To understand the real roots of ghosting, we need to understand the difference between the natural and covenant mindsets and how they manifest in dating decisions.  Although encouraged to be not of the world, LDS singles still live in the world.  As such, without sufficient awareness, LDS singles more easily succumb to being of the world in their dating decisions.

The natural and covenant mindsets differ mainly in what they value most.  Natural men and women most value self-gratification.  What satiates the desires of evolutionary biology to pass good genetic material to the next generation dominates decision making.  In contrast, covenant men and women most value making and keeping sacred covenants.  They’ll give up some things of this world to have the things of the world to come.

That difference cannot be overemphasized.  Placing higher value on the desires of evolutionary biology essentially turns the heart towards this fallen imperfect world and our mortal life in it.  That priority says temple marriage and the world of eternity are acceptable only if natural desires are fully satisfied in this world of mortality.  Exactly opposite, the covenant mindset places higher value on the desires of discipleship and turning the heart towards the eternal world to come.

Ghosting plays right into the natural mindset.  But women ghost more than men because the natural woman doesn’t have the same values as the natural man.  Both most value self-gratification, but what gratifies the natural man often doesn’t gratify the natural woman.

Natural men value youth and beauty because these women are more likely to bear healthier children.  But natural women don’t value youth; men can play their part well into old age.  Instead, natural women value looks, muscles, money, and status because these things make it more likely the woman will bear healthier children or the woman and child will receive support after the birth.  It’s all about perpetuating this life in this world.

Ghosting plays right into that mindset.  Because of what she values most, the natural woman is always looking for a better option that’ll make it more likely she’ll bear healthier children and/or have support after the birth.  That’s what ghosting essentially is.  It’s exchanging someone less desirable for someone more desirable based on perceived ability to perpetuate life in this world.

Conversely, the covenant mindset seeks to perpetuate eternal life in the world to come.  Because it’s not natural to think that way, the covenant mindset requires conscious choice and discipline along the road of covenant discipleship.

King Benjamin taught as much in his classic discourse to his people.  Mosiah 3:19 teaches how to overcome the natural man.  The same prescription works for the natural woman.  Just replace all the masculine words with their feminine complements.  Either way, putting off the natural mindset requires conscious choice.  And we do it through the Atonement.

But you can’t choose the covenant if you aren’t aware.  Without awareness, we’ll all simply do what comes naturally.  The world, either in ignorance or rejection of the covenant, fully embraces the natural mindset.  This is the world where LDS singles live.  Being not of the world means recognizing that influence and consciously choosing against it.

We can start by chasing away ghosting.  That’ll take time and patience.  After all, no one’s perfectly in the covenant mindset.  We’re all both the natural and the covenant according to we’re at on the path of eternal progression.  But when we start by recognizing that truth and then increasing our awareness of which decisions the natural mindset dominates and which the covenant, we can let Christ and His Atonement into every aspect of our lives.  And that will bring us more joy in our journey.

And yes, I said singles should ask that question of themselves.  Your focus determines your reality, so if you don’t like your reality, take a look at your focus.  Making that change on the inside can make all the difference in your world on the outside.

And because we’re all designed to operate out of habit, whatever focus we do have we’ll continue to use over and over again.  That’s great if your focus creates a reality you want and not so great if your focus creates a reality you don’t want.

But it all starts within, so to change your reality on the outside, change your focus on the inside.  If your focus in dating is all about you and what someone else is going to bring you, then you’ll likely attract only those with a similar focus.  And the only reason they’ll want you is more because of what they think they can get from you and not so much with who you really are.

It’s little wonder we think this way.  Modern dating has an increasingly online component, so much so that we bring to dating the same thinking — the assumptions, perspectives, attitudes, and habits — that comprise our online life in other aspects.  And pretty much everyone spends a substantial proportion of that life online shopping.

