Miserable Redemption

I have had something on my mind for a while. And when that sort of thing happens, I let it marinate. I consider it to be true or not, and though I feel I have given this one good effort within objective consideration, I have come to a conclusion.
This is also sparked by my own interactions with individuals having hard times, as well as my own experiences.
The phrase which I am willing to establish is this:

Misery is not redemptive.

Like many others, I have heard the phrase 'Godly sorrow' as a definition of a perspective meant to drive to the repentance process. It also seems that this concept is often mutated into the thought that misery is.. well... somehow redemptive.
If we feel that somehow our self-inflicted misery is going to bring us peace and/or salvation, we may very well be forgetting that it is not our efforts that bring redemption, but Somebody else's.
Now, you are not a failure for being miserable. Misery or sorrow can be an effective tool. I have come up with a comparison that seems to make sense.

Archaeology. 

No I am not even an amateur archaeologist, so please pardon any failure in accurate description.

Let's compare sorrow to an excavator.
It can be extremely helpful in making significant progress in discovering what a site is, and where that area of interest really lies.
However, once portions or even evidences of the site are revealed, the excavator must be moved out of the way and turned off.
It is at this point where increasingly delicate and refined tools must then be employed. If the proper tool for a discovery is a brush or a small hand tool, that point of the process requires deliberate, careful action.
If instead, as we come across a relic, we decide to hop in the driver's seat of the excavator and go after a fossilized feather, our discovery becomes a tragedy. It is at this time, where our sorrow, which should have been a great value to us, has now become a miserable tragedy. Destroying what should have been revealed treasure.
Let's be more gentle with ourselves, and not be afraid to let go of misery. You may even need to reject the perspective of a loved one who feels that you have not repented because you are not in constant misery.
And if you have spent too much time in the driver's seat, of course hope is not lost. If you feel as though you are a broken down and rusted excavator buried in a pile of broken bones, pots and buildings, you need to google Kintsugi right now. I will leave that to you, because this article is deliberately intent on rejecting misery-based-redemption as truth.

Warning! Churchy post!

If you are likely to be offended by a Christian oriented post, don't waste your time.
Regarding January's First presidency message. (Uchtdorf)
It is a bad practice to shoot an arrow at a blank wall and then paint the target around that.
Likewise, it is bad practice to lay hold on an exciting or interesting doctrine, and then centralize it. Then base the rest of our spiritual perspective on that.
This solution lies in the target already existing. The target can be, and has been defined in the words of the great commandments, love God, and love your neighbor. He even says, to hang all the law and the prophets on those. i.e. It is the gauge or the target for which all our efforts must fit. So if a new perspective does not fall within that gauge simply
 (remember Okhams razor, the more suppositions or exceptions we try to weasel in to make it fit, the less likely we are to be accurate in our theory)
then it is likely time for a re-evaluation. But not to feel bad for making the change. According to Elder Bednar, (titled: converted unto the lord) conversion is a lifelong effort spent aligning our motives, beliefs and thoughts to that of the Lord. And per C.S. Lewis, it is a very sensible thing to do, to turn a clock back if it has gone wrong. Progress may very well mean turning around in order to get back on the right path.
So are my beliefs that God will bless me with what I want bad?
That may simply be a bad question.
Real question may be: Are my desires, thoughts, beliefs and motivations in line with God's? Some of them are. Which ones? Time to bury weapons of war.
Interesting thought on burying the weapons. (Book of Mormon reference)
Did the holes already exist? Prolly no. They likely had to be dug with primitive tools that aren't as robust as the shovel we would get from Walmart. Work, sweat, and even the hassle to repair the tools can be compared with how inconvenient and/or difficult changing our own paradigm (or rather letting it be changed) can be.
Final thought.
How much of the recorded New Testament time did Christ spend being angry, or practicing "righteous indignation"?
Like, what? 10 minutes out of 34 years? So, as Christians, do we shun a sinner or even a jerk, or do we go to them individually and minister? Show a better way, or simply be kind.

