No Coincidences

Tag: Tony Robbins

  • Books in 2021

    Books in 2021

    This is a list of every book I read in 2021 and the order I ranked them in from favorite to least favorite.  I get something out of every book I read.  I learned long ago that if I allow myself to not finish one book, I won’t finish any.  For those reasons, when I start a book, I’m committed to finishing it.  I don’t care how dry or boring it may be.

    It’s difficult to rank such a wide variety of books. I don’t overthink it too much. This is mostly a list of most enjoyable and most rewarding reads. That said, every book offers something, even if it might just be a laugh.

    I included a one sentence thought about each book.  This proved difficult because I could say so much about every book.  To get around the one sentence rule, I used many commas and run-on sentences. My list, my rules. I find it amusing posting a list of of books read in such an illiterate fashion.

    I enjoyed all these books because they each taught me something. That’s the great thing about books. 

    * Represents a book I recommended or gave to someone to read.

    Here’s my list:

    1. Dune*
      • The movie and book did not disappoint, what a fantastic world created by Frank Herbert.
    2. Stories of your Life and Others*
      • This is a book of short stories, one of which inspired the movie Arrival, the “Arrival” short story, actually called “Story of Your Life,” wasn’t even one of my favorite short stories, I ranked it 6th out of the 8 short stories, I can’t say enough about how phenomenal this book was, looking over it again makes me want to read it right now. 
    3. Unlimited Power*
      • This was a difficult read due to all the exercises and activities done throughout but has resulted in multiple beneficial changes to my daily life so needs to be near the top.
    4. Out of the Best Books Volume 1
      • I never expected to love this book so much, it’s a collection of classic short stories and poems, I learned I’m not huge on poems but highly recommend this for the short stories.
    5. The Eternal Man
      • Second or third reading of this book, love this book, the truths in it speak to my eternal soul every time.
    6. A Boy’s Story a Man’s Memory
      • I met Oscar at a church activity where he spoke about his book, the man emanated love and humility, his story is extraordinary and had me in tears more often than I’ll admit.
    7. Edgar Cayce Mystery Man of Miracles
      • Reading about this man’s fascinating life opens the eyes to the gifts God has potentially given some of His children here on earth.
    8. The Time Machine and the Invisible Man
      • These two classics were in one book so I’m putting them together, I think I preferred the Invisible Man for the roller coaster of where that story went, both great stories.
    9. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
      • Make fun of me all you want, Stephanie Meyer is an amazing author and I enjoyed this book enough for it to be in my top ten for the year. 
    10. The Tommyknockers*
      • This book proved to be too long for CJ Matthews, classic Stephen King, super long, I read three quarters of this a long time ago but never finished it, the ending made it worth re-reading. 
    11. Whispers
      • Classic Dean Koontz, this was my second time reading this, there’s a reason it’s right next to a Stephen King book, Koontz and King are so similar and yet so different. 
    12. The Locket
      • This book is the perfect example of how expectations set the tone for a book, I had zero expectations for this book, and ended up liking it a lot.
    13. The Outsiders
      • Much better than Catcher in the Rye in my opinion, the movie was pretty good too. 
    14. Robinson Crusoe
      • This was a youth version so it was a condensed and quick version of the story, but I really loved it.
    15. Return from Tomorrow (just because I read it twice)
      • I love this book but it’s the second time I’ve read it recently, so it dropped a little (from #11 on last year’s list). 
    16. Those Gold Plates!
      • This is a defense of the Book of Mormon, it discusses other records that were kept on metal plates anciently that have only recently been found (book written 1979), and provides information that would have been impossible for Joseph Smith to know in the 1800s yet were somehow in the Book of Mormon, this was another book that strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.            
    17. The Little Mermaid and other Fairy Tales
      • Clearly there’s something about reading some good old fashioned classic books that is good for the soul (see #4 and #14).
    18. Embrace Fatherhood
      • This was written by a friend and gave a unique perspective on fatherhood that I enjoyed reading.
    19. Mexican Gothic
      • I’m still not sure exactly how I feel about this book, it was entertaining, but not super entertaining, it was a page turner, it wasn’t a super page turner, but it was one of the more unique books I read this year.
    20. Lighten Up
      • Here starts the group of nonfiction books, nonfiction is great for learning and growth but I think most would agree fiction is more enjoyable, thus their position on my list, anyways, I really liked this book and I think it was one I needed to read at the time I read it.
    21. Spencer W. Kimball
