When I was in 5th grade at Carl Sandburg Elementary, I had a teacher that I despised. His name was Mr. Rogers. Everyday, we annoyed the heck out of each other. I remember one day he was the teacher on duty for recess, so I decided to climb the basketball pole and sit way up high on the basketball basket. I remember him trying to talk me down from my perch. I stayed up there all recess getting down when the bell rang. I also would fart right next to my teacher. He told me I was rude, so I kicked him in the shin. He drug me down to the principals office for that one. We were like oil and vinegar. Finally, my mom talked to the principal, and had me moved out of Mr. Rogers class. I was able to be in Mr. Pitts class the last quarter of the school year. Mr Pitts was really nice and had a wooden leg. Every year, he would take off his wooden leg on the last day of school. Everyone thought that was pretty cool.
I have seen the power of God throughout my life. From the time I was a small child living dangerously, walking along floor beams open to the cement in the basement during our new home construction. Or falling out of a tree head first only to be caught by my belt on a branch, before I could have been seriously injured. I was suspended in mid air until my brother got my dad to get me out of this predicament. One inch to right and I fall head first to the ground, one inch to the left and I get impaled by a branch that had been broken off, sticking straight up at a slight angle. The branch perfectly hooked my belt and I was left hanging.
When I was 16, I was running down the street with my friend Val Stevens. I had just bought a unicycle and was learning how to ride it. Val was chasing me while I had my unicycle in my hands. I ran into the middle of the road, not looking where I was going. Out from nowhere I hear a load breaking sound, it was a car just inches away from me. The driver was very shaken up and upset at me for running into the road. I was literally almost hit by a car. It shook me up quite a bit, making me ask the question, what is God’s purpose for me? Why am I being protected?
My belief in a higher power was tested when my dad was kicked out of the church he loved. This is the church that is the center of our family. This is the church that taught me how to pray, how to serve others, how to sacrifice, how to love. This experience allowed me to question what I believe. I also noticed how my dad was navigating through this difficult situation. My daddid not stop serving and loving people in this church. He sent hundreds of his books, on unconditional love to missionaries, and spent countless hours convincing missionaries that wanted to come home early from their missions to stay and finish their missionary service. I was amazed with the growth of my dad during these years after his excommunication.
Billions of people on this planet are not even Christian that live beautiful, happy, healthy lives and less than 1% of the planet belong to the church that I was raised in. I was taught that my religion was the only way to get to the highest Heavenly Kingdom and all others are false. I was even taught that one church was an abomination and worshipped idols. At the same time, other churches were marching in front of our sacred temples saying we of all churches was bad and not even Christian. How could so many contradictions exist and everyone feel like they are doing the right things and everyone else is wrong?
One moment of refection for me was one day I was watching a show about the prophet of a polygamous church. The people that follow him believe it is okay for 14 year old girls to get married. When this man was arrested for marrying young girls in his community, these people believe he is being persecuted for his beliefs. When you are living in the bubble it seems normal. Through out history there have been men that believed getting married to 14 year old girls is okay. As people in different societies, we are conditioned to justify why it was okay for one group of people to do this but we think it is crazy for other groups to do the same thing. In my opinion, this is never acceptable, period! The reason I bring this up is it made me ask questions about religion. What things make us question our religion and what makes us proud to belong to our church family. Never underestimate the destructive power for some and the wonderful healing blessings that can happen for others from belonging to the same religion or a different one. Everyone experiences things differently and they are all valid.
I use to be very critical of others inside my faith even asking myself are they worthy to be a part of sacred ordinances like baby blessings, or even temple worship. I regrettably was not kind to even family members when I felt they didn’t measure up, and was vocal about it. I am so embarrassed with my behavior and sorry how I acted. I now realize everyone is on their own faith journey and I find myself more compassionate and accepting of others. I still believe in a higher power, yet have a more nuanced view of my religion. I still feel God’s presence in my life and enjoy seeing God’s love for me in everything around me. When I am serving others, singing songs about the Savior and spending time in nature this is when I feel the closest to God. I am excited to see everyones own personal growth as they go through life and enjoy being apart of the process.
