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I just had the most amazing weekend. Not only did I get a break from my kids to recharge, but I also got to go to Rexburg, and Idaho Falls for Time Out For Women.

My favorite talk of the weekend was the very first one! They all magically went together, and each had something I learned from, but I'm gonna focus this post on John Bytheway, and the amazing message he shared.

He began by sharing a story about a date he went on with his wife, before they were married. They went to the store and purchased some chicken and went up a canyon to bbq it. When they bit into the chicken he was astounded at how delicious it was. Kim, his wife, said of course, it's marinated.

He then compared that to us! When you have a glass of water and it is not as cold as you want it to be, you add ice. Then the law of thermodynamics takes over and the temperature of the ice begins to absorb the temperature of the water and vice versa. Eventually the water is cold and the ice is gone. Whatever we surround ourselves with us what we will eventually become.

He said, you are the average of the 5 people you hang around with. If you are around righteous, happy, uplifting people, think about how amazing of a place you, yourself, would be in. I know when I am around negativity I absorb it, and take it upon my own countenance. Frankly, I hate that!

John also spoke of Chad Lewis a former NFL star, who has a great book out right now by the way. He was once asked if he listened to good music while he was on the field warning up for a game, he said "no", to everyone's surprise, "I listen to great music!" He listened to Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Bound For Glory, and I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus. Isn't that awesome?!? Such a true thing about music, it gets in our souls, mine anyway. If we surround ourselves with music that isn't great, it will eventually become a part of who you are.

John then shared a story about his daughter that just won the science fair. She got 8 mice, 4 she put in a cafe with Mozart music playing 24/7 and the other 4 in a cage with heavy metal music 24/7. Every night she would put them mice in the maze and see how fast they could do it. The mice in the heavy metal maze showed only a minimal improvement, while the Mozart mice went from 5 minutes to complete the maze the first day, to 8 seconds to complete it. At the end of the experiment she put a tube to connect the cages together. The next morning when they checked on the mice, they had all gone to the cage that was playing the Mozart music. I have started to go through my music the past week, really cleaning it up. Frankly it kind of stinks to see what I have wasted my money on! I have noticed a profound difference just in the past week.

The last thing I will share, and probably the most important is this one. He was traveling back from another Time Out and was sitting next to Dallyn Vail Bayles. John asked him if he was still out in Hollywood. He said no, I'm living in Springville, UT teaching seminary. John basically asked why he had made such a drastic change. Dallyn said, when I first moved out to Hollywood someone told me "regardless of your original intention, you will eventually become what you surround yourself with."

The good stuff in life used to be all around us, now the bad stuff is what finds us. If you want the good stuff you have to find it. Pres Packer said "We are raising our children in enemy territory." Surround yourself with the good stuff, people, music, media, and what you spend your time with. The 13th Article of Faith says "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men...If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Think about your life, look over all those things. SEEK after the GOOD, you will be better because of it, I can promise you that, I have seen it work in my life, just in the past week. That's not to say I haven't had moments where I've been down, frankly today wasn't the best day, but if we stand firm, especially in the seemingly dark times, we will be able to make it through, and become better because of it.