      • Spencer W. Kimball and Howard W. Hunter meld a bit in my mind, I love Spencer W. Kimball for his missionary focus during his time as our prophet.
    22. Howard W. Hunter
      • I love reading about the lives of these most faithful men.
    23. The Mis-Education of the Negro
      • This was given to me by CJ and it taught me a lot about the history of education (and mis-education) for black people in America. 
    24. Moses Man of Miracles
      • Speaking about learning of great, faithful men (See #21 and #22), these are a series of books, with other books of great prophets, really enjoyed this book from Mark E. Petersen about Moses. 
    25. The Coming of the Lord
      • A book written by Gerald N. Lund in 1971, I don’t remember much of the details of this book, but it was all about the signs of the Second Coming of Christ.
    26. Essentials in Church History
      • This was DENSE, but this 685 page (yes you read that right) book taught me a lot about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   
    27. Pearl of Great Price Commentary
      • This was a deep and dense commentary on what I feel is one of our more underrated books of scripture, the Pearl of Great Price.
    28. A Bride goes West
      • A fictional book detailing the life of a woman helping to pioneer the west. 
    29. By Love and Grace
      • I could not remember this book at all until I pulled it off the book shelf, that normally would give it huge deduction points in my list, but once I saw the book and opened the front cover, memories of this book washed over me, so I had to move it up the list, a book about a man who finds love and faith, gets falsely accused of murder, it was actually a super awesome book.
    30. Catcher in the Rye
      • Kind of terrifies me that our high school students are reading this book of debauchery.
    31. Dakota Diaspora
      • I may have to read this again as I don’t remember much about it, but reading the back cover reminds me what a fascinating story it was, a woman tells the story of her Jewish parents who left Russia to settle in North Dakoda in the 1800s, really interesting story and a way of life I can’t even imagine. 
    32. Temple Worship
      • When you read temple books in succession, they kind of meld together, this is the case with this book and next on the list, House of Glory, Temple Worship was written by Andrew C. Skinner in 2007, it’s a little deeper than House of Glory and had pictures!
    33. House of Glory
      • Compared to Temple Worship this book was more temporal information on temples if I remember right, it was written by S. Michael Wilcox in 1995.
    34. How to Pray and not Fall Asleep
      • This was literally a how-to book on praying better.
    35. An Epistle from the New Testament Apostles
      • This was a cool concept, it put all the epistles from the New Testament into thematic categories as if they were a single letter. 
    36. This Word of Wisdom
      • This tiny book was written in 1958 and was all about the Word of Wisdom.
    37. America’s Wonderlands
      • This was a coffee table book with pictures and information about America’s national parks. 
    38. Articles of Faith Volume 1
      • This is another coffee table book, a big, beautifully illustrated book about the articles of faith, part 1 of 3 I believe.
    39. Studies in Scripture Volume 3 the Old Testament
      • You know when a book is so good for you but man is it dense and difficult to read, yeah, commentary on Genesis through 2 Samuel falls into that category.
    40. The Seat of the Soul
      • Dude, this book was wild, I quickly went from “wow I’m really getting a lot out of this” to abruptly thinking, “what the heck, we’re talking about dolphin souls,” this book was a wild ride, and fun fact, it appeared my grandma had the same experience because right as my marking of the book started to greatly decrease so did hers, and I don’t think she ended up finishing this book, which is understandable with the out there direction it headed. 
    41. The Church and the Negro
      • Here enters my flawed books, this book had some outdated and inappropriate information.
    42. I was a Born Again Mormon
      • I don’t want to be too disparaging of a book, so I won’t say much about this, let’s just say I disagreed with a lot.
    43. Deal Me In
      • Old book I’ve had for a long time and read before, biographies of professional poker players in the early 2000s.
    44. No Limit Hold em Theory and Practice
      • Dusted off one of my old poker books to explore some strategic game theory ways of thinking.
    45. Passport to Survival
      • This is so low due to the dry nature of the content, not due to lack of good content, this book had all sorts of recipes and ways to extend food storage and survive in an emergency. 

    Additional reading:

    1. To Young Men Only – old church pamphlet.
    2. Book of Mormon
      • Checking back on time stamps of my notes tells me I read 2 Nephi 6-Mosiah 2. I’m reading the book of Mormon alongside a cultural commentary and adding notes throughout.
    3. Doctrine & Covenants
      • Read from Section 100 to 133 alongside two student manuals to add comments and additional information throughout.
    4. Finished Old Testament
      • Ezekiel-Malachi alongside Enduring Word Bible commentary to add notes throughout.
    5. Come Follow Me lesson each week
    6. Started the New Testament
      • Started in Matthew chapter 1 and reading alongside New Testament Student Manual.