When I reflect back on my life, I would say I have had several unique and wonderful surprises. Looking back even the opportunity to grow up with lots of animals on a small farm was a great surprise. Getting to experience the miracle of life and even death was an experience that has helped form me into the person I am today. Some of the surprises in my life have come because of my families lack of even simple pleasures such as a television. When I was ten and my brother was eleven my mom answered an add in the newspaper. The add was requesting children that did not watch television on a regular basis to come to the University of Utah, so people could do some experiments hooking up electrodes on our head to measure how certain short movie clips effected our emotions. I remember watching four short clips, one was a movie about boxing and another one was of cars racing. I forget what the other movies were about. At the end of the experiment my brother and myself were given $10 dollars. We thought we were so rich. I think my mom talked us into getting some clothes with part of the money and the rest we could spend on what we wanted. I just remember how excited we were to get so much money. On another occasion our family was the recipients of sub for Santa from our church. Back in the late 70s the big craze were these 15 in one game boards and we got two of them. In my mind I was thinking why couldn’t we get something cool like a television or even a new Monopoly game. I was not being very thankful. When our kids were little, it was Christmas Eve when we got a knock on the door and we were surprised with a visit from Santa. A kind neighbor Glen Nelson dressed up like Santa and gave our kids a memory they would never forget. We were all excited that night for the kindness of wonderful neighbors. Two more surprises I am saving for last. When Cassie and myself had only been married for 15 months we became the foster parents of two children. Rick was 5 and Stephanie was 4. We went from being Aunt Cassie and Uncle Leonard to mom and dad on a Friday; that coming Monday was the first day of school for Rick. Rick and Stephanie have been wonderful additions. Five years after becoming their foster parents we were able to adopt them into our family. The three younger children would have been devastated if their older siblings had to go to a different home. They always looked up to them and loved doing all the family activities together. Our family would be empty without them. Finally, on the day I was driving with my parents to get married we looked over and we saw Cassie driving with her parents on the freeway to get married. For me this was a huge relief and a wonderful sign that Cassie really did love me and wanted to marry me. Of all the many delightful surprises I am glad Cassie gets to experience many of them with me.
Starting with Rick, he is kind, funny, and hard working. Rick has taken his role as the oldest very seriously. Rick is a self motivated person. School always came easy to Rick. I never remember him having much homework. He completed 99% of his work in class. One of my favorite memories with Rick is watching him play Junior Jazz basketball. He wasn’t the best player on the team, but he was the best 6th man any team could have. Rick is a team player and was the deciding factor for many of the team wins. I also loved going one on one with Rick to see the Jazz basketball team play every year. Rick is very dedicated to his family.
Stephanie is lots of fun and very social. She loves to laugh and has a charming personality. Stephanie is very spontaneous and happy. I remember going to the store where Stephanie would join me for a little adventure. Many times we would skip through the parking lot or dance all the way inside the store. These moments are still magical when thinking back to simpler times. I was always so proud to see Stephanie dance with a group of girls until she graduated from High School. Stephanie has a passion for helping others and has a big heart.
Nathan can be a free spirit and refuses to beat to a certain drum. Nathan has a delightful outlook on life that is full of adventure. At first glance, Nathan is quiet and thoughtful. He is not to be taken lightly and knows how to stand his own ground. Nathan is a hard worker that takes his role as a father seriously. Even though Nathan lives with his family in Texas, you wouldn’t know it, because he visits often with his family. He and his family call us regularly on the phone. One of my favorite things I enjoy doing is playing Nathan chess. Winning against him is rare.
Daniel is very creative and adventurous. Daniel refuses to fit into any mold. He loves any excuse to explore the world. He was in High school when he went to Europe for the first time with his French class. Daniel was invited to Fiji knowing only one person. He went by himself. In the month of November he decided to go camping in Canada with his cousin Joseph. I remember going snowshoeing in a blizzard and loving every minute of it. Daniel is easy to talk to and is an open book. What you see is what you get.
