wise words

I have been given a lot of good advice in my life. Out of every piece given, there have only been two that have stuck with me throughout the years/days. The first being a lesson my dad taught me years ago, and the second being words from general conference.

To give you an idea of how messed up I was as a kid, here is a little anecdote. 

One particular day, I had probably been fighting with my sister, yelling bad words, or ripping barbies heads off and lighting them on fire. (I never did that.) After the day's terrorizing was over, I went to my room to pout and be angry about life-changing things that weren't happening the way they ought to. Things like being offered Doritos for lunch when I wanted Lay's. My parents weren't exactly thrilled with my day to day behavior and bad attitude, especially when my younger sister ended up with a bloody nose or hand printed face. Apparently it's not cool for a 7 year old to scream at her parents and beat up her younger siblings. Who knew?

It was as I was in my room that my father came in to give me another talk, and to give me the advice that would stick with me for years. This time was a bit different. After we talked, he gave me an incentive. 

"If you can be sweet for 5 whole days, I will get you a medal with your name engraved on it and everything."

Believe it or not, I got that medal. True to his word, there were words on the back of it.

ALLISON LUNDBERG

"FOR BEING SWEET AND NOT SOUR."
LOVE, DAD

Although I lost the medal, that piece of advice that I always challenged has stuck with me since.

"You attract more bees with honey than with vinegar."
"But dad, I don't want to attract bees."

As time went on I realized it wasn't really about attracting bees. It was about attracting friends by being sweet, rather than sour. I may not have always followed the words, but they were always there.

The second piece of advice came just this last April.
I think almost anyone can take this to heart. Nobody is perfect, and it is applicable to all.
It's also very simple to remember.

When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

Stop it!

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

That's all you need to know.
Stop it.


Read the whole talk here.