Happy Sunday!

I tend to focus on the little things in life. I love that when a person smiles their mouth relaxes but their eyes stay lit for much longer. I love the way my white converse click on the floor of the fine arts center.

Today is different. Today I can't help but think about the biggest things in my life- the most important ones. So here goes :)

1. Hope

I've pinned it. The most important thing in my life is hope. I hope for Christmas presents, good movies, and hot chocolate that has reached the perfect sipping temperature. I hope for opportunities to laugh and   to cry. I am a dreamer, hope is the driving force in my life :) My hope is more than just that though, it's faith. "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore, if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." -Alma 36: 21 (The Book of Mormon)

Just like I have faith that someday soon I'll be able to make the perfect cup of hot chocolate, I have faith that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that I can return to live with Him. I know about the hot chocolate because I've done it before, but I know about Christ because of the feeling that comes when I learn of Him and try to emulate His life. This faith that the world is a good place and that God lives enables me to hope for a better future and a better me. It is the reason I wake up smiling and the reason I go to bed happy, knowing that tomorrow is a new day and that I can try again.

The secret to finding lasting joy, love, and peace in my life all comes from this hope, or faith, in my Redeemer and teachings.

2. Family

I don't feel like I need to say much in this section. Go hug your Mom and tell her that you love and appreciate her! Tell your Dad that you are amazed by and truly grateful for his sacrifices. Honestly try to create lasting relationships with your siblings. They can be your best friends :)

3. Service

Living selflessly to help other people is the best and easiest way to feel loved. There have been so many times where I felt unworthy, unloved, or inadequate that my whole attitude was changed by service.

However, going to serve others with yourself in mind will invariably lead to disappointment. I promise that if you help someone with only their happiness in mind, you will be a better, more cheerful person because of it.

We find true fulfillment and meaning in our lives by giving them to help others.

Need ideas?

Here you go :)

or there's this :)



Well, there you have it! As always, please feel free to ask me any questions about anything :)

Now go be happy! :D

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Too true Swan Princess!!!!! You always know what to say :):) P.S. don't you just love everything about this movie?!

Everything that we do well in this life is a direct result of practice. Being a music major has taught me that :) That might sound kinda weird to you because usually people refer to this practicing as "habit", but just for a second, think of it in a different light. Humor me :)

Each day, you wake up and practice getting out of bed. Unless you're me, in which case you practice jumping out of bed, destroying the snooze button, and falling back asleep in your beautiful feathery bed as soon as possible :)(obviously you repeat this step four or five times). After that, you practice creating a simply scrumdiddlyumptious meal of Honey Bunches of Oats and toast as you practice refraining from crying because you're awake at such an unholy hour. Hopefully, you practice brushing your teeth and hair... Maybe you practice getting shin splints from sprinting up the stairs of death like I do, or maybe you practice enjoying a nice, leisurely walk up to campus :)

Throughout the day you practice learning, falling asleep in class, eating, flirting, laughing, feeling, and anything else you could possibly imagine. Whatever the case may be, we decide what we want to practice. We can choose to practice being happy, stupid, or asleep. The point is, the more we practice something, the better we get at it :) 

You know those people who are so happy all the time that you can't decide if you'd like to kiss them or punch them in the face? Hopefully, that's not just me. Cause that would be soops doops embarrassing. 

Anyway, 

I have a theory about them.

These people are so good at being happy all the time because they've had years of practice! Think about it, they've spent so much time smiling and waving and reacting positively that it is their natural instinct to act that way. If you want to be a happy and positive person, practice it!

Happiness is a habit.

All of this may seem very obvious to you, but I suppose I'm a little behind the times :)

Now this theory begs the response, "Then all I'll be is fake. I'll be fake happy, not truly happy." As a person who has struggled with this for quite some time, allow me to enlighten you :)

I had a sort of lightbulb moment on this subject this summer. I've always had trouble being my upbeat happy self without seeming fake. I struggled intensely with the balance between who I felt I was innately (upbeat, happy, smiley, a little loud) and being genuine. It was hard for me to realize that when I wasn't feeling like myself (upbeat, happy, smiley, a little loud) that I didn't have to put on a show for everyone. Then the questions of, "well how do I be true to myself? Who am I really?" came up. And then came my lightbulb moment :)

I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter who you feel you are naturally. WAIT, here me out before you get defensive :) It doesn't matter because everything is subject to change. Our whole life purpose is to work together with God to become the best possible versions of ourselves and help others do the same. We can choose to keep or bag ANY part of ourself that gives us grief or makes us unhappy. I held on to negative things about myself for far too long with the excuse of "but that's who I am".  I realized, that it doesn't have to be who I am. I get to make the decision of who I BECOME :)

Lesson Learned: if you don't like something about yourself change it! by practicing how you want to become :)

In conclusion- this process of refining yourself by choice can be very difficult. Maybe even more difficult than being forced into it by trials because you are self-motivated! I want to tell you all that I know this process can be made so much easier by accessing the best resource given to us- The Savior. I invite everyone to God through prayer and access the glorious help and love and encouragement that is just waiting to be had!!!


