Lessons from Aunt Grace

I always find myself doing
an inventory of my life
when my birthday rolls around.

It seems like this
is the time of the year
when I am the most motivated to set goals
or change unproductive habits.
I don't set very many New Year's Resolutions
but I usually come up with a few Birthday ones.

Whenever I think about setting goals
I am reminded of a story I once heard
at BYU Education Week.

It was entitled "Lessons from Aunt Grace"
and was originally published in the Reader's Digest Magazine.

Aunt Grace was a maiden aunt who
had come to live with relatives.
She felt like an imposition and
was feeling sorry for herself.
She quickly came to realize that
this was the way her life was.
There was nothing she could do
to change the circumstances
she found herself in
so she decided to change herself.

She decided to complete 6 tasks each day
in order to hold her world together
and she recorded in her journal
how she accomplished these goals.

The 6 tasks were

Do Something for Someone Else.

Do Something for Myself.

Do Something I Don't Want to Do-
that Needs Doing.

Do a Physical Exercise.

Do a Mental Exercise.

Do an Original Prayer that
always includes counting my blessings.

Whenever I feel like
I need to make some changes in my life
these 6 tasks immediately come to mind.

As I think about them
I can usually see
where I am lacking
and what I need to work on.
Often when I set goals
a few of these tasks are included.
Focusing on these simple items
each day has helped to bring my
life back into focus on numerous occasions.

I am grateful for the lessons
I learned from Aunt Grace.

You can read the complete story here.