    Bonus footage for getting this far

  • God, Sin, and Joy

    God, Sin, and Joy

    *Edit -Two days before posting this I read this in Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins:

    “Let’s consider the habit of smoking cigarettes… They contribute to everything from cancer to heart disease… People have every reason in the world not to smoke. Yet the tobacco industry continues to profit, and millions of people continue to smoke cigarettes, with more starting all the time. Why is that?

    People may learn to enjoy the experience of smoking, but is that what got them started?.. What happened when they first smoked? They hated it. They coughed and gagged and felt nauseated. Their body said, ‘This stuff is terrible. Get it away from me.’ In most cases if your own physcal evidence tells you something is bad, you would expect to listen. So why don’t people do that with smoking? Why do they continue to smoke until the body gives in and finally becomes addicted?

    They do it because they’ve been reframed as to what smoking means, and then that new representation and state have been anchored into place. Someone with a great deal of knowledge about persuasion has spent millions and millions of dollars to convince the public that smoking is something desirable. Through skillful advertising, clever images and sounds were used to put us in positive-feeling states; then those desired states (paradigm shift) were associated with or linked to a product called cigarettes. Through massive repetition, the idea of smoking has been linked with various desirable states. There’s no inherent value or social content to a piece of paper wrapped around tiny tobacco leaves. But we’ve been persuaded that smoking is sexy, or suave, or adult, or macho…

    How crazy is this? What in the world does putting carcinogens into your lungs have to do with any desirable state? But advertisers do on a mass scale exactly what we’ve talked about in this book. They put out images that put you in a receptive, elevated state-and at the peak of the experience, they anchor you with their message. Then they repeat it on television, in magazines, or on the radio so that the anchor gets constantly reinforced and triggered.”

    My own emphasis (underlines) and commentary (in parentheses) were added. Eerie. This book is copyright 1986. Do you think advertisers have let up? Do we think Lucifer is deciding to go easier on us? Anyone reading the above might say, “well cigarettes aren’t cool anymore, and they’re definitely not advertised the same.” Go to any bar and look at the mass of people outside. Then if you really think things have changed, pay closer attention to the next liquor/beer commercial you see. Shouldn’t take long. We’re bombarded by them all day, every day. I’ll now get to my original post. That was a long side-tangent.

    ___________________________________________________

    Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once gave an address at BYU where he talked about a discussion he had. The discussion was about the influence of evil and the consequences of bad choices.  Elder Cook was given an interesting hypothetical: how would Lucifer present his plan to an advertising agency?

    “The adversary described his dilemma: he and his followers had rebelled and rejected the Father’s plan and had come to understand that they could not prevail against God. Lucifer understood that while the Father’s plan was about joy and happiness, his own plan resulted in grief and misery. The problem, Lucifer explained to the ad executive, was how to attract followers.”

    Lucifer would determine that the only way he could win would be to achieve a “paradigm shift.”  He would need to convince us that what he wanted us to do would result in happiness, joy, and freedom while following God would result in misery, lack of freedom, and bondage. 

    “This hypothetical meeting serves a useful purpose. The truth is, not only do the enemies of the Father’s plan attempt to undermine the doctrine and principles of the plan, but they also attempt to mischaracterize the blessings that flow from the plan. Their basic effort is to make that which is good, righteous, and joyful seem miserable.”

    It’s an amazing thing to consider how humans gravitate towards what destroys them.  As the lyrics from OneRepublic’s song Counting Stars says, “Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.”

    Consider the most obvious examples.  Everyday millions of people drink literal poison.  Here’s the amazing thing, you just read that and depending on who you are you thought of a different beverage from someone else.  There are multiple poisonous drinks consumed every day.  Am I referring to soda or alcohol?  Both?  How about cigarettes?  I’m blown away every time I see someone smoking one.  Like, “you know that is actually decaying your body from the inside out right?”  Don’t care.

    There are certain things that we have been asked to avoid in this modern day.  We don’t always know why we avoid certain things.  What I do know is that faithfully trying to follow God leads to blessings, both spiritual and temporal.  

    This leads to an important question.

    Why do you think God doesn’t want you to sin?

    Is it because He wants to control and tell you what to do?

    Why wouldn’t He just force you not to sin then?  He’s God.

    Why does God hate and abhor sin?

    God hates and detests sin because He know what the results of sin are: unhappiness, pain, suffering.