Conscious Action.

I had a cute story and explanation written, but it seemed to diminish the importance of this idea.

So, I will be a little more straightforward.

I hope to make you feel uneasy.

I have observed that many of us are zombies.

We have sold our worth for electronic devices, addiction, convenience, or a routine life.

Or all of the above.

If this does not make you sad or uneasy, it should. Here's why;

The chances are, you are brilliant. I'm dead serious. 

Your brilliance is not necessarily going to result in amassing great wealth, but the value is not less. 

Let's try something.

Identify your vice. Write it down, or type it up, or whisper it.

Right now.

Seriously, if it doesn't come right to the surface, take a minute.

I will tell you one of mine as an example.

I have watched several TV series in their entirety: lost, heroes, x-files, friends, NCIS, and more I am sure. 

Hundreds of hours, maybe thousands. And that's just my TV vice. Had I spent that time practicing my violin, with the attention that these TV shows received......yikes.

Or blacksmithing,

Or drawing,

Or studying.

I could be an expert at something. 

Let that sink in. An expert.

Embarrassed yet? 

What's the solution? 

I'm not going to vilify TV or video games. 

I will condemn using your brain to, very intently, do nothing.....or worse.

There are estimations comparing the average human brain to a computer. Do some research on that. Some say that the human brain isn't all that amazing, but others (the ones using theirs) will give a good guess at the quality of computer needed to do what a human brain does.

I had a man once encourage me to use my 'quarter of a million dollar computer' of a brain better. That was 14 years ago. I looked this up recently, and depending on who says what, a computer matching our brains does not exist, but if it did......that quarter of a million dollars........would be a bargain.

Would you use a Diesel train to pull a wagon?

Why are you using your brain to do nothing, or less?

Now, all work and no play, makes Jack....a total nerd.

You must unstring your bow. Just don't unstring your brain.
Think about what you are doing with your time. I wouldn't expect a complete analysis of options, but the benefit from just the second thought about what we are doing, especially in our 'down time' is quite exiting.
The best part?
It's not too late.

The Floating Life

It has come to my attention that many of us, myself included, tend to live a life in which we take the passenger seat. Wherein the ideas which we put up to bat are those someone else has presented to us, and that we haven't given proper consideration. I'm not just talking about politics, although political viewpoints are part of this repertoire. I want to share with you the most important things I can think of, to be more active and deliberate in my own life.
I will start by drawing your attention to one of my favorite presentations on action. This is from 'The Art of Manliness' (Art of Manliness) and, while it is directed to men, I am certain this principle applies to all. This video is 8 minutes long, and please give it your attention.
Art of Maniliness, How to Feel Like a Man.
Take action.
Do that which becomes the person you desire to be, even if you don't 'feel like it'.

My first step:

I would like to be real outdoorsy. However, I lack a truly deep connection to nature which I see in a few friends and family. This summer, I addressed that. I saw my desire to be outdoorsy, and then realized there were obstacles preventing that deeper connection. I hesitate to camp in a tent in the backcountry, to swim in a backcountry lake, and to get caught in the rain while hiking. One of my favorite hiking destinations is Alaska Basin, just to the Southwest of the Tetons. This summer, I resolved to be that guy. While I didn't justify staying overnight, and the weather was great, I realized I needed to consider swimming in Mirror Lake. It's stunningly beautiful there, and the water was breathtakingly cold.
But I went in.
Twice.
Swam a grand total of 15 feet, maybe.
This experience opened my eyes. Not just because it was frigid, but because I had now done the thing which the guy I wanted to be does.
Not only do I now feel more at home in nature, but I just became, on a small degree, the guy that did the thing, that the guy I want to be, would do.

My floating life has begun to end, strangely enough with a swim.
It is only through a deliberate life, I might become the guy I want to be.