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Orem • Mitt Romney says he has learned some valuable lessons while traversing the highs and lows of life — including reaching the top of the world by winning the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, and then suffering a tough loss to President Barack Obama.

"To experience a fulfilling, purposeful life, one thing you're going to have to do is this: Live a large life," he told graduates Thursday at Utah Valley University.

He then shared what he believes has made his life large.

One is not fearing failures while pursuing dreams.

"Failures don't have to define who you are," he said. Besides his unsuccessful presidential runs, he led the Salt Lake City Olympics, headed Bain Capital, served as governor of Massachusetts and — more important to him — is a husband and father.

"Through all my occupations, I have experienced successes and failures. I am asked what it felt like to lose to President Obama. Well, not as good as winning. Failures aren't fun, but they are inevitable," he said.

"Engaging in your world means accepting that hurt, confronting it, and endeavoring to ascend above it so that you can keep pursuing a fulfilling and abundant life."

Romney urged graduates to help the country make some of its current failures only temporary.

"America faces daunting challenges: generational poverty, looming debt, a warming climate, and a world that is increasingly dangerous and tumultuous."

Romney added, "Washington appears inept, powerless and without an effective strategy to overcome any of these. America needs your passion, your impatience with inaction, your participation in the political discourse."

Romney urged graduates to stay informed, influence others, campaign for people they trust and "for the sake of preserving freedom, vote."

Living large, Romney said, also includes focusing on friends.

"Your life will be larger if you value and nourish friendships," he said.

That includes one special kind of friendship.

"I will tell you that marriage has been the single most rewarding part of my life, by far. Marriage involves passion, conflict, emotion, fear, hope, compromise, understanding — in short, it is living to the max."

He said caring for family, friends and the country is more rewarding than mere money.

"Living life in fullness includes serving others, and doing so without pride or personal gain," Romney said. "It will fill your heart and expand your mind. I've seen that kind of service in large and small ways in my own family."

Romney said that was shown once when he and his wife talked at Harvard about their chosen careers; hers was to be a stay-at-home mom.

"She was psychologist, tutor, counselor, scoutmaster, coach, nurse practitioner, nutritionist, budget director, and more," he said. "When she sat down, the class was silent for several seconds and then it rose in a standing ovation."

Romney said, "The real wealth in life is in your friendships, your marriage, your children, what you have learned in your work, what you have overcome, your relationship with God, and in what you have contributed to others."

Romney was awarded an honorary doctorate in business, and the 5,143 graduates and their families gave him a standing ovation.

Also awarded honorary doctorates were Pamela Atkinson, an advocate for the poor, and the late Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, who died in January.