Jessie is so fun, kind, and helpful; she has a wonderful laugh. Jessie has a gift with small children. If you want to know where Jessie is look for the kids and you will find her with them. Jessie loves being helpful. Jessie is like me when it comes to shopping. Find what you need, and then get out. She is a great shopper and knows how to find deals. Jessie also loves a clean house and is great at deep cleaning. I love playing games with Jessie. She makes the game more fun with happy laughter.
I had the opportunity of teaching all five kids how to drive. Sometimes I needed to have nerves of steel, but overall I cherished the time I spent with all my children driving. Every child was required to drive 40 hours with a parent. I loved this time I had one on one with each of them. I had each child drive to Wendover, Nevada, because it was a long straight stretch of road where we could get 4 hours of drive time in. Being a part of each child’s driving milestone is a memory I will always cherish. I feel blessed to have wonderful memories with each of my children.
From an early age, I have been taught that it is important to do a good job, take pride in what you do, and work hard. When I was ten or eleven I was asked“Are you Mel and Gwena Fish’s boy” and I said I was. The man said he knew my parents and they were good people and knew I was a good reflection on them.
I told my parents what this man said and they said “You never know who is watching you, so never do anything that will dishonor your family name” I have thought a lot about this over the years. I have made mistakes in my life, yet try to remember the advise of my parents.
Several years ago while working at Monroe Elementary, I had an assistant principal that mentioned to me one day when I was sitting in my office doing some paperwork, she said “I have been here all year and this is the first time I have seen you sitting down. I appreciate how hard you work.” Live your life in a way that you and others can be proud of the way you live.
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he be at peace with himself What a man can be, he must be. Abraham Maslow
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “Many people die with their music still in them.” I think back on my life and ask myself, “Am I living my life in such a way that my heart sings with joy because I am living the passion that stirs my soul?”
What puts a smile on your face? Is there a particular event, a particular topic that makes your whole face just lighten up? When there is something that makes you smile and makes you happy whenever you encounter it, this is a sign of something you are passionate about. I truly believe that happiness and passion walk hand in hand. Both require each other. So following what makes you truly happy is a wonderful way to figuring out what you were put on Earth to accomplish. Think about something that you do, or that perhaps you used to do that brings total peace to you when you do it. Peace is happiness, and happiness is passion.
What do you find easy to do? Usually, what we find easy for us to do; will be related to what we are passionate about. It’s very hard to hate something that we do with ease! For example, let’s say you are naturally good at playing the piano. You will find the activity easy, and this ease makes it much more enjoyable. Fun leads to happiness and happiness is synonymous with passion.
Assess everything that you do; whatever it is that you find really easy and fun may very well be your passion. Don’t think that anything is off limits or silly. Some people have taken their passion for skateboarding, drawing, or collecting to full fledged careers. Remember this, you can make a career out of anything you are passionate about.
What sparks your creativity? One of my passions is cooking. I love making food that everyone enjoys. I think back to my childhood and I remember that I started cooking when I was young. I remember when I was 14, my mom said, “For every pie crust you make for Thanksgiving I will make the filling.” I made 20 pie shells and my mom lived up to her side of the bargain and made 20 pie fillings.
As a result of making all those pies, we needed to start eating pies before Thanksgiving. My mom said, “Let’s invite family over to help us eat these pies.” We also made some soup. That day was the start of a family tradition that has been going on for over 30 years. We now have many families bringing pies and soup. Every Wednesday before Thanksgiving, you will find me eating soup and pie with many family and friends.
Think about something in your life that seems to always expand your horizons. Whatever makes you creative is probably something that you are very passionate about.
What would you do for free? When I was in Junior High I was riding the bus to school one morning when I spotted a homemade Christmas calendar hanging in a window of one of the homes I was passing. When I got home that evening I wanted to create my own calendar. I spent hours making this calendar, loving every minute of this
creative adventure. Over the years I have perfected this calendar, and I think it looks pretty cool. I have hung this fun calendar on a wall every year for more than 40 years. When you love something to the point of losing track of time when you do it, then you know you have found your passion.