The Internet makes getting pretty much whatever you want so very easy.  You look around at options from different offerings, compare prices, read and weigh reviews, and make a purchase.  A couple or so days later, your order arrives right at your door.  There’s no need to go anywhere.  And if what you get isn’t really what you want, you get rid of it.

We do the same thing with dating.  We swipe past photos of potential candidates who aren’t cream of the crop, filter profile details, and maybe read what others write.  We’d never reach out to a company offering an inferior product; we simply wouldn’t buy.  So why would we even think about talking to a dating candidate offering what appears to be an inferior candidacy?  The “right” one will arrive on our door in a timely manner and just lift us into bliss, because isn’t that what happens when your relationship is really right?

Are you catching the focus in this common approach?  It treats people like things, which of course trips us up because people are not things.  But it’s also all about what you get.  And that’s completely backwards because happiness in marriage is more about what you give than what you get.

Long time audience members will know I define happiness as giving your all to all the right things for you.  Notice there’s no getting in that definition.  It’s all about what you give, and it’s giving all of you to all that’s right for you.  Certainly your spouse counts as one of those right things.

Now I’m not suggesting we’re all interchangeable parts who can just marry anyone and be blissfully happy based entirely on what we give.  The relationship we’re talking about here is a two-way street; it can’t be all give and no get, for either partner.  But too often we focus so much on the getting that we ignore the more major contribution of the giving.

So instead of asking, “What will this person bring?” when evaluating a dating prospect, ask yourself, “What will you bring?”  When you focus on getting good with you on the inside and making the changes to make you the best you you can be, in that process you’ll cross paths with someone who’ll want to share the life you’re creating, a life in which you each give to each other the best you each have to give.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

Many singles hold to that assumption under the guise of having standards.  They seem to see themselves acting nobly in a chaotic dating world by adhering to their standard that insists on only the best.  But such standards actually impede progress in one’s dating journey.  So if you insist on believing you’ll be happy only with the most attractive companion, then you’re letting your standards keep you single.

How does one progress in dating?  As I discuss in my upcoming book about dating, to progress to each next stage of the journey, you must make an agreement.  No agreement means no progress.  Period.

In the first stage of the dating journey, you meet new people and build friendships.  In the next stage, you casually date candidates you’ve befriended.  These activities require openness to social interactions.  Otherwise, you’ll likely never get the agreement you need to progress from friendship to casual dating and on to exclusive dating.

But assuming you can be happy in life only if your partner is the “best” or most attractive type limits those interactions.  That faulty assumption will encourage you to engage only with those who meet your standards, because what’s the point, after all, in “wasting your time” with people who simply won’t do romantically because they aren’t the “best”?

Mathematically, it just isn’t possible for everyone to have the “best.”  Yet many singles cling tenaciously to the hope they’ll be one of the few to score just such a life partner.  After all, no one wants to accept an unhappy and unfulfilled life.

But happiness in marriage doesn’t come from what each partner has.  Happiness in marriage comes from what each partner gives to each other.  And what you give is a choice.

If your partner has to be the “best” or most attractive sort for you to be happy, then God must have really messed up His plan.  Check out these words from then Elder Gordon B Hinckley.

How can God’s plan provide happiness for all His children if 90% of people aren’t the “best” but just ordinary?  Mathematically, 90% of singles can’t each have monogamous marriage with someone from the top 10%.  At least 80% of singles will be left unhappy if only the “best” makes a happy life.  Because God wants all his children to be happy, clearly happiness must be available without having the most attractive partner.

And happiness is available to those couples who place honoring sacred covenants above personal desires by giving themselves fully to each other.  Your companion doesn’t need to be the “best” or most attractive for you to give all of yourself to that person.  Granted, it’s more easy to do the more attractive your companion is, but it’s not essential for happiness.

The resistance many feel when confronted with such a choice is the natural man or natural woman in each of us.  The natural man and woman value self-gratification more than making and keeping sacred covenants.  Covenant men and women obviously reverse that value system.

