Chieko Okasaki
Finding Lightness in our Burdens
25 Years -Best of Women’s Conference, 2000, p. 410+

This is a great talk on walking through our burdens with a positive attitude.  Below are a few scattered excerpts...

Sometimes we feel that we should not have burdens––that there is something wrong with us if we have problems in our lives. That is not the case. Burdens are a part of life, and we all struggle with burdens that are grievous to be borne. There is nothing reproachful about having burdens, and there is nothing wicked in the struggle....

Making that clear––what I could and could not do––was an important step. It was as if a great weight rolled away. I have never mistaken worry for action, and I did not fool myself not that worrying about this condition was the same as doing something about it....

We are all here today, and we have arrived by many paths. Not one of those paths has been free from chuckholes, washouts, and even avalanches––but we have survived the journey up till now. Let’s give ourselves credit for that. We can call ourselves not victims but survivors. And Paul gives us the right to call ourselves not just survivors but conquerors. That should life our hearts!...

I also think of a wonderful Hawaiian woman I know, Winifred Watanabe Chinen. Her husband is not a member of the Church and has poor health. He allows her to attend her meetings but insists that she not accept any callings. Knowing his feelings, the bishop does not ask Sister Chinen to accept any callings. Sister Chinen might well feel downcast and discouraged by her situation, but instead, she says: “I’ve decided that I do not need any calling. I volunteer for whatever I can do, in whatever capacity I can be of use in our Relief Society to relieve the president of any mundane responsibilities.” Happily she cares for the sacrament cloths, brings flowers for the chapel, does visiting teaching, and renders compassionate serve. “Being there and helping” at any Relief Society function is her calling. Her very countenance radiates a “brightness of hope (2 Nephi 31: 20). Instead of dwelling on the things she cannot do, she focuses on what she can do, attends her meetings with real gratitude, and constantly seeks out others in her neighborhood to help them. I would wager that she does as much good as any so-called fully active Latter-day Saint in Hawaii....

The important point is that I did not wait until I felt like smiling before saying hello. I chose to
smile and say hello, and then my mood changed....