Another thing I love to do is sing solo’s and duet’s. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to record a few songs on a music album. I have also recorded some songs that I made into an album of my own.
I have read a countless number of stories about stock brokers and doctors, for example, leaving their high paying positions to follow what they really love. There is a reason for that. I truly believe that if you follow what you are passionate about without thinking about whether or not it will make you rich, you will end up being successful.
I have a friend who made a confession about his career. He had just graduated with a pharmacy degree when he made this comment.
“Now that I have graduated from college I wish I was still a custodian cleaning the school, just as I have been doing for the past four years.”
Doing what you have a passion for brings out your best, and this leads to greatness. Greatness turns into success. Do you think that the most successful people in the world got to where they are because they wanted to get rich? Absolutely not! They did what they were so passionate about, and their immense success was just a by-product of their dedication.
What do you like to talk about? A few years ago I was asked to speak in church about a topic I am very passionate about. I was asked to give a talk on how being positive can help you spiritually. I was in a zone when I was writing my talk. Everything seemed to just flow as I was typing the words on the page. Everything was coming together flawlessly. This reminded me that the topics of the conversations we have can definitely tell what we are interested in. This is a good way to find out what we really enjoy most in life. Most of the time we aren’t totally aware of this.
A very good way to find your passion is to ask your friends what they believe you like to talk about the most. Ask them what topic makes your eyes brighten up, and changes your entire behavior.
I can guarantee you that some of their answers will be surprising to you. Some ofthese things weren’t that clear to you, but your friends can see the reaction on your face that you can’t see yourself. Try it out, it’s a very insightful exercise, and one that can direct you closer to figuring out your passion.
What makes you unafraid of failure? Thirty five years ago I was a new home owner. Repairing something that is broken can be very costly, so I learned how to fix things around the house with my Dad as my coach. When I needed to repair something, I knew that if I got stumped my dad would help me. This knowledge, and knowing my dad was there for me, gave me the confidence I needed to fix almost anything. Passion gives one the courage and drive to go forward without someone to fall back on.
When we do what we are passionate about, we have total confidence in our abilities. This makes us not worry about failing, because in our mind how can we fail when we do what we love? Doing what you love is a success in and of itself, so failure is like an impossibility. Think of something that you do just for the fun of it, without having second thoughts about it. This may very well be your true passion.
What would you regret not having tried? When I look at my wife and children I am so grateful for the opportunity of being a husband and father. Had I not had this opportunity, one of my greatest regrets would have been not being and doing what husbands and fathers should do; by leading and guiding their families.
My greatest joys have come into my life because of the opportunities of being a husband and father. Not experiencing these moments would have been a huge regret.
We all have dreams. Somehow life pushes us in another direction, and the next thing we know we are far from the dreams of the past. If you were at the end of your life, what would you regret not having pursued or accomplished? What would you have liked to have done that you didn’t get a chance to do?
Think about what that might be. Whatever it is that may cause you to experience regret now or later on, this may be your true passion. There is nothing worse than arriving at the end of the journey and having regrets. This is why finding your passion, and following it, is so important. Live your life so that you do not have regrets.
Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
You can be as happy as you make up your mind to be. Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections in life.
Being happy is an attitude. The people that are the happiest are happy under every circumstance, regardless of their social status, their age, religion or race. They are the bright lights when they enter a room.
Have you ever been so happy that you lose track of time? You are so engaged in what you are doing, two hours seems like only five minutes has gone by. This is bliss. You are in the happiness zone.
I remember as a child, my brother Mel and I asked our parents if we could go play. We couldn’t have been older than nine or ten at the time. We went to Steve’s house for a while. Then we decided to all go over to our house. On the way over to our house, we cut through a field where we noticed an old barn door was open. So we went inside. We found a barn full of wheat. This was a barn that used to have many animals, but now it was just used for storage. We started jumping in the wheat. It must have been 6-8 feet deep. We started
diving and swimming in the stuff. We even buried ourselves. We found a way to climb into the rafters of this old barn, and jump into the wheat. Before we knew it, we were pulling wheat out of our shoes, hair, our pants pockets and our underwear. We decided to take off all of our clothes and jump in the wheat nude. It made it easier to shake the wheat from our clothes. We were gone for
hours. By the time we got home, we knew we were in trouble. It was way past dinner. It had been so much fun that even going to bed without dinner didn’t matter. I still remember thinking it was not possible that we had been gone for hours. Those hours seemed like minutes, I was truly happy.