    God doesn’t hate sin; He hates the unhappiness it leads to.

    God is love.  God is peace.  God is joy.

    I think about this often.  I used to wallow in my sin and wonder why I was so miserable.  Now that I’ve drawn closer to God, I’m so much happier.  I see others stuck in the same pattern I was in and I desperately wish they would see there is another way.  You don’t need to drink alcohol until you forget, to find happiness.  You don’t need the lifestyle you think is bringing you joy, but you know is not.

    Does God want you to be happy?  An emphatic YES.

    Does God want you to have freedom?  An even more emphatic YES.

    God would rather you have freedom even more than happiness.  Otherwise, He would force you to make the choices that bring you joy.  He refuses to do that.  Your freedom means more to God even more than your happiness.  To find true happiness you must choose it.  To find true love you must gravitate towards it.  We see this in what He’s given us, our agency. We always have the option to choose.

    God’s plan, the Plan of happiness is meant to do just that.  Bring happiness.

    That doesn’t mean we all find joy the exact same way.  That doesn’t mean we’re all on the same path.  But I do believe the path of greatest joy leads to the being who gave us this whole experience.  If life is hard, come to God and he will lighten your burdens.  If life is joyful, we owe it to Him.  Joy, growth, and freedom go hand in hand.  We are meant to find these things during our mortal journey. 

    I use alcohol as an example because I believe it’s the easiest to use as an example, and because it’s what I have personal experience with.  I’ve tried that life.  I know alcohol doesn’t bring happiness.  In fact, the terrible impact of alcohol on young brains and adult lives is now medically established. 

    A study from Harvard in the 1940s on success and happiness found:

    “This study contains three significant insights.  First, adult happiness has a high correlation with childhood family happiness, especially love and affection from parents.  Second is the importance of a healthy, stable marriage to lifelong happiness. Third is the negative effect of alcohol on marital and lifetime success and happiness.  Alcohol abuse touches one-third of families in the United States and is involved in one-fourth of hospital admissions.  It plays a major role in death, bad health, and diminished accomplishment.”

    The above quote was from the 1940s!! Has alcohol consumption gone down?

    Notice the three things this study found that lead to happiness:

    1. Love and affection from parents
    2. Stable marriage
    3. Alcohol avoidance

    It’s no wonder the family has been attacked so aggressively the past 80 years. The paradigm shift has officially happened. Society says it’s about me, not my kids, kids take away MY freedom. Divorce. Drink and be merry. This isn’t happiness.

    When the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored on the earth, soon after, the advice was given to abstain from strong drinks (Doctrine and Covenants section 89).  The Word of Wisdom has blessed my life.  It was established a century before studies started to prove its temporal benefit.

    The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings happiness.  I know this personally, from my experience following it.  It only occurred to me recently that many of my friends and people I care a lot about really don’t think this happiness is an option for them.  I know many of my friends and people around me are happy.  That’s not what I’m saying.  What I’m saying is there is always more joy to be gained.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t an exclusive club.  I wasn’t chosen to be a part of it because I’m lucky.  I’m a part of it because it makes me happy, and that option is available to everyone. 

    I know a lot of people think “organized religion” or “God” or maybe even “a family” isn’t meant for them.  I just want to remind anyone taking the time to read, happiness is for everyone.  Happiness is something we all can find.

    I know many of my friends think I’ve become a religious nut.  Good.  I have.  The reason is because I’m happier than I’ve ever been.  I used to invite people around me to bars, or parties, or to gamble. I’ve invited people to participate with me in things I thought brought me happiness.  So why wouldn’t I invite every person I come in contact with now that I’ve found real happiness?

    I wish I could shout it from the rooftops.  I wish I was bolder about it than I am.  I wish I could tell the entire world:  you deserve to be happy.  Find your happiness, however you need to.  But I will tell you this, Jesus Christ is the source of all love.  Therefore, He is the source of all truth and light.  For that reason, He is the source of all happiness.  I’ve learned that for myself and hope we all can, on our timeline.

    I know where I come from.  I know where I’m going.  I know why I’m here.  I know what happens when I leave here.  I know I’ll be with my family forever.  I know my daughter and my wife, who I’ve known for countless days, going all the way back to our premortal existence, I know I will be with them for eternity.  This is true joy.

    I know these things.  Knowing these things bring me comfort.  Knowing these things makes me happy.  The choices and changes I’ve made in my life have brought me happiness I never thought I deserved.  This happiness is for everyone.