The 9 Ways to be Happy and Make Something of Your Life by Gordon B. Hinckley

1. Be Grateful

It is important to be grateful for the reason that as the old saying goes, you don't know what you have until it's gone. If you don't take care of and cherish what you have now, You will really miss it when its gone. If you're grateful you will be cognizant that what you have won't last forever, it will lead to enjoying it more and getting the most fulfillment possible from it. James E. Faust said "a grateful heart is the beginning of greatness." This quote applies in this situation because if you are grateful for the abilities or material things you possess. You will be able to take full advantage of such abilities. An example I know of is NBA player Stephen Curry, he is thankful for his basketball talents and his fortune to play in the NBA so much so that every time scores a point, he points to the sky. Thanking god for his talent. He does not take his talent and fortune for granite. If someone wanted to be grateful it would be easy. They can look at everything that they are given as a privilege and not a right. Granted, it is also good to be thankful for items that are a right such as food and shelter but one should also be grateful of things such as nice clothes, nice shoes, and jewelry. To be grateful for these things is to cherish them, thank the people who provide or gift you with them. I will be applying this to all courses of my life. I will cherish the items I own, the food on my plate, the roof over my head, and my friends and family.

Stephen Curry being grateful.

2. Be Smart

               The second way to be happy and make something of your life is to be smart. Now don't think this means that you have to Einstein in everything you do. You don't need to have a Harvard education to be smart. But you must be wise in all your decisions and choices that life gives you to be smart. You must live consciously and not just go through the motions. Go ahead and think about things, do not let it fall into your lap whilst being idle. Plan ahead and expect things to come instead of letting them come to you. An example of living smart is someone who keeps a savings account for a unfortunate event. They plan ahead and save money for that rainy day when they encounter a problem such as a broken car or loss of a job. Someone living foolishly is someone who just spends all of their paycheck on frivolous things such as clothing or food. Don't get me wrong, food and clothing is a necessity but how much of it do you really need? When the person living foolishly encounters an unexpected tribulation, what money do they have to fall back on? Dwight D. Eisenhower said "Plans are nothing; Planning is everything." That statement is one more people should follow. There is not a person on this Earth that should be advised not to plan for the future. That is foolish to even fathom. I personally somewhat struggle with keeping up with the brisk pace of life. So much so that I even don't plan for some unexpected variables. But I do try to live smart and cognizant so that I plan for things without even thinking about them. I still have those everyday hiccups that catch me off guard but that is why it is important to keep practicing. One thing that I need to get better with is time management. I have improved but I can still be better, one way I can improve is to keep a daily schedule. I have yet to employ this tactic but when I do I am sure I will be a smarter person than I am today.

3rd. Be Involved 

               The third way to be happy and make something of your life is to be involved. This is a way I can heavily relate to. When I started ninth grade, I was timid and did not like going to school at all. So much so that I didn't even like going to lunch because it was so unbearable to me. I just wanted the day to end pretty much all the time. I then got an internship at the school which opened up many more doors and opportunities. I started to enjoy school more and got to know many different people. Being students, staff, or teachers. It was an eye opening experience. I was no longer timid or found school unbearably long. I found that school was not the problem, myself and my attitude was. I was negative most of the time and never tried anything to help me. I just thought "I hate this school and everyone in it" and that's why it was such a dreadful experience. I don't want to keep reaping the past back up so I think it it was great for me to get that internship. Because If I didn't, I don't know where I would be right now. Probably in School of Social Justice which in hindsight was a great decision that I decided to stay because I thoroughly enjoy HPIAM. So I would recommend everyone to get involved in anything, In their work, in the their school, anywhere really. It is a great learning experience.

4th. Be Clean

Kobe Bryant celebrating his 5th NBA championship

       The fourth way to be happy and make something of your life is to be clean. Being clean means staying away from a ctw lifestyle. Of course it is also good to be a clean person in being organized and being structured. Being clean can be being biologically clean, for example, not using drugs or drinking alcohol which will make you impure from the inside. Or it can mean being clean by being good in your brain and mind. Such as avoiding explicit material, thoughts, or ideas. It is important to be clean because you could be the president of the united states or the best athlete in the world, but that doesn't mean anything if you aren't clean. An example of someone clean is Kobe Bryant, he valued his sport and career so much that he would not drink alcohol before any game or practice. Someone who is not is O.J. Simpson who committed murder during his NFL retirement and as a result, went to court and eventually prison for a different charge. If everyone followed at least this step in Gordon B. Hinkley's nine ways, the world would be a phenomenally better place. Being clean is an essential keystone in the walk to living a better life as Gordon B. Hinkley describes. If everyone started being clean at this second, the world would instantly be better.