This is a tribute to Skip Ross a wonderful man I got to know 41 years ago. I was sad to learn of his passing not long ago. He is loved and will be missed by all who know him.
One of the saddest things I see is someone with a poor self esteem. I can relate. When I was in elementary school I was a slow learner. As a result of the label given me by my peers I became more unsure of myself.
Many students at school knew me, but I didn’t get close to anyone except for one good friend. We would wander the halls before school talking and waiting for the school bell to ring. Sometimes I felt very lonely, being able to talk only to the family’s pet goats. I was thankful for my little piece of heaven on our small farm.
I am thankful for amazing teachers, church leaders, people in the community, and most of all my parents who helped me believe in myself. As a result of them I started changing my self image into a more outgoing one.
The pivotal moment in my life was when my parents were in the Amway business. Part of their Amway training was how to be a better person on the inside and out. Every week my dad would travel about an hour south from our home in Salt Lake City to pick up his order of products. In part of his order was a cassette tape called ‘The Tape of the Week.” Some times I would go with him. On our way home we would listen to these tapes. This is where I first listened to Zig Ziglar, Rich Devos, Skip Ross and many more wonderful positive speakers.
One day my parents told me that Skip Ross was coming to town. They asked me if I wanted to hear him speak. I was so excited I might as well have been going to hear a rock star perform. He was a very successful motivational speaker, singer and had reached the top in the world of Amway.
While I was listening to Skip Ross live in person I saw a person with self confidence who was funny and could sing. Who could ask for more then that; he was the real deal. I also wanted to become a person that radiated self confidence.
My parents told me he had a youth camp in Rockford, Michigan. I wanted to go so I saved my money. It cost me $800 dollars to go to this camp a huge amount of money. I had a job making $3.15 an hour. It took me a year to save up enough money to go.
This was my first trip on an airplane. I was going to a camp where I didn’t know anyone so I had to stretch outside of my comfort zone. I was excited and nervous at the same time.
Every morning Skip Ross instructed us on how we could reach our full potential. After we were instructed he had many activities planned for us like swimming, horse back riding, and we even helped with the chores like feeding the horses and cleaning the barn. I felt right at home since I did barn chores everyday in Utah.
One day our activity was going to Lake Michigan. I had the privilege of sitting in the front seat with Skip Ross. I looked down and saw that he had a cassette tape of himself singing. I asked him if we could listen to it; he agreed. I thought that was very cool to be sitting next to the person who was singing on the tape as we were driving to the beach.
Going to the Skip Ross Circle A. Ranch in Michigan was a life changing experience. I learned that we can become anything we want to become or achieve anything we want to achieve. I also learned to Love yourself, for if you don’t, how can you expect anybody else to love you?” What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Would you still be at the same job? Would you go back to school and get your degree? I think we would all be the ideal weight and eat healthy. If we couldn’t fail we would have a high self esteem and we would love ourselves. The greatest love of all is learning to love yourself.
There are many different ways to understand love. We also need to remove and never use the word hate in our vocabulary. This will increase are ability to love ourselves and others unconditionally.
When I was in 1st grade I was a slow learner. It was very painful for me to see all of the other kids learn and understand things much more quickly than myself. This is the way I saw it. At our school we read Sam, and Ann books. I was reading in book 2 and many students were in book 10. The smartest kid in the class was in book 23, I was totally amazed someone could be that far a head of the rest of the class. Every time a child would move up to the next book level they would be rewarded with a piece of candy.
