I know that our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior, love me and love all of us - even when we are not very lovable, even when we do stupid or unwise things from lack of judgment or from deliberate lack of obedience. I know that we came to earth to learn, to gain experience - and yes, to learn from experience. I know that we have many resources to help us to succeed - because They want us to succeed. The great Plan gave us agency to choose our way. But we need help and I am grateful that we have help. I am grateful to know that the scriptures contain God's truth and teach us what we must know. They teach us that we need to pray, that our Father hears our prayers, and that if we continue to pray in faith, we'll get answers. I know that we must put our trust in Him, and continue in patience, realizing that our timetable is often not the same as His.

I know that we have prophets to lead us and give us counsel and instruction and guidance. I am grateful for what we can read and what we can hear from ward, stake and general conferences and from our Church magazines and other publications. I KNOW the Gospel is true and I know that the true Gospel is here in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw and heard what he heard. I know that he was the instrument to restore the Gospel and the Church that Christ organized when he was on the earth. I know if we are in church when we should be, if we read the scriptures and pray for understanding, and pray in gratitude for our blessings, and try to live the way we know to be right - all of that will help us in our journey here and help us to return to our Father's home when that time comes.

I know that agency allows us to make choices that bring heartache, sorrow and misery sometimes - to ourselves, and to those who love us - and to others sometimes. I also know that happiness comes from making right choices - and that we are not really happy unless we are trying to make right choices. Part of our experience here on earth is to find that joy.

I feel that it was part of the plan that I come to earth before you and feel blessed to be the mother and grandmother in this family - blessed beyond what I could ever have deserved. But I am so grateful to be part of the same family - of some of the best people in the world. We are all brothers and sisters, after all - and I am grateful to know that too. I love you all more than I can express.

Anne W. Fisher
Family Letter
March 28, 2010

Time and again we see how men and women have become successful after they learned to apply mental perception. The ability to see is much more than the physical process of taking light rays through the retina of the eye. It is the skill of interpretating what you see and applying that interpretation to your life and the lives of others.

Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
pp. 105

How often do we support or even applaud those who have succeeded? Even if it came at our own expense. Do we offer true congratulations or do we enviously shrink from the moment wishing we had done so well.

Lloyd Newell
The Spoken Word
March 21, 2010

Sometimes we have thoughts of optimism, courage, and devotion, thoughts capable of changing our lives. A certain kind of idea in the mind sends a tingle through the emotions and quickens the whole personality. Thoughts are carriers of ambition and power. They can rejuvenate us and put us on our feet with a new lease on life.

Sterling W. Sill
The Best of Sterling W. Sill
pp. 59

Learn a relaxation technique that works for you. Your creative imagination can be "preplayed" and "replayed" best when you are relaxed, because the left-brain dominance is less intense and the right-brain is receptive to your visual and certain audio suggestions.

Denis Waitley
Seeds of Greatness
pp. 72

A series of studies published in prestigious medical journals over the past decade found that practitioners of meditation report significant decreases in pain, anxiety, depression, blood pressure and other physical symptoms--allowing doctors to decrease medication and doctors' visits.

Amy Saltzer, MD
Bottom Line Tomorrow
March 1997, pp. 3

"One of the few ways to deal with a highstress situations that you can't escape," says Dr. Samuel Shem, author of The House of God, "is to make fun of it." Humor helps us cope because it instantly removes us from our pain.

Allen Klein
The Healing Power of Humor
Prologue, pp. XX