Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This is right on target!  Great ways to be more calm!  I have had some wonderful family experiences this last week, and will write about them next. 10 Ways to Have More Calm in Your Life By Rynna Ollivier  · August 30, 2016 Recently at a community outreach health conference the guest speaker, a highly regarded doctor at a major medical center, talked about how he has treated more patients with stress related illnesses in the last five years than in his entire medical career. The list of ailments was extensive and troubling. Conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, asthma, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, eating disorders, gastrointestinal problems, diabetes, headaches, chronic body aches, autoimmune disease and Alzheimer’s are now believed to have a major stress component to them. According to  research  published in the  Journal of the American Medical Association , sixty to eighty percent of all physician visits are for stress-

Every Sunday we have any family in town we have dinner together and play games after.  We have done it for many years, and I used to worry that we may not be keeping the Sabbath Day holy, as we laugh and talk in the games.  But this article gives me peace, and helps me feel good about it.  I'm sure that the younger people of the family -- mostly teenagers would not have stayed with us all if we hadn't had the games.  It has kept us close as a family, and we miss it on Sundays that we can't get together. We have even had grandchildren who go to college about an hour away, come down to dinner just to play the games.  We all miss my dear husband, Wayne, as he was the "life of the party" when we had those family times.  Everyone wanted to play with him because he would announce "I feel lucky today"!  I may not post for a few days, as I'm going up to Bountiful to our granddaughter Skye's wedding on Saturday, August 27th, 2016!  Quentin L.

I It has been 6 months today since my dear husband Wayne D Eckman passed from this life into eternity.  I miss him so much!  But I'm sure he and his twin brother Blaine are very busy up there, having fun, and doing missionary work! The picture above was the spring of 1956, after we were married, at Dixie College.  The photo below was also about that time, when he was in college. I've written many articles about him, which you can find under the "labels" under his name, Eckman Wayne D.  There are several articles about him and his twin brother Blaine.   This was taken 10 years before he passed away, when he was 75, and I was 71, about our Golden Wedding time.

Lovely thoughts from Latter Day Light Daily Devotion.  Scriptures and quotes from prophets lift our spirits, and will help us keep this Sabbath Day holy. August 17, 2016 Prayer SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY   1 Peter  3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. " QUOTE OF THE DAY Spencer W. Kimball "There is a knowledge that our Father in Heaven wants each of us to have, and that is a personal knowledge that he hears and answers our prayers. I have always had very tender feelings about prayer and the power and blessings of prayer. And for this I thank our Heavenly Father and my dear parents and teachers, who taught me by word and example about righteous and heartfelt prayer"  ("Pray Always,"  Ensign,  October 1981) . August 21, 2016 Obedience SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY   Doctrine & Cove

This lovely article helps us understand true love, which lasts after the "honeymoon is over" stage.  It has great ideas! Elder Robbins: How to Build a Love That Lasts Forever by Elder Lynn G. Robbins, Adapted from his book "Love Is a Choice"  | Feb. 05, 2016 Can one choose to love, or is love something you fall into? Is agency involved, or is love something that just happens to you? If love is something you fall in, how can you act rather than be acted upon? Romantic movies today would have you believe that love is governed by some uncontrollable, ungovernable force—like fate or serendipity. But this simply isn’t reality. Falling in and out of love is no more real than Cupid or Prince Charming. While the expression “to fall in love” is a beautiful idiom, there are inherent risks involved in using the verb fall because it implies that love is accidental or involuntary, with no choice involved. This mentality can also l