't be arrogant about it because it automatically makes you wrong (even if you are right, no one is going to stick around to be convinced). If you are a minority, don't take offense to those that are arrogant (and happen to be the majority) as they are just ignorant and really have a baseless belief system that has caused them to be so arrogant - they don't know any better and their thoughts don't warrant any concern on your part. My final point is this - if you are right, regardless of whether you are a majority or a minority, don't be arrogant about it. Be meek. Be subtle. Share your wisdom humbly, not forcefully. Realize that there are other reasonable ideas to be had and you are fortunate enough to have the truth. I believe that one of the biggest setbacks in my faith is that we are arrogant. In small communities where we are a majority it is unbearable what we do as an arrogant majority. In circles of society where there are predominantly our members in attendance we are arrogant. All of this is against our teachings and yet we are so ignorant that often we continue to offend those that might otherwise give our faith a chance and learn for themselves what is true. One of my favorite scriptures is Jacob chapter 3 verses 1-2. It talks about being "pure in heart". I believe that as we strive to be pure in heart and share our faith (not arrogantly insisting we are right) and not get so concerned that others are convinced that we are right; to learn to work along side non-members as easily as we work along members that we will not be concerned if others agree or disagree with us. We will learn to "agree to disagree" and will learn to enjoy being with those that we disagree with and appreciate our differences. Avoid being arrogant as you strive to base your beliefs on truths and not on the traditions of men that just happen to be of the same faith. Pursue those ideals we know are true and be pure in heart doing the right things for the right reasons.

Andrew “hate’n on the arrogants” Brown