Dena Simister

Child of God, child of the covenant, disciple of Jesus Christ

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

Not a premium subscriber. But I’d like to introduce myself. Married 51 yrs, mom of 5 (1 in heaven), g-ma of 10 (1 in heaven). Gospel doctrine teacher for 7 yrs. Love my Savior. Love the BofM. I’m a gardener, beekeeper, hiker, musician, & disciple of Christ.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

What a powerful testimony!

[Kirk Rollins @nicoraytruth]

https://t.co/3ceB5pDUws

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@kariwarburton Where Can I Turn for Peace is my number one. It was sung at my son’s funeral services 28 years ago.
My Heavenly Father Loves Me is second. It was played at my daughter’s services three months ago.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

This is a cheat code for consistency...

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@dustinharding Ours was wonderful. Lots of very insightful and uplifting comments. Nothing remotely political or controversial.

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

There is a 1 in 15 trillion chance that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon.

That number comes from a rigorous statistical analysis of the text. Watch the breakdown.

You can reject the conclusion. But you have to reckon with the math.

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

We need to hear from him every April and October.

[Kirk Rollins @nicoraytruth]

"You forget Carthage at your peril. You forget the wagons coming back to Nauvoo at your peril. You forget that the Prophet and the Patriarch were laid out side by side, washed by trembling hands, mourned by ten thousand Saints who knew that the Kingdom had cost them everything and would cost them more.

The danger is not that we will be persecuted again. The danger is that we will become so soft, so assimilated, so eager to be respectable that we will no longer recognize the faith our ancestors died to preserve. A people who forget their martyrs eventually forget what was worth dying for. And a people who forget what was worth dying for soon discover there is nothing left worth living for, either." -- Your Pioneer Ancestor

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@latterdaylaura Have you used the citation index? You can find conference talks and other resources for every time a scripture has been referenced. I used it a lot!

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@Bobby_Clayson Same here. I was released after teaching for seven years. My study these last few weeks has been very lax.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@Primary_Pianist Approaching Zion if you haven’t already read it.

[Drexus @DrexelGuzy]

What kind of stories to do you tell your children?

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

Someone praying for you in another building can change your brain in real time. There is a study that proves it.

Researchers at North Hawaii Community Hospital placed 11 people inside fMRI scanners, fully isolated. In a separate building, spiritual leaders who knew them personally sent focused intentions toward them at random two-minute intervals. The receivers had no way to know when. Their brains lit up at the exact moments the senders focused on them. Specific regions associated with attention and awareness activated on cue. The odds of this happening by chance were less than one in seven thousand.

Most people have never heard of this. Here are three more.

Hand-holding and pain. Researchers placed 22 couples under EEG caps. When the woman was in pain and her partner held her hand, their brain waves synchronized. The more empathy he felt for her, the more their brains coupled. The more their brains coupled, the more her pain decreased. Touch combined with focused care produced a measurable analgesic effect. The lead researcher got the idea while holding his wife's hand during the birth of their daughter.

Two brains in shielded rooms. A Mexican neuroscientist named Jacobo Grinberg ran a series of experiments at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Two participants meditated together for 20 minutes. Then they were placed in separate electromagnetically shielded rooms more than 14 meters apart. One participant was shown 100 random flashes of light. The other, hooked to an EEG with no sensory contact of any kind, registered matching brain-wave responses one out of every four flashes. Pairs who had not bonded showed nothing.

Group prayer. Andrew Newberg at Thomas Jefferson University has spent more than two decades scanning the brains of praying nuns, meditating monks, and chanting Sikhs. His imaging work shows a consistent pattern. The frontal lobes activate. The parietal lobes quiet. The effect amplifies in groups. Brains in shared prayer entrain to one another the way two pendulums swinging in the same room eventually fall into the same rhythm.

These studies measure what physically happens to the human nervous system when people focus caring attention on each other, in the same room or at a distance. The findings are consistent across labs, methods, and decades.

The basic finding, that human brains synchronize during empathic connection, is now mainstream neuroscience. Newberg alone has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers.

People have been doing this for thousands of years and calling it prayer. Christians alone offer a window into the variety. Latter-day Saints kneel as families. Catholics pray the rosary. Protestants join hands in prayer circles.

What is actually happening when you pray? On the imaging, something measurable. On the EEG, something synchronized. On the pain scale, something diminished.

Prayer works.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@Rach_the_Rivetr Soft boiled eggs and toast.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

My @Divotdotorg interview today is with best selling author @SahilBloom. We talk about the 5 Types of Wealth, how most people always want more money, why certain success feels empty, winning the wrong game in life, and why humans need a quest.

Timestamps:

01:05 — The 5 Types of Wealth That Actually Matter
02:09 — Why Chasing Money Leads You Off a Cliff
05:16 — Why Success Feels Empty After You Achieve It
07:16 — You’ll Always Want More Money (Here’s Why)
11:40 — Humans Need a Quest to Feel Alive
16:19 — Ambition Without Direction Is Miserable
18:21 — Direction not Speed (The Life Rule That Matters)
20:15 — Why People Stay Stuck in “Good Enough” Lives
27:27 — How to Actually Change Your Life
28:25 — The Danger of Winning the Wrong Game
50:16 — What Real Confidence Actually Means
58:35 — The Best Advice for Doing Hard Things

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@PeacemakingSt 19…never been to Chicago

[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints @Ch_JesusChrist]

The road to redemption began with “hosanna.” As we remember the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, may our hearts welcome Him this Easter season.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@Manhattva Grieving the death of my oldest daughter and finding peace as I dig in the garden.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

Can’t edit, so I’ll update. Two children in heaven 😔

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

Not a premium subscriber. But I’d like to introduce myself. Married 51 yrs, mom of 5 (1 in heaven), g-ma of 10 (1 in heaven). Gospel doctrine teacher for 7 yrs. Love my Savior. Love the BofM. I’m a gardener, beekeeper, hiker, musician, & disciple of Christ.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

My oldest daughter lost her battle with cancer. And even with a knowledge of God’s great plan, I’m still so very sad. And it’s ok to be sad…for as long as I need to be. Maybe the rest of my life.

[Dena Simister @dbsimister]

@dustinharding I became “unaffiliated” a few years ago. I’m so tired of two parties that are both just awful.