O.J. Simpson on trial for murder

5. Be True

       The fifth way to be happy and make something of your life is to be true. Being true is staying

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf prays during the national anthem, staying true to his religion,

 loyal, and steadfast. If you stay true to yourself and others, life will improve. If you are in the best possible position of your life, if you are true, life will still improve. If you are in the worst position of your life, you can definitely improve. It is all dependent on you, Willie Nelson said, "Once you start replacing the negative thoughts with positive ones, you will get positive results. I agree with this statement by Willie Nelson because I have experienced it first hand. I didn't like my current life state at the time and I thought it couldn't get better, but once I changed those ideologies, things started looking on the up and up. Which makes me an example of said method. I stood my ground and stayed true and look where I am now. I am in a way better place than I was a year ago and things are still getting better because I am staying true. If I had refused to improve my way of thinking, then who knows where I would be. Staying true was one of the greatest things to happen to me.

      6. Be positive

    The sixth way to be happy and make something of your life is to be positive! Positivity is a crucial keystone in the path to happiness. This method is incredibly true to me and I'm sure to a lot more people. As I have discussed before, I believe positivity is what made me a better person into the person I am today. I first started living positively around early March and I thought even more positively in July of this year. The difference was extraordinary, I went from someone who just went to school and was a statistic. To someone who loved going to school and was well known. This happened in the course of 2 years so patience was key. This stark contrast was the fact that when I started 9th grade, I was intensely negative, I thought since none of my friends went to HPIAM, the school was terrible and dreary. But in 10th grade when I had had a positive outlook on things, I loved HPIAM. I went from wanting to switch schools to never wanting to leave. I quote Willie Nelson, " once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you will begin to have positive results." When I had read this statement in my dark ages, I had thought that it was a nice idea but I didn't practice it. When I started to think positively, I had realized that Willie Nelson was speaking nothing but the truth. I am glad I am now living the positive life style because if I wasn't, I wouldn't be happy today

7. BE HUMBLE.

Floyd Mayweather gloating

    The seventh way to be happy and make something of your life is to be humble. Staying humble is the key to happiness if you're rich or poor. Being humble can mean the difference between impression and depression. Being humble means staying down to earth no matter what the circumstance. If you remain humble, you can remain happy. If someone wins the lottery and they are not humble, they will blow their money on frivolous things such as overly expensive cars, excessive jewelry, and other CTW things. If you remain humble, like buying a nice home, a reliable car, and investing the money, you will live in happiness. This also applies to you telling others of your fortune because once you get money, people will try to manipulate you. So staying Humble is important to longevity. Someone who is not humble is Floyd "Money" Mayweather. He calls himself the greatest and says no one can beat him. And because of this, people despise Floyd because of his cockiness and arrogance. Someone who is humble is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem is never subject of controversy because he is humble thanks to his former coach John Wooden. So, to conclude, being Humble is important to be beloved by your fellow humans while arrogance leads to disposition.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar being honored with a statue for his career and character

8. Be Still

      The eighth way to be happy and make something of your life is to be still. Stillness is defined as deep silence and calmness. It is important to be still because worrying about frivolous things and defining problems you create for yourself is not a healthy habit. If someone can learn to be still by being patient and not worrying about those type of things, then things will seem less intensive for them. Morgan Freeman said; "It's what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That's all and that's the hardest thing." (I bet you read that in his voice too!). This statement by Morgan Freeman is important because It shows that Stillness is most likely not something you can learn in a day. It takes time, trial, and tribulation. Life could be full of roses but there are more thorns. If you encounter more thorns than you have roses, be still and ease up. Once you begin to practice being still you will begin to notice more roses than thorns. Someone who practiced stillness is John Lennon. Yes he had peaceful protest for things he cared about but he remained still. He kept in touch with the reality of humans  and realized that peace was a long fought journey. That is what made Lennon the at peace man he was.

9. Be Prayerful

      The ninth way to be happy and make something of your life is to be prayerful which I will not comment on due to my beliefs.

The Final Reflection

In the vignette, Gordon B. Hinkley conveys the idea that 9 Essential Keystones will make one feel happy and turn their lives into something. These nine keystones in association with these things are the followings; Be Grateful, Smart, Involved, Clean, True, Positive, Humble, Still, and Prayerful. Each of them with their own significance as I have previously individually discussed. One might say these nine methods are a scam and fraud because they haven't seen them work. The fact of the matter is, they aren't looking hard enough. I myself a year ago would have brushed off these nine keystones as a bunch of falsehoods that had no purpose in my life or anyone else's. But as I have changed my character from a year ago, I see the connotation behind these simple words of practices. Every single aspect of Gordon B. Hinkley's nine ways to be happy and make something of their life has had some part in making me a better person and I did not even realize it. One might say, "Can I still be happy if I practice just one or two of these methods?". The answer is a definite no. There is only one method you can somewhat can hold out on if willing, which is the ninth way. To be prayerful. Other than that, You must practice the rest of the grateful eight to be successful in your venture onto a happier life. One step at a time.