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The majority of this semester in my Business Communications class, formally known as M Com 320, has been dedicated to working within a team setting. However, each time that we are given a project as a class we get together within the same group that we have been with the entire semester. This blog post is dedicated to each of my team members and the success that we have seen through communication.

The team name that we established is called CTMC, which stands for the first letter in each of our first names. We chose to name ourselves that to show that we have synergy by literally meshing our names to each other as to represent a bonding. Over the span of the semester, after preparing and presenting various projects, we each have seen what the others can do and we each have played to each other’s strengths.

This synergy that is mentioned in the previous paragraph came about through communication among each other. We communicated through various modes: face-to-face, over the phone, etc.; however, CTMC found that communicating through a Google Doc was the most effective way because it was very difficult to meet up in person and difficult to use Skype because we needed our full computer screens, so we decided to communicate through the chat feature in Google Docs. We could not only communicate, but also get the project that needed to be done done at the same time. This was the most efficient and effective way for CTMC to operate.

I am personally very grateful to have learned from and associated with the fine members of CTMC.

How many times do we look ourselves in the mirror and say to ourselves, “I’m not good enough” or “I can’t do it”?

This is our mind, our subconscious, our Goliath, our Satan; telling us that we are not good enough and we will never become anything significant or worthwhile.

As humans we let ourselves sit and take the constant beatings from our mind telling us all of these lies about ourselves.

My challenge to each and everyone of us this week, including myself, is that we must not dwell inside our head and take the beatings, we must fight back.

We must tell ourselves that we will go outside for our morning run even though it’s raining and windy; we must tell ourselves that we will stay up studying for that next test even though it’s midnight; we must tell ourselves that whatever life throws our way, we will not stand for what our mind tells us what our limitations are, we must fight back.

This is war against our minds, now stand and fight back so that we can achieve what we truly desire.

Luke 12
30…your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

“…And if you think I am deceiving you,
draw closer to the flames, let your own hands try out, within the fire, your clothing’s hem-
put down, by now put down, your every fear;
turn toward the fire, and enter, confident!”

Too many times we are stuck doing something that we maybe aren’t passionate about or we know we will have to face sometime down the road. It may seem challenging and daunting, but one of these days we’ll have to look it in the eyes and take it head on.

Just hammer it out

It is much easier to say than it is to do, but it must be done, so how do we go about “hammering it out”? We do as the sculptors do!

Step 1: Pick up our mallet and chisel

Step 2: Place the chisel where we want to begin

Step 3: Strike

Cracks are formed in the marble and a small piece of the material comes flying off. We have made the first strike in our future masterpiece. Easy right?

Now where do we go from here? We repeat Steps 1-3.

I promise that if you follow this 3-Step procedure, then whatever ominous task that has been presented in front of you, you will finish it! Just hammer it out! By the end, when you’re tired and worn out because you kept on hammering, you will gaze upon your final product and you will feel as Michelangelo felt as he gazed upon his.

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When I think of life sometimes, I think of something similar to this:

I think of a busy street with people crossing; buses and taxis zooming past in order to pick up pedestrians. I think of stoplights turning green, yellow, and red; I think of cars weaving in between each other trying to be first in line. When looking at the photo shown above, one may think of complete chaos and loud noises; and if you’re in fact thinking of this then you’re probably right.

When looking at the photo shown above, one may think of complete chaos and loud noises; and if you’re in fact thinking of this then you’re probably right. So what is one to do in these times of chaos when it seems that nothing seems to be going to plan, nothing is working out, and you don’t have any time to even breathe?

The answer is clear and concise; find your happy place.

According to Oxford Living Dictionary, a “happy place” is defined as:

“a place which a person associates with happiness, visualized as a means of reducing stress, calming down, etc.; (hence) a happy state of mind.”

A happy place can consist of or be all sorts of different things. For example, my happy place is the gym, that is my place of refuge and sanctuary. Whenever I feel down, depressed, or agitated, I use it to relieve all the stresses of my world. Literally every time that I go and work out I feel an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort as if both my entire body and mind are numb from the stresses and chaos of the world and nothing else matters.

I challenge all of us to find our happy place, whatever it may be, and to utilize it whenever we are stressed, down, depressed, agitated, or even happy already so that we may achieve that “happy state of mind” always. We will be more at peace with ourselves and we will have a happier outlook on life.

This life is a test, your day at work or school was a test. Every time that you walk out the door, you are about to take some of the biggest tests that you will ever take. These tests matter more than any other test in school.

What type of test is this? These are life tests.

Tests that matter on an eternal scale rather than just a temporary secular one. These life tests may be hidden to the naked eye, you may never able to anticipate them either. Sometimes you don’t even know that you’re even in one until it’s too late. When they do happen, sometimes we get “A”s and other times we may even get “F”s.