I’m not saying we’re interchangeable parts.  You shouldn’t marry just anybody, and having standards does help with decision making.  Far too many LDS singles, however, insist on standards around what really isn’t essential for lasting happiness.  Elder Gerrit W Gong has taught,

Regardless of how you justify it, when you insist on having only the most attractive type of companion, your standards keep you single.  Lowering those standards to accept more candidates into your dating pool doesn’t mean sacrificing happiness.  Rather, it increases your chances of obtaining it.  So reject the natural man and woman, open yourself to possibility, and you may find the blessings you’ve been seeking have been right in front of you all along.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

But it's all really good discussion that touches on many interesting points.  And that got me thinking.  Pondering that and other LDS singles posts leads me to conclude that, when it comes to dating, natural is the enemy.

You might wonder what that means.  After all, these days anything natural is in vogue.  It's associated with purity, innocence, and goodness.  How can natural be the enemy?

You don't need any mental gymnastics to answer that question in a dating context.  You need only understand the differences between natural men and women and covenant men and women.

The Book of Mormon beautifully expresses that difference.  We don't usually discuss Mosiah 3:19 in terms of dating, but it possesses perfect applicability.  Consider each of these words carefully, for this one verse teaches bibles worth of truth:

How do these words apply to dating?  Increasingly in the world, natural men and women have destroyed dating and with it the families that might have resulted.  Thinking primarily of self and following natural behavioral drivers have removed many partners from the dating scene and complicated it for those who remain.

We Latter-day Saints covenant to be in the world but not of it.  That doesn't mean the world doesn't influence us.  In fact, the behavior I see some LDS singles displaying smacks very plainly of a worldly, natural mindset.

Enticement drives the choices of natural men.  Put enough enticement in front of him, and he'll pretty much follow the carrot at the end of your stick.  Of course, all men aren't alike; some enticements enchant some men more than others.  But the concept holds true for all natural men.

Experience, namely the state of feeling desired emotions, drives the choices of natural women.  We all know natural women; they have backup boyfriends, always look to "trade up" if they can, and are ruthless with other women who they see as their competition for their desired experiences with men.

Conversely, covenant men and women value covenant living over their natural drivers.  They seek to make and keep covenants.  Covenant men still feel the natural tug of enticement, and covenant women still feel the natural tug of experience, but they don't follow after it.  They choose to value covenant living over the natural focus on self.

Natural men and women value self over covenants.  The natural woman stays single by insisting on dating only perfect men who can provide her desired experience with emotion.  Since most men aren't that, the natural man struggles with the lack of enticement, eventually opting out of dating to seek enticement in other avenues.

Thus, following natural inclinations results in rejecting opportunities to marry sufficiently good companions and create families that can further the Lord's purposes for this world.  The natural man and woman are indeed enemies to God.

In reality, no single one of us (pun intended) is completely a natural person or a covenant person.  We are each a mixture of both — good and evil, light and darkness, covenant keepers and covenant breakers.  What we choose to value determines how much we are of each.

Will we follow our natural desires when dating?  Will we insist on having only the best when an "average" option can deliver not only the maximum amount of joy it's possible to experience but also make available the covenants we need for exaltation in the eternities to come?  Will we view dating and marriage through the lens of self or through the lens of the family we will create out of that union and the generations that will follow after us?

In so many ways, natural is the enemy.  And it will always be the enemy unless the natural man or woman values covenant living over self.  Only valuing covenant living opens the heart to the Savior and His marvelous Atonement, which can transform us from natural men and women into covenant men and women.  And that will bring us more joy in our journey.

We all know the LDS single who’s so eager to be married that he or she instantly gravitates towards anyone who appears to promise a blessed end to single status.  Maybe you’ve even been that single yourself.

I was once all about finding that eternal companion but never actually finding her.  I felt like that hamster down at the pet store, always just spinning my wheels and never getting anywhere.  And I felt miserable.

