Did anyone else grow up on the Choose Your Own Adventure books?
(Overview of the series here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure
Visual of how the reader decides which action the protagonist will take next:
I loved these books because, to a certain extent, they put the reader in the driver's seat. And at the same time, I often thought, "How will the story turn out if I choose to head down one path instead of the others?" The beauty of the books was that you could skip ahead and see how things would play out. And then you could always go back and choose to take one of the other paths.
In many ways, life is a lot like these books: we're the protagonists in our personal journeys.
Here are a few of the adventures from the pages of this week's journey:
A seminar on the concept of "new speakers" led by Joan Pujolar (back row, 2nd to the left). More info here: http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/isch/Actions/IS1306
A project meeting (Peripheral Multilingualism Project: www.peripheralmultilingualism.fi) at the Rantasipi resort which included lots of...
working indoors,
and outdoors (I'm amazed at how much planning we get done while walking!),
and (active) relaxing.
Sari (my professor and the project director) gave us each a uniquely shaped cookie cutter to say thank you for the individual contributions we've made to the team this year. (Mine was heart-shaped, in case you couldn't tell. :) ). For Sari, the heart represents all of the 'heart' that I've put into developing the Jyvaskyla Discourse Hub website (www.discoursehub.fi). (Aww!!)
Thankfully, life is unlike the Choose Your Own Adventure books in that you can't skip ahead to see how one's life unfolds. Skipping ahead in the books meant getting to the end more quickly, yes; but in doing so, you miss out on the journey--which is where the adventures happen!
Here are a few of the adventures from the pages of this week's journey:
A seminar on the concept of "new speakers" led by Joan Pujolar (back row, 2nd to the left). More info here: http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/isch/Actions/IS1306
A project meeting (Peripheral Multilingualism Project: www.peripheralmultilingualism.fi) at the Rantasipi resort which included lots of...
working indoors,
and outdoors (I'm amazed at how much planning we get done while walking!),
teambuilding,
and (active) relaxing.
Sari (my professor and the project director) gave us each a uniquely shaped cookie cutter to say thank you for the individual contributions we've made to the team this year. (Mine was heart-shaped, in case you couldn't tell. :) ). For Sari, the heart represents all of the 'heart' that I've put into developing the Jyvaskyla Discourse Hub website (www.discoursehub.fi). (Aww!!)
Thankfully, life is unlike the Choose Your Own Adventure books in that you can't skip ahead to see how one's life unfolds. Skipping ahead in the books meant getting to the end more quickly, yes; but in doing so, you miss out on the journey--which is where the adventures happen!
Here's one last thought, borrowed from Russell M. Nelson:
"[E]ach day is a day of decision. President Thomas S. Monson has taught us that 'decisions determine destiny.' The wise use of your freedom to make your own decisions is crucial to your spiritual growth, now and for eternity. You are never too young to learn, never too old to change. Your yearnings to learn and change come from a divinely instilled striving for eternal progression.
Each day brings opportunity for decisions for eternity."
Each day brings opportunity for decisions for eternity."
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/decisions-for-eternity?lang=eng
(Incidentally, in this talk Elder Nelson cites the work of Patrick Fagan: http://www.frc.org/fagan. I interned for Pat when he was at the Heritage Foundation. Pretty awesome!)
(Incidentally, in this talk Elder Nelson cites the work of Patrick Fagan: http://www.frc.org/fagan. I interned for Pat when he was at the Heritage Foundation. Pretty awesome!)
No comments:
Post a Comment