Dear Future Kenneth,

I write to you today from... THE PAST!!! Yes, future boy, from across the space-time continuum I write to you to let you know that I am living quite happily as a blacksmith in 1885. Also, you learned things today that you must NOT forget. This will be a refresher, a pump primer, and a how-to manual should you ever forget again.

It seems that the knowledge of how to really LIVE in a way that brings you joy and prosperity is something withheld from you by your typical means of apprehension. These lessons are to be learned by faith, on your own, so that you may struggle and fight and win the glorious victory for yourself. And I suspect also so as to give personal experience which will endue you with credibility and gravitas that you may testify with boldness and power to the benefit and instruction of others.

So how to live the good life? 1.) By moving forward in faith, acting in a manner that pursues your values. Chad gave you a vital nugget of truth last month when you thought you were trapped in a pit you could not get out of for lack of willpower. He taught you that taking the first step makes every following step possible. If you set a small and simple goal and then achieve it, you will gain willpower, grace to do more. Action creates its own self generating momentum. Do one thing, and you will then have power to do two things.

Consider the gym. You cannot curl 150 pounds. No. You cannot. But you can curl 120 pounds. So do that, and soon you will be able to curl 125 and so on. So you see, you can curl 150 pounds, just take time out of the equation. Success is inevitable It starts to click doesn't it? Suddenly that odd story about mustard trees and birds lodging in it makes a bit more sense.

But you lacked a vital bit of knowledge on the day you learned this and so you haven't been happy since. Chad taught you how to grow things in your garden. But he didn't mention that you can't grow things in salted soil. And why should he? He probably thought you already understood that basic prerequisite. Almost everybody does, it is a natural thing to assume.

So what is the salt? 2.) What kills any ounce of willpower and hope? (Hope being belief that good things, goals, and achievement are possible to you). Fear and doubt, your two shadows. Yes, it is surprising that after 29 years, this is still a problem. But you see right there, that is violating law three.

3.) That which you focus on expands. It is worthless to devote even a second to self-critical thoughts. Why? Don't you deserve it? Don't you need to feel like crap to motivate yourself? All questions aside, just answer this one: has that ever worked? Then stop it. Any concentration or focus on anything other than achieving your goals is concentration that is NOT focused on your goals. It doesn't matter what you are distracted with if you're distracted.

Just like you can't escape the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah if you're headed towards them, you can't be creative and excited to work on the book if you're constantly thinking of Minecraft. Want to desire to learn french? Watch a french video. Want to get desire to write? Read what's already there. Want to get desire to play Minecraft? Think about Minecraft. Do you see how simple this is? That which you focus on or expose yourself to is the wind that will catch your sail and propel you. This is why true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behaviors. It shapes you desires and goals.


“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”     -Alexander Graham Bell

You could feel that things weren't working and you feared that they never would and so again, you retreated to entertainment. You looked for distraction from this terrible thought, anything to take your mind off this terrible anxiety and dread. And as always, it brought you no relief. You cannot enjoy recreating if it is not a pair in the balanced reconciliation of opposites. Opposition in all things or there can be no happiness. Without work, play turns to ash in the belly of your starving soul.

Your every thought must be put toward productive means, not soul sapping despair. And not diverted to the anxious denial of distraction. It is damning. It is a brick wall, a stumbling block. Your fears and doubts are specters. They are figments of your overwrought and misused imagination. THERE IS NO SPOON. The only thing which holds you back is you. Looking at an obstacle means you aren't looking at your goal. You create the obstacle simply by thinking one might exist, in fact, you are unlimited. What can hinder you? What can you not climb over. No power in the 'verse can stop you. Except you. Only your choice to ponder on failure and uncertainty. Don't be scared by your responsibility, rejoice and embrace it, you control your destiny.


“God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.
God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe.”
-Jeffrey R. Holland


It is all so simple. You are not broken or deficient. You do not lack ability which normal people have. You simply choose to make a thousand tiny wrong decisions at every juncture. Only a day into this new vision, yet I see clearly that this is true. Path is open before you, thought by thought. One right decision after another, and your soul revives, your blood starts to flow, your breath returns. Fire is kindled from the embers. And Helios calls for you. Glory beckons you to take your place and grip the reins.

There is something more we would have you know: you can do this. You CAN do this, and you can achieve your dreams. So dream.