I thought I was doing the right thing.  After all, our leaders have talked endlessly about the importance of marriage and family.  Our LDS culture is centered around family.  It made sense to go after it directly.

But that’s exactly the problem.  It doesn’t come when you pursue it directly.  It comes when you let it come to you.

We’re all hard wired to operate out of habit.  And what we do determines what we get.  So if we entertain less effective habits, we’ll keep getting less effective results.  And it won’t end until we replace the less effective habit with a more effective one.

Many LDS singles have the less effective habit of making a beeline for anyone appearing to promise hope for marriage.  But when you understand how everything works, you’ll realize you need to ditch the beeline.

Here’s how it works.  Marriage means the agency of another person is involved.  You can’t choose for others.  Someone else has to choose you.  That means the most you can do is influence that choice.

That’s why you keep hearing platitudes like “Just be yourself” or “Keep working on yourself.”  They’re all true up to a point.  Doing these things will influence the right person to choose you.

But beyond that point lies the reality where we all live.  This most important choice has many influences in addition to the one you exert.  And these other considerations outside your control can drown any hope of acquiring desired blessings.  Your challenge, then, is to exert your best influence, trusting the Lord to cross your path with someone who will choose you.  Are you up to it?

You can best rise to the challenge by letting go of pursuing marriage directly and adopting a personal ministry.  This really is your best approach for exerting your best influence.

Here’s why.  When you pursue marriage directly, you broadcast to everyone around you you’re all about marriage.  No one really wants to marry someone who’s more interested in some personal agenda.  So you come off appearing desperate.

When you drop the beeline and adopt a personal ministry, you’re about something bigger than yourself.  You let your best self shine while serving others.  Devoting yourself to your own personal ministry shakes off the scales of desperation so that others see you as someone interesting, someone worth getting to know better, maybe even share a life with.

Guess what? Now you’re influencing others to decide in your favor.

Other powerful influences exist, yes, but that’s where walking by faith comes in.  When you partner with the Lord, He’ll lead you to those with whom your best influence will be more than good enough.  That’s because they’ll hearken to the voice of the Spirit when He says, “Give this one a chance.”

Many LDS singles live in fear that their desired blessings won’t come.  But that’s no way to live.  It’s much more joyful to let go of directly pursuing marriage and instead pursue what will influence others to choose in your favor.

Devoting yourself to your own personal ministry can make the waiting more joyful, however long that waiting lasts.  Do you want just to endure to the end?  Or do you want to thrive?

Of course, you should keep looking for and pursuing opportunities that arise.  But your universe won’t be rotating around them.  So let go of directly pursuing marriage.  Let it come to you.  When you devote yourself to your personal ministry, you can embrace your best self.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

We’ve discussed ways LDS singles can overcome the challenges of LDS singles life.  Dating becomes more simple and fun when we act out a proper understanding of the dating journey.  Learning to forgive others along the way can lighten the load on our journey.  Partnering with the Lord can help us understand our gifts and fulfill our own personal ministry.  And holding fast to our covenants while being industrious can help create our happiest time.

Yet all this assumes we assume ownership of our lives.  No one will create your best life for you.  You must create it.

Fortunately the Lord wants you to have your best life and is willing to help you create it.  But first you must accept responsibility for however your life turns out.  You must own every part of your life.

Owning your life must precede living your best life.  Failing to accept responsibility for how your life turns out means assigning that responsibility elsewhere.  And that leaves you playing the victim.

Confident people never play the victim.  Victimization isn’t a position of power.  Victims are victims because they’re powerless.  Playing the victim means giving away your power to someone else.  And yes, you had power over your life before you gave it away.  It’s called agency.

The Lord has declared, “For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward” (D&C 58:28).  We make our lives by the choices we make for ourselves.  Inasmuch as we choose well, we’ll not lose our reward.

That’s the law of the harvest.  We reap what we sow.  Any other result would place the universe out of balance, and God would cease to be God.

