Learning From Learning Experiences

I think I'm going to have to stop posting videos on my blog, at least until I can figure out how to get rid of that sidebar. Isn't it funny that I don't know how to edit my own blog? I can update, and even modify, the content of my blog, but it's gonna take me some time to figure out how to change the blog itself.

It's also taking me quite some time to find a message I want to share. I looked at the list of General Conference talks, but none of them spoke to me. I looked at a few videos on the Mormon Channel, but none of the ones I saw this morning held anything I want to share. Maybe I'm just tired.

In October 2004, Joseph B. Wirthlin gave a talk called Press On. Within the first minute of his message, he shares the thought:

Often those who struggle with adversity ask the question, "Why did this happen to me?" They spend sleepless nights wondering why they feel so lonely, sick, discouraged, depressed or broken-hearted. The question, "Why me?" can be a difficult one to answer, and often leads to frustration and despair. There's a better question to ask ourselves. The question is: What could I learn from this experience?

That's not an easy question to ask or answer when we're facing adversity. Mostly, when we face trials, we just want the affliction to stop. But every experience we have here is meant to be a learning experience. Lehi told his son, Jacob, that God would "consecrate [his] afflictions for [his] gain." Similarly, we can expect that God will do the same for us. But He can't do it alone.

You've heard the expression, You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink? Well, God can give us learning experiences, but He can't make us learn. We must actively seek the wisdom God is trying to share with us. We need to ask ourselves what we can learn from the experience, then, to make sure we don't forget the message, we need to apply what we've learned.

For me, it helps to write things down. It's easy for me to forget things and to not be able to focus. Writing helps me concentrate on my thoughts so I can organize them and make connections. If I'm having a bad experience, I can write down the details of the experience, maybe hypothesize about what caused it, write down a few things I could learn from the experience, then list ways that I can apply what I've learned in the future. If I tried to do all that just in my head, I'd probably get stuck thinking about my emotions of how the situation makes me feel. And moping won't solve anything.

I'm going to go get a pad of paper and try to find out why I had a hard time blogging this morning, and see what I can do about it in the future. I can't guarantee that I'll get awesome results, but maybe we'll see some improvement, and that'll be pretty good.