American culture is centered around entertainment. Many people in modern times are seeking to be something more, something bigger. And several of them all end up in a shadowy zone of ambiguity, doing things not for the sake of doing them, but for the sake of creating a narrative about having done something. This is more than a matter of fringe individual pursuing unusual cultural antics devoid of meaningful consequence. The message to turn your life into a success story is everywhere, beamed directly into our brains. The message of pop culture compels us to be more ourselves, because we are intrinsically interesting, beautiful, worthy of attention and notice. However, pop culture does not specify what about us is actually all that special. Nor does pop tell us how to garner notice upon successful completion of our reinvention. A person tends to accept it and take it for granted. It becomes part of the atmosphere in which one lives. People find themselves surrounded by the stunningly attractive ideas of pop culture. Steeped in the climate of the idea, more and more people want to make good on that pop promise which states everyone can elevate themselves to new heights. Loves confuses its victim because it works in the soul does not always coincide in every detail with the apparent tempos and requirements of life and relationships. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

 The compulsion to be noticed often translates into confusion and even a certain degree of sadness. Do we really want to quit our jobs, abandon our responsibilities, seize the day, break the record? All too often, seizing the day is not so easy. It is not clear what ambition we harbor, what World-changing activity we might embark on. Too often, we end up simply feeling depressed and devalued as we carry on though lives that have become all the more ordinary because glamorous pop stars are urging us to just do it. These days, the pervasiveness of pop culture has influenced citizens of the majority of countries in the World—most of us are unlikely to meet another human being on the planet who has escaped pop culture’s hold on the imagination. However, sometimes the influence of pop culture can be good. Girls in China told Reese Witherspoon after watching Legally Blonde (a movie where Reese plays a young lady named Elle Woods, break the mold of expectations and graduates from law school and becomes a lawyer) that they wanted to go to law school and become a lawyer. We believe all thing, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and we hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

It always helps to have support or a good example to follow, but often times people need more. Because certain individuals are not born into wealthy families, they miss out on opportunities. Wealthy people like to see their children success as it adds to the value of their family and makes their family name more prestigious. And sometimes in poor families people prey on their own family members to help elevate their own status. They will set their own child or sibling up and do not care about their lives, even though that individual loves them. In working out the plan of life and salvation down through the stream of time, people have developed among themselves periods of obedience to God’s holy laws and, on the other hand, periods of rebellion against these laws.  It is the culture you find yourself in often times that determines if you would have been one of those guys you read about, knocking back PhDs at seventeen. If someone would have recognized your intelligence and if you were from a family where there was some kind of value on education, they would have made sure you were a success, instead of trying to exploit you. Let us not forget how gifted some people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are. If you had met them at fifteen or sixteen years of age, you would be overwhelmed by their curiosity and mental agility and sparkle. If you look into their eyes, you can see the intelligence burning behind them. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

Pure knowledge, meaning revelation from God, is greater than the limited reasoning of human. The willingness of God to dispense these truths unto humankind has ever been present, but there have been times when humankind, because of wickedness and rebellion, would not receiver them. The only reason they do not make a name for themselves is not something encoded in DNA or hardwired into the circuits of their brains. They lacked something that could have been given to them if we had only known they needed it: a community around them that prepared them properly for the World. Instead, many of them become squandered talent. However, they did not need to be. The closer you get to the original sources, the better off you are. It is never too late to make it and never give up trying no matter what your circumstances may be. A person with a one-in-a-million mind is just waiting for the right opportunity on the World. Do not take failure nor hardship as an admission of defeat. Do not allow every experience you have outside of your own mind to end in frustration. Some people just need to do a better job of navigating the World, and just need someone to teach them and guide them in the right direction. Sometimes you may have to make your way alone, and no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, not even geniuses—ever makes it alone. Even if we are physically alone, God is always there for us. #RandolphHarris 4 of  9

Those who have gained a conviction of the truth and have then been thrust into a condition of individual bondage may survive the ordeal on the strength of the truths that they have previously found and individual accepted. God will begin to work with people and their hearts will turn toward him; and whenever the spark of freedom is found, it is influenced and fed by the natural forces of agency. And soon, the desire for freedom will match the courage of the people and spread. God knows that without the spirit of freedom in the souls of people, there could be no willing response to the gospel pan. For it is in the culture of freedom and the use of agency in that freedom the people come to know the difference between good and evil. This progress leads to yearnings in the hearts of good people, and eventually to gospel dispensations. This is the pattern to be noted down through the era of the historical writings. The continued longing for freedom led directly to the period knows as the Reformation, which led to the foundation of American and the framing of the Constitution, concerning which the Lord has said: “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 101.77. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

