Week 3: Nov. 29 2013

Hooray for Thanksgiving!!!! The perfect excuse to be grateful for just about everything in life!!! This Thanksgiving was especially special since we had family come to OUR house for a change, and that we're probably going to move to England next summer, so we won't have another Thanksgiving with family for another couple years or so, since it's an American Holiday and all. I am very thankful for my amazing family, both extended and immediate, and the scrumptious food, and to live in this free, prosperous country, and all that good stuff. Life just wouldn't be as amazing if it weren't for my family and friends. They are what make my life so interesting, what give me support and joy in my everyday life, and what makes me who I am today.

My act of service this week was simply to help make Thanksgiving dinner. Plus I helped in various ways to set up Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving, and prepared for the company to come over. I hope to be able to do a little more than that, but it's a small act of service all the same.

Happy Holidays!!

Week 2: November 5-12 2013

This past week, for my act of service I chose to use my talents (if you could call it a talent) and resources to help out my peers in my Science Olympiad class. Science Olympiad is, like the title suggests, the Olympics science style. A group of forty some kids are split into various groups depicting different sorts of science - from building & engineering to studying the human body, or celestial bodies. Each individual can be assigned two or more events to study or work at all year, so that they can compete against other schools' teams in the state, and then possibly in the country. This year, I am in the groups that study Anatomy & Physiology as well as Astronomy. As an act of service, I chose to make a little something for the group while we were attempting to study the subject. (Just to be clear- our idea of studying is trying to learn something and then making some analogy to some super off-topic subject and just having fun with it....not like staring at pages of material all day...) I made chocolate chip muffins for my Anatomy & Physiology group, then brought in chocolate chip pancakes & homemade buttermilk syrup for my Astronomy group. As you may have guessed, this is all during first period so it's fine to have breakfast foods. :) As far as I could tell, most people liked them or at least appreciated the thought, or were outstanding actors.

I am choosing to be grateful for music this week. It's amazing how your mood can be completely altered based on what kind of music you're listening to. It can be beautiful, peaceful, light, determined, fun, or pretty much anything. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn music since a very young age, and that I can actually play music somewhat decently. I love how playing, or listening, to music can so easily get your mind off of something, and help you relax. I don't know what I would do without music.

So, in a nutshell: I cooked breakfast for my fellow nerd friends and am super grateful for music. Two big paragraphs in one short sentence.

 

(the above image is from http://hdwallsize.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Picture-Music-Wallpaper-HD.jpg)
 

Week 1 : October 29, 2013

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to help out one of my little sister's friend's mom at the Halloween/Birthday party she was having, which would host 17-18 little four year olds, plus some of the other siblings about the house from time to time. As one could imagine, this could potentially turn into a sprinkle-filled disaster pretty fast. So, another little sister and I went over to help out this super-cool-mom at this party yesterday afternoon from two to four or five in the afternoon. I mostly organized the snacks for the little kids (like cutting apples, putting food on platters, labeling water bottles, getting out enough chairs etcetera), helped them play pin the mouth on the jack-o-lantern, and then helped clean up what was left of the cupcake-decorating/snack time activity. I particularly admire my little sister for controlling all those little four year olds, and the mom who organized this whole thing. Both are incredible with kids, hardworking, and overall amazing people.

One thing I'm grateful for today is for my amazing seminary teacher. I go to seminary everyday at 6:00 am, and my teacher makes it all worth it. She is fun, considerate, empathetic, and overall just a super cool person. She's a star athlete, originally from England and makes the best rolls ever! Today I was especially grateful for her ability to easily be inspired by the spirit. During seminary today, we watched a video of a seminar about Grace, and my mind had started to wander a little, thinking over a few pieces of my life, and of myself, that I wasn't happy with. I was thinking about my frustration at myself, and for not being a better person, when the speaker shown on the video answered my question directly, starting with the words, "For those of you who feel like you are never good enough..." or something along those lines. I remember feeling a little stunned, grateful, and kind of awed that he had just mirrored my thoughts almost word for word. I am super grateful to have such a wonderful seminary teacher and for the moments of serendipity that she brings into my life, when you think that things just couldn't be more perfect, whether it be when laughing about some joke or ironic situation or discovering a nearly mind-blowing piece of information.

The picture I have today is of the sunrise I saw while walking from the Seminary building to my high school. The story behind this is that in the seminar we watched, he said that the line in "Come, Come Ye Saints", when it says "grace shall be as your day", it is likening grace to a sunrise, always there, always giving us hope, always driving away the darkness with each sunrise.

In the Beginning

This weekend I had one of those experiences when one simple event triggers so many buried emotions, it is like part of you becomes fractured. It wasn't any horrible or traumatic experience. I simply planned a last-minute party to which no one showed up to. Not that bad at all. However, it was enough to bring suppressed emotions up & battling for dominance in my mind. I tried to push them down and act normal, but that didn't do anything to vanquish these battling emotions. From this experience, I do not want to become self-centered, self-pitying, selfish, depressed, or held back by the past. Instead, I am going to choose to believe that everything happens for a reason. Every event occurs so that we can learn from it, and improve ourselves. So, I am going to use this blog to try to improve myself, focusing on difference aspects of myself to improve upon. The first few aspects I will focus on are going to be gratitude and service. My hope is that by focusing on others and the small and simple joys in life, I will be better able to learn & grow from this experience, and any who read this blog can learn from my experience as well. After all, "a wise man learns from his mistakes, but a wiser man learns from the mistakes of others.".  I understand that my thought process is strange, and even I do not understand myself nor my thoughts sometimes. So, by releasing my thoughts into each post on this blog, focusing on difference aspects (like service or gratitude) I hope to be able to retrain my thoughts for the better. Each post will be, in some form or another, a portion of the day in my mind, hence the blog title, "A Day in My Mind".