The expression of gratitude is the most powerful act we can perform to God, ourselves and others. ... It changes the negative back to the positive and takes away the hurts."

"So often in our lives, we limit the capacity of our HIGHER POWER."

Sister Stephanie Mongeon made this statement last week during a talk designed to help people remove those limits.

Mongeon is director of community relations and mission services at Ogden Regional Medical Center and one of the Catholic sisters at Mount Benedict Monastery. Her talk, "Finding Balance and Spirituality in Our Lives," is one she gives quarterly to the members of the Twelve Step Program at Ogden Regional Medical Center.

Mongeon recommended living by eight spiritual values: positive attitude, friendship, simplicity and ordinariness, humor, forgiveness, gratitude, mindfulness and spiritual freedom.

"People say to me, 'Why do you smile so much?' I say I need it," she said in her talk about positive attitudes. "We must esteem ourselves before we can esteem others."

She also discussed the need to develop a loving eye with which to view the world.

While discussing friendship, she said "Learning to be a powerful presence in another's life is just so, so beautiful."

And she said people make themselves rich by making their wants fewer.

"May I live simply that others simply can live," Mongeon said, quoting Gandhi.

To achieve the value of humor, Mongeon suggested learning from children.

"Children laugh 60 times a day, but we laugh six at best," she said. "They say six good laughs a day are as good as a five-mile run."

Mongeon defined forgiveness as the capacity to go beyond our hurts and put them in the hands of God.

"I cannot forgive unless I employ God," she said.

And seeing the good God has placed in one's life can be done through a gratitude journal, she said, noting her belief that gratitude is the greatest antidote to depression.

"A grateful heart is never sad," she said. "The expression of gratitude is the most powerful act we can perform to God, ourselves and others. ... It changes the negative back to the positive and takes away the hurts."

Mongeon said savoring the moment creates mindfulness.

"We're so busy that we don't allow ourselves to be in the present," she said, noting that being present for others is a great gift to them.

"Being there for the other person without a better story is being a good listener," stated a slide she showed during her talk.

And she said silence and meditation also are important for developing a relationship with God or a higher power.

"We have to ask ourselves, 'Are we human beings or are we human doings?"

She noted that the creation was not completed until God declared a day of rest.

"The Lord said, 'Learn from me and you will find rest,'" she said.

Mongeon said living by spiritual principles will provide new energy and new hope.

She said what the world needs more than ever is people of hope.

"You and I are the ones who can provide hope."