When we relate to our bodies as having soul, we attend to their beauty, their poetry and their expressiveness.  Occasional self-induced strain on your physical system is not harmful. In fact, it can be responsible for many extraordinary achievements in business and personal life. Michelangelo contorted his body into cramped, elevated spaces for years in order to complete the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Enduring physical strain to care for a sick child, close a business deal, or finish a project on time is part of what life is all about. However, when a person’s body is subjected to relentless, abusive demands of the mind, however, physical mechanisms start to break down. In fact, many physical symptoms we attribute to getting older are actually manifestations of physical strain. For example, high blood pressure, trouble digesting certain foods, and chronic pain, along with more debilitating cancer and heart attacks, are often manifestations of unrelenting strains. Honor the wisdom of the body by slowing down long enough to figure out how to alleviate the stress it is under. Listening to your body has many rewards. You will be healthier, and feel better. It is less difficult to say no to demands and requests that would tax your body unduly. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

The ensouled body is in communion with the body of the World and finds its health in that intimacy. Decision making become easier when you take your body’s cues seriously; you will waste less time debating over whether to go for a walk or to bother making a salad for dinner. You will do sleep better if you exercise, and that second helping of dinner might make you uncomfortably full. The better we become at listening to our body, the better it will treat us. Some nutritionist report that if we give our body only the healthy foods it cries out for, we will actually stop craving unhealthy foods. And when our body get the exercise it needs, it will reward us with more energy, and improved attitude, and increased emotional stability. Our aches and pains, poor sleep, or lack of stamina may be the early warnings signs of unresolved stress on our body. We are probably pushing ourselves too hard, perhaps as a result of some internal pressure to perform. Rarely are symptoms such as these related solely to the aging process. If we leave them unresolved, we are opening the door to physical decline. Our body is designed to communicate with us, to help us achieve mind-body equilibrium. As you might imagine, body, achievement-oriented people find it difficult to give up control over the body. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

We want physical or psychic powers that go beyond the normal or what we are accustomed to. In striving for some peace and understanding in these difficult matters, it is crucial to remember that we are living—and chose to live—in a fallen World where for divine purposes our pursuit of Godliness will be tested and tried again and again. Of greatest assurance in God’s plan is that a Savior was promised, a Redeemer, who through faith in him would lift us triumphantly over those tests and trials, even though the cost to do so would be unfathomable. It is only an appreciated of this divine love that will make our own lesser suffering first bearable, then understandable, and finally redemptive. You, Lord, through you works have revealed the everlasting structure of the World. You, Lord, created the Earth. You are faithful throughout all generations, righteous in your judgments, marvelous in strength and majesty, wise in creating and prudent in establishing what exists, good in all that is observed and faithful to those who trust in you, merciful and compassionate; forgive us our sins and our injustices, our transgressions and our shortcomings. Do not take into account every sin of your children, but cleanse us with the cleansing of your truth, and direct our steps to walk in holiness and righteousness and purity of heart, and to do what is good and pleasing in your sight, and in the sight of our rulers. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

Yes, Lord, let your face shine upon us in peace for our good, that we may be sheltered by your mighty hand and delivered from every sin by your uplifted arm; deliver us as well from those who hate us unjustly. Give harmony and peace to us and to all who dwell on Earth, just as you did to our fathers when they reverently called upon you in faith and trust, that we may be saved, while we render obedience to your almighty and most excellent name, and give harmony and peace to our rules on Earth. We need strength beyond ourselves to keep the commandments in whatever circumstance life brings to us. It is clear we need more than human strength. The salvation of the righteous of the Lord: he is our strength in the time of trouble and happiness. That clarity lets us see what help we need. We should claim the promise. The promise is sure. The power of the Holy Ghost is real. It will come, again and again. And one overriding truth is that the Holy Ghost comes as a companion to those who try to be the best they can. What looks hard, almost impossible under our own power, becomes a joy in the strength of the Lord.  This faith brings with it help to pass tests far beyond those we can imagine. In the service of the Lord, we will come to know and love him. We will, if we persevere in prayer and faithful service, we will sense that the Holy Ghost has become a companion. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9