Even though life’s tests can be extremely difficult, they stretch us. They are utlimately for our benefit. Even though we may get an “F” one day, let’s be cognizant that we will get another chance to retake that test and let’s be sure that we grow from our “F” experience and turn around and get that “A”.

After moments of loss one may feel remorse, anguish, regret, and most of all sorrow. According to Google, “Sorrow” is defined as:

“a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others.”

Why do we sorrow? What is the point of the emotion?

Sorrow is a natural response to an act that hurt us emotionally. In other words, whatever happened to you, you will naturally and automatically have the emotion. So the real question is not, “Why did this have to happen to me?” One must ask themselves instead, “What am I going to do about it?”

Joel Osteen, a motivational preacher, said this:

“Every difficulty is growing you up, every painful time, even though you don’t like it, it’s developing something in you that can only be developed in the tough times, the key is what we do in our times of pain, pain will change us; heartache, loss, disappointments, they don’t leave us the same…

You can come out defeated, giving up on your dreams or you can come out with a new passion, a new fire; excited about the new opportunities in front of you. All of us experience pain, my challenge is don’t just ‘go’ through it, ‘grow’ through it”.

I challenge us all to keep this key principle in mind. When life knocks us down and we feel emotional pain, do not waste your pain by moping about it and asking “Why did this have to happen to me?”, “don’t just ‘go’ through it, ‘grow’ through it”.

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School has definitely taken its toll on every student these past few weeks. Midterms, oral presentations, and homework never seem to end. There’s always something that one has to do in order to stay afloat in school and there’s never enough time to get it done either. Every student, however, should ask themselves this question:

What am I supposed to do about this?

The answer to this question is very simple, yet difficult to do:

Hold on for dear life

What does “holding on for dear life” really mean though? The answer is simple because it can be said in a few words, but the action is the difficult part. The difficult part is running from one side of your town to other without stopping even though you are exhausted, making time to go to serve on a consistent basis even though you are too busy, studying for a really important test even though its already midnight. Holding on for dear life is a difficult task to achieve, but at times it must be done. I’d like to share a story about to shed more light on this topic:

“One More Person”

During my service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Northern Italy my companion and I experienced what it truly means to endure and hold on for dear life. We were stationed in Morbegno, a small town in the area called La Valtellina. My companion and I had the amazing opportunity to serve in a city where missionaries had never been before. We tried to speak with everybody in the small town, preaching about Jesus Christ and his restored church; however, there weren’t many people who were receptive to our message though. We were definitely weighed down by our lack of success. One night, my companion and I trudged all over our small town and there wasn’t a soul who would even look our direction because they didn’t want to hear what we had to say. By the end of the night we were tired, worn out, and depressed because no one wanted to hear the wonderful message that we wanted to share, we decided to give up for the day. I went into the kitchen, my companion into the living room. There was an air of sorrow that came over us as we felt that there was no hope. About 20 minutes passed as we both didn’t say a word to each other. I had said a prayer in the kitchen expressing to God how sad I was and asked what it was that we should do. Then, as if light both entered our minds at the same time, we ran into the hallway that connected both sides of our apartment in which we were residing. We exclaimed that we needed to go outside that very second. We knelt down and poured out our hearts to God so that we could find someone in next few minutes. After we were done, we raced down the three flights of stairs and out the door. We saw a man down the street, smoking a cigarette outside of a nearby hospital. We walked over to him to talk, but when he saw us coming he automatically said, “I don’t want to hear anything, I’m not interested.” Instead of giving up, my companion decided to engage in a conversation about the weather. After we were done, we said our good byes and went on our merry way, when a thought came to my mind. I stopped my companion and turned back around to talk to the man again. I asked him, “Do you believe in God?” he answered that he didn’t. Then I continued, “Do you know that God loves you?” He expressed the same answer as just a moment ago. So I finished with this, “God loves you so much that he asks you to stop smoking.” He looked as if he were stunned. We said good bye again and walked away. Ten minutes later, we were walking around our small town and tried talking with several others, but no success. As we began to head back to our apartment, defeated again. A shadow arose around the corner as we saw a silhouette of a man. The shadow decreased in size as it came close, then as it came into the light finally, it was that man that was smoking outside of that hospital. He approached us and humbly said, “I have a little bit of time, I’d like to hear more about your message.” My companion and I looked at each other and smiled at the man. We taught him our message that very night. Sandro, the man that we taught that night, got baptized two months later.

If my companion and I didn’t go out that night after feeling the world upon our shoulders, we wouldn’t have found Sandro.

I urge you to hold on for dear life, whatever it is that is weighing you down, hold on and go forward.