First, happy 44th birthday to David William MacArthur, our second oldest son who is an attorney and lives in Seoul, Korea where he is a partner in a large Korean law firm there.  His wife is Chaewon--she is AWESOME!!...........Next a comment on life...........life is meant to be a school where we are given lessons to learn. Some of us learn them and use them in service to others. Some get bitter over them....some are confused by them.  Some look forward to "some of them" but not all!  I am kind of in that last group.
I do not always like my "lessons" while I am being "taught" or while I am experiencing them--but LATER, WITH A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE...I often find myself grateful for what my "lessons" have taught me.
So, yesterday THREE of our returned missionaries from the Chile Rancagua Mission came by to see us all in one day! Hermana Megan Hansen (and her awesome mom and little sister Heather--age 14), Elder Brett Baker and Elder Adam Pulsipher.  My wife and I were just HAPPY after having them in our home and cheering us up and bringing back memories of the mission in Chile. We hope the returned missionaries will keep coming by to see us.  We love you all.

So, the BLOG LESSON OF THE DAY? What will it be? The stuff I write about here is so random that I hope the variety is interesting to you.

Today I will write about something related to other things I have said before but it ends up being a little different angle on a theme that has helped me a lot in my life.

This is going to be called the AB THEORY OF PROGRESSING IN LIFE.

Just  A and then  B...that is it. Just two letters to remember.

What is A?  It is where you begin.  What is B? It is where you end up.

Can you give me an example? Sure.

For example....A might be that you are lazy in schoolwork or career work or work to do at home.  So you have a dilemma...laziness has you tackled and down!  What then is B in relation to A?  B is your destination in overcoming to some degree, at least, your laziness.

So, I think B will be " I really do not want to be lazy...I want to be more proactive, energetic, goal oriented,  and I want to move away from being lazy to being more of a productive get-it-done personality."

Cool.  So A is where you begin (kind of lazy) and B is where you want to end up (proactive, acting on goals, achieving stuff)

Then what is the big question that remains?  HOW WILL I GET FROM A TO B?  That is why this is called the AB THEORY OF PROGRESSING IN LIFE.

Rules that govern your progress:  I must know what A is. Then I must define what B is....then I need a little plan that will help me move from A towards B.  Might even be good to keep a little notebook where you record every day how you did on your journey from A to B.

That is it!!  Pretty simple, huh?  the AB THEORY OF PROGRESSING IN LIFE. What is A (my starting point) and what do I want B to be (what will my end point be?)......and what steps can I start taking to get from A to B?   If I have any success at all on my "trip" then I am to some degree successful.  If you are willing to tell someone else what your A to B plan is....and ask them to check up on you---you will even do better.  It means you are ACCOUNTABLE TO YOURSELF AND TO SOMEONE ELSE.  That helps.

So, one more example.  A is that I eat poorly and I have too much stress in my life. So what is B?  I want to eat better, in more healthy ways...lose some weight etc and get healthier in general. Ok I now know what A and B are---so what question is left? HOW DO I GET FROM A TO B?  Hmmmm...maybe I can tell someone in my family or a friend that I will do three new things---eat more fruits and veggies,  take a walk every day, and do more fun things to reduce my stress.

Think if you did that it would help you be a little healthier overall?  Probably.

Ok so do you get how the AB THEORY OF PROGRESSING IN LIFE works?  It can be used for small or big things. It does work if you work it.

Love ya buckets....Jimbomac