I know what some of you are thinking.  “It’s not my fault no one ever married me.”  “It’s not my fault I got divorced.”  “It’s not my fault I’m widowed.”  In short, “It’s not my fault I’m single.”

Actually, it is.  And the sooner you own all of your life by accepting your part in the events that have brought you to where you are, the sooner you can move past your challenges and live life with confidence and satisfaction.

Sure, other people make decisions that directly impact your life.  But your decisions — the ones you make for yourself — also impact your life.  Those decisions are the only ones you can control.  You empower yourself by placing your focus there.

I’m sorry if you’ve never married.  But you chose how to present yourself, what attitude to broadcast, and what direction to take in life.  You can’t convince me those factors didn’t influence others when they decided against you.

I’m sorry if you’re divorced.  But if you’re completely honest, you’ll admit you contributed to your failed marriage.  Even if (and given how imperfect everyone is, that’s a really BIG if) you did everything right, who decided to get married?  Yes, you married a jerk, but who chose that?  You chose to enter a marriage that ended how it ended.

I’m sorry if you’re widowed.  But again, who decided to marry your spouse?  You chose to marry someone who died before you do.  Had you known that would come, you might have chosen differently.  But you couldn’t see then all the consequences your choice would have today.  We often make such choices in life.  And now you have the consequences from your choice.

This approach may feel incredibly harsh, but it’s also incredibly empowering and liberating.  Having once tasted it, you’ll never want to go back.

Why is owning every part of your life empowering and liberating?  If your choices can make an undesirable life, then your choices can also make a desirable one.  Your past doesn’t determine your future.  Your choices in the present determine your future.  You can make better choices and get better results.

Again, the choices of others do affect the course of our lives.  But placing any focus there is unproductive because you decide only for yourself.  Your choices brought you the life you have today.  You must accept that truth to move forward.

Accepting that truth doesn’t mean wallowing in self-pity or punishing yourself constantly for choosing poorly.  Just accept your choices had their consequences, learn from the experience, and move on.  It’s really no more complicated than that.

Own every part of your life.  Don’t allow failure to take responsibility for anything in your life hold you back from having your best life.  When you take that attitude, you can move forward with confidence towards that best life.  And that will bring more joy in your journey.

Dating doesn’t have to be so challenging for LDS singles.  Once you have a good map of the landscape and know how to use it, your journey improves substantially.

Many LDS singles who lack that understanding often prove to be their own worst obstacle.  Too often they put the cart before the horse by insisting that potential dates meet their standards for marriage.  This practice fosters a culture in which dating is viewed as synonymous with marriage.  Dating then becomes warped in LDS singles life.

That’s not the only way many LDS singles put the cart before the horse.  When considering whether to date someone, they often look at potential candidates and assume they’ll always be just as they are right at that moment.  If someone is found to be undesirable, it’s then easy to say, “I don’t want to spend eternity with that” and walk away.

In so doing, LDS singles often walk away from the very blessings they seek.  In considering dating opportunities, we should consider not just position but also direction.  We need to see others as they may become.

We came to this mortal existence to grow and become like our Heavenly Father.  Traveling on this path towards perfection means that none of us are perfect as we are now.

Yet our Heavenly Father doesn’t condemn us for not having yet completed our journey.  He knows we’ll eventually arrive at our celestial destination if we maintain the proper direction.  And He knows we can always change our direction.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged” is the Savior’s teaching (Matthew 7:1).  Yet how often do LDS singles fail to apply that teaching to their dating considerations?  We confuse position and direction, thinking that person will always be just as we find them now.

For example, most aren’t attracted to overweight suitors.  Yet being overweight is merely position.  What consideration do we give direction?  There’s a world of difference between the overweight person trying to lose weight through diet and exercise and the overweight person doing nothing about it except crying over why no one wants to love them as they are.

The Atonement by its very existence signals the potential for change.  Truly believing in that potential means affording more weight towards direction than position when considering dating options.

