And the XIII World Boy Scout Jamboree in Japan had just begun. Sitting in our tents at the foot of Mt. Fuji  on Asagiri Heights, most of us, heard the mobile loudspeakers begin to blaze: “Prepare for evacuation. All sub-camps requiring evacuation , get ready. Buses are on the way.” 16,000 Scouts had to be evacuated for 48 hours. It was the summer of 1971. I had just turned 17. Our camp had to be evacuated. They asked for a couple of volunteers to remain behind to watch our equipment. I volunteered.

The rain came.

We were joking around in the tent as a little river of water began to run through. We decided we’d better go out and dig a trench around the tent to direct the water elsewhere. By now the clouds were gray, the wind was blowing and the rain was a down pour. How could we have forgotten to dig the trench around our tent?  We were scouts! Scouts are always prepared right?

Well, not this time and not for a typhoon.

STORMS OF LIFE
I’m convinced, one of the greatest obstacles facing us in these Last Days is our ability to cope “emotionally” with the storms of life without becoming depressed or overwhelmed.

It is almost certain that any talk of the Second Coming will quickly turn to being spiritually and temporally prepared. In particular getting out of debt and food storage. That isn’t wrong, of course, but if the discussion stays focused only on building a testimony and home storage, it will be  inadequate. You will NOT be prepared for what is coming!

 “The same principle SELF-RELIANCE has application to the spiritual and to the emotional.” (Solving Emotional Problems in the Lord’s Own Way, Boyd K. Packer)

24 HOUR EMOTIONAL EMERGENCY PREPARDNESS KIT

We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual. A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow, a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value. (Dallin H. Oaks, April 2004, Preparation for the Second Coming)

There are clearly several items that should go into your 24-Hour Emotional Emergency Preparedness Kit.  As a psychologist I’d recommend you store-up –  

I’ve seen way too many people become overwhelmed from life challenges. Not because the challenge was so enormous or unbearable only because at the time they didn’t have enough coping resources. If they would have had just one or two more emotional coping resources (and dug the trench around their tent) they could have endured just fine.

(Just think back to last time you knew you were going to have a very challenging busy day or week. What did you think and try to do the day before? Yes YOU PREPARED –got a good night’s sleep; organized better; prayed a little harder; ate a good breakfast etc etc. That’s what I’m talking about-This is a simple principle.)

 A COPING RESOURCE IS:
… someone, something, or some activity that strengthens you – has a positive influence on your personal life.  As long as the “resource’ is “legal” AND “within the bounds the Lord has set” AND  “brings you personal strength” – IT WILL WORK as a coping resource!

Here are some LIST of suggestions

Build Relationships; Take Care of Yourself; Study the Scriptures…. See more @ Keeping Your Life in Balance by M. Russell Ballard
Share Your Frustrations; Don’t Forget Humor; Change Your Pace …  See more @ Dealing with Stress and Discouragement in Ensign 1990
Exercise… See more @ Move More, Stress Less in Ensign August 2004
Avoid Unnecessary Stress; Accept the Things You Cannot Change;… See more @ Stress Management in HelpGuide.Org
Learn Relaxation Techniques; Evaluate Your Expectations Of Yourself … See more @ When Life Is Getting You Down in Ensign June 1984

Examples from the scriptures of coping resources:

Enos “I went to hunt beasts in the forest.” (Enos 1:3)
Joseph F. Smith “I sat in my room pondering…” (D&C 138:1)
Peter “I go a fishing.” (John 21:3)
Joseph “I retired to the woods…” (Joseph Smith History 1: 14)
Jesus “withdrew himself into the wilderness,…” (Luke 5:16)
And finally perhaps the best resource I know of:

And God “blessed the a seventh day, … he had rested from all his work… (Genesis 2:3)

And if you don’t like these pick one of your own!

FINAL THOUGHTS
When you’re looking for emotional coping resources don’t look too hard. Often you’ve already experienced them or you have had an impression of what might work.

For a few, counseling and medication are valuable resources.

For most, spiritual resources like prayer and reading the scriptures serve as the cornerstone. (See Spiritual Anorexia.) But if ALL you have is prayer and reading the scriptures -that’s great for spiritual prepardness and even helps emotional prepardness… BUT its only TWO coping resources. (Same with counseling and medications- that’s only TWO.) Experience has taught me:

See dr. rick’s Five to Survive

FIVE TO SURVIVE 
Feelings of being overwhelmed and depressed will occur…

From time to time emotional “coping resources” come and go. A resource might be out of town,  too expensive, or lost it’s ability to strengthen you.

Find another.

You need at least FIVE so you always have at least ONE!

Again “Five to Survive”  and “endure to the end.” 

Back to the typhoon
We made it through the typhoon along with most of our equipment. The trench we initially dug eventually turned into much larger ditch. Before it was over there was a virtual river running through our camp.
Holy Cow- did it ever rain!

CHALLENGE
You will survive the storms of life when you have Five Coping Resources. Name them one-by-one:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

dr rick
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