Growing Heartwood (part 2)

The first principle in getting through adversity is drawing on the internalized strength gained from past influences, experiences and experiments.

From influences are born experiments and experiences.  We take an idea from a parent, friend or book and experiment upon it. 

Thus having heard seeds grow if planted and watered you attempt the experiment.  The seed goes in the ground and is watered.  Days pass and soon you have the experience of seeing a little green seedling rise above the earth and grow steadily upward. 

These experiments and experiences grow heartwood.  When adversity strikes this heartwood is there to help you stand tall in the icy storm.

“You cannot help but learn more,” John Updike tells us, “as you take the world into your hands.  Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.”

We learn from all experiences, even the ones that don’t turn out as we would wish.

 “A man who carries a cat by the tail,” Mark Twain adds, “learns something he can learn in no other way.”

 “...and above all,” the Lord promises, speaking to the jailed Joseph Smith, “ if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.”

Growing Heartwood

What if past influences have been negative? Past experiences harsh and corrosive?  Past experiments humongous failures? What of heartwood then? 

"Rather than dwelling on the past," Pres. Thomas S. Monson tells us, "we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future."

In other words—start growing heartwood now.

·        Learn from your ancestors—they weren’t all bad.  Learn from your parents—invert the negative example they left you and you find a positive. 

·        Learn for a pet (if you don’t have a pet learn from friend’s pets). 

·        Get a library card.  Get a librarian’s advice on children’s classics...why children’s classics rather than adults?  Books written for children retain a sense of wonder, imagination, liveliness and uplifting humour that adult classics have lost.

·        Try a new experience or a new experiment.  Start small.  It could be as simple as changing your daily routine, listening to an audio book as you drive to work or taking a walk in the beautiful outdoors.

Soon you will have a core of inner strength, or memories, to draw upon in adverse times.

Heartwood and our Hero in the Swamp

Our hero was alone after his companion ditched him for home.  Alone, incapacitated by a sore knee, surrounded by muddy water and potential alligators.  Looking back at his heartwood—memories stored in his heart and mind—our hero remembered the challenges he had already met on this journey to Memphis.  He had faced down bears and wolves, dug a canoe from a fallen tree, and relied on the kindness of strangers and enemies alike. 

He remembered what had kept him here in the alligator swamp instead of giving up and going home like his companion.  It was the vision, the sense of mission that lay like a fire in his heart, which kept him heading to Memphis.

Next Up: Finding you Life’s Work, Nourishing the Vision