According more weight to direction doesn’t mean ignoring position.  For example, perpetrators of physical abuse can change, but that doesn’t mean you should trust them just because they can change.  Potential for changing direction is not the same as actually changing direction.

Our actions determine our direction.  What we do every day determines whether we end in one destination or in another.  And small changes today can result in large differences tomorrow.

A truly reformed physical abuser will refrain from physical abuse.  Repeat offenders are not reformed.  They still have the potential to change, but their actions show they haven’t actually changed.  Their direction is askew, and in the interest of personal safety, you’d be justified not dating such a character.

On the other hand, a physical abuser who has refrained from physical abuse has a better direction.  That person’s actions demonstrate a change in direction has taken place.  Both always had the potential to change.  But the difference here is one’s actions evidence a change in direction and the other’s don’t.

That’s why you should experience multiple casual dates with someone before deciding on the potential for a committed dating relationship with said person.  For most aspects of an individual, you can’t judge appropriately with just one date.  You need multiple experiences.

Allowing that can help you give that greater weight to direction over position.  Without that, it’s much easier to see only position and use that alone as the basis for dating considerations.

No one’s perfect in this life.  We’ll all miss the mark somewhere.  But that doesn’t mean we always will.  Our actions today can add to a body of evidence showing a more positive change in direction.  And with time that body of evidence can demonstrate a more positive direction, which will make you more attractive to potential dating partners.

Learning to see the potential in others can reveal doors of opportunity you didn’t before realize existed.  Because no one’s perfect, the eternal companion you’re seeking isn’t perfect.  Learning to value others for what they may become because of their direction may help you see that the person who you thought would never do as a companion actually fulfills your needs more than you could imagine.

Tolerating imperfection can actually help you find your true love.  And that will bring more joy in your journey.

Lately I’ve been talking about the fundamentals of dating because so many don’t understand them.  Today I’m addressing one fundamental in particular.

But first we need to consider what we’re trying to accomplish.  Because dating involves the agency of another person, success in that journey is correlative, not causal.  That means we get better results by making ourselves more attractive rather than campaigning directly for it.

I’ve tried the direct route before.  After years of effort, I can say it just doesn’t work.  

So now I’m where every LDS single should be — on the correlative train.  Instead of pursuing marriage directly, we should live our lives such that others will want to share them with us.  We get that kind of life by making ourselves more attractive — physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Each of these aspects is intertwined with the other three.  Take losing weight, for instance.  Losing weight of course has physical aspects, but it also has emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects as well.  Those who ignore those other three aspects are essentially taking a proverbial knife to a gun fight.

I believe the best solutions are holistic; they consider the whole as well as the individual parts.  Losing weight is no different, though I confess it’s been really hard.  Losing weight is the Holy Grail of modern life — forever beckoning, and forever elusive.  But that just means I don’t understand the fundamentals!

For years I tried increasing my understanding of biology.  Much of my knowledge here is hard won through research in books and testing in the laboratory of trial and error.

That’s how I know if I don’t keep myself fully hydrated, I won’t lose weight.  I now drink mostly water whenever I drink anything, starting with a full glass of water when I get out of bed in the morning.

Good nutrition is also important.  I’ve seen better results with a daily regimen of vitamins and supplements.  Yes, it’s better when they come from food, but I haven’t the time to track how much of each vitamin every food I consume contains.  It’s much easier to pop a pill and be done with it.  You need to find what works for you.

Because weight loss is interconnected in its aspects, we can’t focus on just biology.  The emotional aspect is of especial concern for LDS singles.

Acceptance in LDS subculture depends greatly on whether or not we get married.  Thus, failure in our dating journey can easily leave us feeling unaccepted.

That’s what makes eating extra food — and especially the foods we shouldn’t eat all the time — so very tempting.  They never say no.  They never turn us away.  And they always make us feel good.

