CTR: Consider the Reason




I’m trying to get back in the habit of exercise, and found myself thinking a lot about comparisons while on the stationary bike today. You know how when you’re on a treadmill or some other machine, you can choose different programs to run? The machine makes the incline steeper or the pace faster for certain intervals of time. The changing difficulty levels are often represented by vertical bars on the machine’s screen.
As I looked down the row of machines today, some people were running fast, others were sweating hard and pushing the pedals slowly. How could I tell who was working the hardest? I realized that I couldn’t! Because the person who seems to be flying by might have zero incline, while the person barely moving might be climbing steep terrain. The person who is only walking might have already been through an intense workout and is finally doing a much-needed cool-down interval.
In a similar way, we don’t know what experiences other people are going through around us. And they don’t know what personal mountains we have conquered on any given day.
In the world of Mormon culture, for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the acronym CTR stands for “Choose the Right.” There are CTR rings that remind us to make good choices, sorta like WWJD is “What Would Jesus Do?” But I've come to think of CTR as something else. I like to think of it as “Consider the Reason.” When someone seems to underperform or be unkind, I tell myself to consider the reason the person might be acting that way. What if the program they are metaphorically running is an excruciating one?
Anyway, these thoughts really helped me not compare myself with others and get down on myself today, so I thought I’d share. When we feel like the person next to us is running much faster, we can remember that we’re each in the middle of our own unique mortality-exercise program. Joy Jones, the leader of Primary children in the LDS Church, made this point once by saying, “We can stop comparing our worst to everyone else’s best.” I’m going to end this week by working toward my own personal best! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strengthening Connection During Social Distancing

What if we all used this weird period of “social distancing” to STRENGTHEN our connections with loved ones? Here are 12 ideas for things we could do while away from the crowds: Organize a long-distance movie party by trying to watch the same movie at the same time with as many friends and family members as possible During your next missed event, give someone a phone call and catch up. Take the time to leave five uplifting comments on the social media posts of others each day. Learn about your family’s history by looking through old photos, using genealogy sites, or just asking family members about their memories. Teach your kids how to write an old-fashioned letter and use a stamp. If you believe in a Higher Power, spend extra time praying for the well-being of others and sending good energy their way. Think of someone who recently showed you kindness and send them a thank-you message of some sort. Write a journal entry about what is happening right now so that future fa
Read more

What Will We Leave Behind?

Image
Did you know that Charles Dickens—that's right, the guy who wrote "A Christmas Carol"—wrote a book about the life of Jesus? And the best part is that he wrote it for his kids! The handwritten manuscript was a private family treasure for many years, until the children decided to share it with the world in 1934. It was the last work of Dickens to be published. I have a tradition of reading the short book each Easter. As a Christian, I appreciate the overview it gives of the life of Jesus Christ. But most of all, it's a good reminder to me that each of us—whether we have "children of our own" or not—have the opportunity to create something meaningful to leave the next generation. Whether that ''thing" is a tangible item, or a teaching, or an influence, it has the potential to continue shaping, strengthening, and empowering our children long after we've left. Every day gives us another chance to create—through words, artwork, letters, v
Read more

Triangulating Spiritual Truth

Image
I was watching a detective show the other night when I heard a familiar phrase. "Can you triangulate that call?" Any Law & Order  fan knows that when a signal—like from a cell phone—bounces off three towers, an accurate location can be established. Thinking about that piqued my interest about triangles in general, and since I'm nerdy like that, I started reading more about them. It turns out that triangles are awesome! They're super strong. According to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center , to change a triangle's shape, an edge must collapse. But edges can be fortified, making the triangle able to hold large loads. They are ideal building blocks. But here's the crazy thing—triangles are simple, too. In fact, they're the simplest polygon. According to the University of Cambridge Wild Maths program , a common way to approach a tricky problem, like analyzing a complex surface, is by approximating it with these simple triangles. Accuracy. Strength.
Read more