Aaaaaaaand just in case you're feeling a little down today :)

You Are Not Forgotten

Ladies and Gents, this week has been a hard one. Now, usually when I've had a hard week, all it takes is a few FMLs while laughing/crying in some sort of pathetic mess of mascara and ice cream until I'm back to my persistent self :)

As many of you already know, my church has a general meeting for all the members in the entire world forever and amen every six months. In this meeting (affectionately called General Conference), we get to hear from our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The topics are both inspired and inspirational. This conference, a BIG announcement was made. (drum roll please)

New Mission Ages:
     Boys-18
     Girls-19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls used to have to wait until they were 21 to be able to serve a full time mission but now they can leave when they're just NINETEEN!!! Of course, the boys' minimum age has been lowered as well, but since all the boys I know are already gone, it really doesn't affect me much :) This is fantastic news!!! Because of this announcement, many more women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will be able to serve a full-time (18 months) mission.

After prayerful consideration, I've decided that now is not the right time for me to leave. I'm not sure why, I'm perfectly willing to go and in fact would like to go at some point. For whatever reason, I feel great peace in the fact that if the Lord wanted me to go, I would in an instant. However, many of my friends have decided that a mission is what's right for them at this point in their lives and are planning on leaving within the next year.

This is where my week becomes hard. Like all of you, I often feel lonely. Not that I don't do fun things with fun people, I feel like my life is always a party :) But sometimes you just don't feel very loved. As I started hearing about all of my dearest friends leaving me for a year and a half, these feelings grew as I realized how much more alone I would be next year. Today, when I thought about all the things I had to do, the fear of facing them alone overwhelmed me to the point of tears. As I dropped to the floor, a weeping pile, I prayed to my Heavenly Father to help me be strong and be able to complete all that I needed to.

Not long after, a talk by President Deiter F. Uchtdorf came to mind.

You Are Not Forgotten

Please, take a second to look at this. It will be worth the one minute and fifty-three seconds :)

I'm not sharing this story to receive sympathy or cookies from anyone (although I always like cookies...) I can't remember the last time I've shared anything this intimate with someone who I'm not extremely close with.

I'm sharing this because I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude for a God in heaven who knows my name. Gratitude that He cares about my circumstances and my feelings. Gratitude that He would let me go through hard things so that I can progress. I encourage any of you that are experiencing these same feelings of loneliness and inadequacy to go to your knees and pray. Maybe you've never prayed before in your life, but I know there's someone who hears you. Not only does He hear you, He cares. "If life's too hard to stand, kneel."

Friends, your future is as bright as your faith :)

Why in the World I am Starting a New Blog!

Now I know what you're thinking- didn't Linda try to start a blog like six months ago and it was the most pointless decision she ever made? Yes, that's very true and an embarrassing time in my life that I try not to think about:) BUT, if anyone is willing to give me a second chance at this crazy blogging business, I would like to explain why I'm so determined to succeed this time around.

At Brigham Young University where I go to school, we are required to take a religion class on the New Testament. In my section (shout out to Bro Griffin for just being the greatest darn teacher around!), we are required to do a semester long project that somehow betters us as people by increasing our testimony in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For my project, I have decided to read Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage and blog about my experience once a week.

This book is like a bajillion and five pages long and discusses the the life and mission of Jesus Christ. I've been wanting to read this book for a while now, and I figure that this is the perfect opportunity!

I know that I'm connected many people who are unfamiliar with the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka the MORMONS). I promise my goal with this blog is not to push my beliefs on you or convince you that you're going to Hell. That's definitely not my goal here! I want nothing but sunshine and rainbows for all of you :) I've just realized recently how many of my friends know that I am Mormon but have no idea what that means, and I'd like to clear that up.

So please, if you have any questions about anything I post, please let me know. The whole point of this project is to help people understand why this Church is such a huge part of who I am and how I live my life. If I do unintentionally offend you, please let me know that as well. I would be devastated if my thoughts were hurtful to anyone and I couldn't clear things up.

Anyway, personally, I'm really super duper pumped about all of this!

Have a lovely Sunday!