At least they do in the moment.  Emotional eating always comes back to bite you (pun intended).  We’re not likely to lose weight without addressing the underlying emotional issues driving unhealthy eating habits.

And let’s not forget the mental aspect of losing weight.  If we believe we’re “big-boned” or genetically disposed to carry fat, we’re setting ourselves up for failure.  We’ll never put forth the effort as intensely and for as long as we need if we believe any of that.  We have to believe before we receive.

Of all the aspects to consider, the spiritual is the most important.  We need to articulate clearly and precisely why we want to lose weight.  And that why needs to be powerful enough to carry us through the hard times.

The most powerful spiritual drivers are faith-based.  We activate that faith when we understand the doctrines and principles behind our objectives.

So what’s the gospel doctrine behind losing weight?  Certainly the Word of Wisdom comes to mind.  And how about the doctrine that our body is a temple?  If you considered just that one idea every time you put something in your mouth, what changes would you make to your eating habits?

What’s the biggest reason why I’ve struggled with losing weight for so many years?  I’ve been approaching it backwards.  Even with the holistic nature of my approach, I wasn’t starting with the spiritual aspect.  I started with the application — give me the fix I need to make my fat melt away — rather than with the doctrines and principles behind the application.

Recently, I’ve picked the torch back up.  I’m trying again.  So can you.  But this time, let’s start our holistic approach with the spiritual.  That will bring us better results.  And that will bring us more joy in our journey.

I’ve been thinking about the Church’s new videos regarding diversity.  Although they spoke in more general terms, last week I praised the Brethren for highlighting an issue challenging many LDS singles.  We should all be one in Christ.

Those musings have played in my mind.  Just as the Brethren have generalized their message that applies to LDS singles fitting into the culture of the Church, so I have generalized my thinking to applications in my own life and that of the average LDS single.

I use that word average loosely.  The LDS singles demographic is wildly diverse.  Yet for all our differences, we’re considerably similar.  We’re all children of a Heavenly Father Who loves us.  We’ve all made covenants to keep His commandments.  And most of us want to keep those covenants.

Most of us also want to make an additional covenant binding us eternally to a very special someone.  Nevertheless, many of us decrease the likelihood of that event by not dedicating ourselves and our time appropriately.

We LDS singles often say we’ve prioritized making that next essential covenant.  But have we really?  What does what we do say?  That’s the real determinant.

It’s so very easy for life to carry us along, but those who live their best life don’t just collide with the waves.  They make waves of their own.  A wave maker is far more attractive than a wave taker.

Yet too often we’re so absorbed in the moment we don’t see the forest from the trees.  We need an occasional reminder to step back and re-calibrate.  This is my wake up call.  Let it be yours too.

Examining my life, I have to conclude marriage really isn’t my top priority.  My top priority right now is my job.  It has been since this summer.  I completely understand how that happened, and I freely forgive myself for those choices.  But now I need to choose differently to adopt my desired priorities.

Work isn’t the only inordinate consumer of time.  Many LDS singles fill their time with sports or games or media.  These activities aren’t bad in and of themselves.  In fact, in the proper context, these activities can be very good.  The problem comes when we allow consumption to swallow too much of our time.

Modern society promotes consumption.  Ours is a world of information overload delivered through a multitude of multimedia platforms.  Social media and more traditional media outlets beckon us away from our normal worlds into a place promising ease and pleasure.  And considering how hard we all work in that “normal world,” it’s hard to reject the siren song of consumption.

Yet how is the world better when everyone spends the bulk of their personal time consuming content?  How much better are our lives because we’ve been absorbed with social media and playing games and watching movies and all the rest?

And for LDS singles, how much more attractive are you because you’ve spent all this time in consumption?  Will that special someone really want to share your life filled with so many hours consuming content?

No one’s really that attracted to someone doing little else than consume.  Consumers spend their time taking, and constantly taking doesn’t build a strong foundation for any relationship, romantic or otherwise.

