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".