The day came when I finally moved up to book 3. I was thrilled. My teacher was happy that I finally moved up to a new level. She wanted to give me a piece of candy but she didn’t have anymore. She looked in her desk, and found a piece of gum. She said “Leonard I will give you this stick of gum if you will not chew it until you get home.” I agreed. Soon it was recess and I thought no one will know I am chewing gum. I did the deed, I opened the stick of gum, and started chewing it. When I was in line to come in from recess a teacher spotted my crime, chewing gum. I was asked immediately to spit it out, and write “I will not chew gum in school.” I wrote this during my next recess.
My connection with gum, and trouble continued this same year. I came home from the store with my dad when he discovered I had taken a pack of gum. It was very obvious when he saw me chewing gum. We rarely had gum at our house. My dad put two and two together knowing we were just at the store. Once again I was guilty of a crime involving gum. My punishment was I had to talk to the store manager, and pay him for what I had taken. When you correct mistakes it leaves a very strong impression on you. I am very thankful for a dad that made sure it is important to make good choices.
Now, fast forward 45, years I am working in a school. When the students are given gum before they take the big year end test to see how much they learned. I am thinking to myself “What are the teachers thinking, don’t they know this is against the rules.” I was told there was a study showing that peppermint helps keep students alert with better memory recall. The gum was to help boost the test scores
My memory of gum got me thinking about double standards. On one hand gum was bad don’t chew gum at school, and don’t take gum without paying for it. On the other hand gum was good, it helped students be more alert, and have better recall during a big test. I think we are all guilty of double standards at one time or another.
My grandpa and grandma lost their oldest child to a drug overdose when he was seven. My uncle was given an adult prescription that killed him. As a result of this experience my grandpa became a pharmacist. My grandpa had a double standard. He said “drugs are to sell not to take. I grew up with this philosophy. I think many people have a double standard with prescription drugs as well. Some people wonder why their children are using illegal drugs when they had lots of practice taking legal drugs in the early years of their life.
I think we have many great advances with drugs, and science. Many people are alive today because of prescription drugs. On the other hand, how many of us take medicine like candy because our back hurts or we have a headache. Our society has conditioned us to use this double standard, and quick fixes in our lives.
When I get a headache I will first drink a tall glass of water. If that does not work I will find an essential oil to rub on my forehead. About 95% of the time this works for me. My last resort is taking an over the counter drug. Many people take prescriptions, and over the counter drugs, not even realizing the negative effects they can have on our bodies. If you have a choice between a convenient pill and a healthy alternative, lets choose healthy over convenience. Let’s start being more proactive with our health by removing double standards and start living again.
When I was eleven I wanted to make a homemade chocolate cream pie. My mother gave me the recipe. Then she said, “I will be in my bedroom if you need me.” She later admitted she would have gone nuts watching me cook when I was first learning this skill. The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. I added 3 tablespoons of baking soda instead. The recipe said “bring to a boil.” I couldn’t understand why the pie filling was foaming over the top of the pan. I called my mom into the kitchen.
No sooner did she come into the kitchen when she grabbed a large pan and poured part of the pie filling into the second pan. It just kept growing. This is when my mom started questioning the ingredients I had added. When I got to the cornstarch on the recipe card, I pointed to the baking soda container and said I added cornstarch. I was then told, “This pie filling is no good. When you thought you were adding cornstarch you were adding baking soda.” You can do everything just right except for one thing, ending up with a huge disaster.
Years later when I was 18 I had an opportunity to work at two separate places that made pies. I learned different techniques of pie making from both places. The Saturday before Thanksgiving I spent 18 hours making pies at Marie Callender’s. I am thankful for my training in pie making.
I have found myself showing several women’s groups how to make the perfect pie crust, and delicious pie fillings. My failure as a child was a stepping stone to my success with making pies today.
When you ask questions, not acting like you know it all, you will learn. I still find new ways to make things better from my past mistakes. Learning what works and what doesn’t is part of the joy.
Essential oils are a lot like my early days of cooking, when I made many mistakes with recipes. Now with essential oils I find myself continually going to my essential oil book which outlines the oil that works best for each condition I might have when I was unfamiliar with how the oils work. I find as in cooking, and with essential oils every time I fail, I am learning important life lessons.
Len's Oils 