Conversely, producers spend their time making.  They make the world a different place, if only in a small way.  And if what they bring into the world adds to its goodness, that difference is a positive one.  Someone actively bringing goodness into the world is far more attractive than someone actively bringing gratification to oneself.  That first life appeals far more.

That’s what adopting a personal ministry can do for LDS singles.  Find your own way to bring goodness into the world, an outlet through which you can release passionate creativity and make a positive difference in the lives of others.  Consumers take, but producers make.

I could rationalize my job as an educator into my personal ministry.  Education makes a positive difference in the lives of students.  Yet I know my real personal ministry is developing this forum into a community where LDS singles can feel the support they need to journey on.

A personal ministry can do that for all of us.  Consistently bringing goodness into the world will make us more attractive to the eternal companion we really need than anything else so oriented.

Like I said, this is my wake up call.  Don’t be a consumer.  Be a producer.  Adopt a personal ministry today, or recommit yourself to yours if you already have one.  We’ll have much more joy in our journey when we do.

You must make conscious choices to own your life.  The reality you construct for yourself is one of the most important of those conscious choices.

In Episode 1 of the Star Wars movie series (yes, I’m an enginerd), Jedi master Qui-Gon Jin wants to train young Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi arts but is forbidden to do so.  So he tells Anakin to watch him closely.  “Always remember,” he then says, “your focus determines your reality.”  That’s some really great advice for all of us, even if you don’t aspire to be a Jedi knight.

During sacrament meeting in a former ward, I shared a pew with a young couple and their two very rambunctious and obnoxious boys. When the tray reached our pew, the young father made sure his family received the sacrament.  He then passed the tray back to the Aaronic Priesthood holder.

At first I couldn’t believe he had denied me the sacrament.  Never have I ever imagined that happening to me.  I thought to myself, Does he not know that I am here?

Yet I observed the great effort required to keep one of his sons somewhat settled.  His wife was obviously exasperated just as much with the other one.  I then realized that I really was oblivious to him.

It wasn’t because he didn’t care.  It wasn’t because he was married and I was single.  It was because he focused so much on his son that someone sitting not two feet away was outside of his world.  His focus had determined his reality.

Many singles who focus on the eternal companion they don’t have can enter a serious depression.  They can become so focused on what they don’t have that they can’t see anything but a dissatisfying condition.  They feel forgotten and lost in a sea of people living lives they want but don’t have.

I once felt like that, but not any more.  You don’t have to feel that way either.  If you want to be a part of your ward’s reality, then get inside their focus.  Make meaningful contributions to the lives of other ward members.

You don’t need a calling to make that happen.  You need only to recognize a need and then work to fill it.  With that focus, your reality will be much more enjoyable.

If you think your solution to a dissatisfying life is getting married, think again.  And then change the way you think.  Your focus determines your reality.

No, changing the way you think won’t make your eternal companion magically appear.  I’m not talking about a magic lamp with a genie inside.

And yet I am.  When I was incredibly focused on what I didn’t have, that way of thinking wasn’t making me a happy me.  And an unhappy me is an unattractive me.

Changing the way I think didn't make me instantly married.  My physical circumstances did not change.  No attractive woman in a belly dancer costume appeared.  I was just as single as I’ve always been.

But changing the way I think did make me instantly more marriageable.  The way I perceived my circumstances changed.  I felt much better about myself and my future prospects.  That change made me a much happier me.

And that happier me translated into a much more attractive me.  Why?  Because most people don’t want to spend twenty minutes let alone eternity with someone who isn't happy.

Being that happier me means that someone will more likely want to share my life with me, whether or not she wears a belly dancer costume.  If all I see in my life is a collection of negative emotion, then how can my reality be anything different?  And who would want to share that with me?  There is no greatness or glory in darkness.

So what's your reality?  Do you like your reality?  If you answered no, then what's your focus?  Your focus determines your reality.  If you want to change your reality, then change your focus to one designed to produce the reality you want.