A Word of Advice

When things don't go exactly the way you planned, talk to someone who loves and understands you to help you sort things out. Then, listen to some really happy music and dance around like no one is watching. Oh, and take a moment to consider the good things in your life. Things don't always go according to plan, but you can always find something to be thankful for. That's my piece of advice to you today.

To Complain or not to Complain...

I suppose this is really obvious, but sometimes we need a reminder of the obvious because it's those things that we so frequently put aside and ignore, right? So I was just thinking today how easy it is to complain. Each of us, quite easily, could find one if not many things to complain about in a single day. Or if we don't complain we at least look at things in a negative light which will inevatibly put us in bad spirits as long as we allow those things to bring us down. For example:

My hair is being dumb today (something I've thought on more than one occasion :) )

I really wish so and so would contact me

They did so much better than I did or could ever do

Nobody ever cleans up around here

I've got too much to do all the time!

These are just some of the thoughts that might come up, and I've experienced them all at one point or another, so I have a little bit of an idea of what I'm talking about :) But here's the deal. In a lot of these situations, I've come to realize that we want to blame other things or people other than ourselves. We could sit around a mope that certain things are the way they are or how we wish something would just magically happen, but the chances are that it won't get you anywhere. If you want those things to happen, do something about it! If so and so hasn't contacted you in a while, why not try contacting them? Many times it seems that we try to put all the fault on something and disregard the fact that some of the fault lies with us as well. So nobody is cleaning up around the apartment. Take a moment: are you guilty of that as well? You can't rightly complain against other people if you aren't even willing to do your part and put forth some effort to change things. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

Complaining gets you nowhere. In fact, it leaves you worse of than before. It will make you grumpy and irritable and depressed, and it will negatively effect those around you too. No one likes a whiner. It's so easy to pick out the negative things in our life, but if we truly wanted we could see all the good in our life as well. We can make it into a habit, and we will be happier because of it.

I've come to realize that much of happiness depends on our own choice. Really, sometimes it's as simple as telling ourselves, "Okay, I'm done with being grumpy. I'm going to be happy!" If you really mean it, you have the ability to rid yourself of the sadness we so often bring upon ourselves. Now I recognize that it's not always that easy. Sometimes we need help to get out of those ruts. For some people it's just harder, but all people are capable of happiness.

So instead of focusing on all the negative aspects of your day, focus on all the good things in the day. Can't think of anything? What about all those things you take for granted on a daily basis: family, friends, home, food, nice weather, letters, blogs, crafts, whatever it is that you enjoy. If you're having a bad day, change it. You can't control all things that will come your way. Some days just suck. There's no getting around it. But even in those times we can find the good.

I feel like I'm starting to repeat myself. Hopefully that means you'll get the point! Recently, my way of helping me sort things out, get my emotions back in order, or as I like to say, refocus my chi, is by going on walks. These walks can be with someone or on your own. Personally, I like to have the alone time to get away from everything that may be bothering me: school, people :) , etc. I like to walk to one of the parks around here, take some time for introspection, or to read a book, or to write in my journal, or something of the like. Sometimes it's just nice to get out and just let your mind rest. So my tip for the day: take a walk! Besides, if you're any where as busy as I claim to be (the truth lies more in my procrastination I believe), it's a good excuse to make time for a little exercise :)

Remember to take some time for you. Don't let your brain go on overload. Been there. Done that. It's not a fun experience. You need a break every once in a while. Just don't let those breaks talk over all your time.

So in conclusion, try to focus more on the positive in life. Complaining won't help you in this endeavor. In fact it won't help you in any endeavor, and it will hold you back more than anything. Here are just a few things I'm grateful for today:

1. The snow this year hasn't lasted for more than a day at a time thus far. Quite an unusual phenomena for Rexburg.

2. There are so many great people here I've had the pleasure to meet and become friends with!

3. I'm getting an education. Yeah, I complain about that a lot, but really, it's a great blessing.

4. It's sunny :)

5. I did better on my midterm than I thought I would. Huzzah!

6. I've officially registered for my last set of classes without any further troubles! I was a little worried about some things, but it all worked out.

So there you have it! Those are just a few. What are you grateful for today?

And of course I'm grateful for these people. Love you family :)

The Power of Positive Thinking

First of all, I like to give a shout out to my wonderful family. I know I've done this a few times but you can never tell your family how much you appreciate and love them too many times right? Today I had a nice long talk with Megan (it was awesome just to sit and talk forever), and among other things I started to think of how grateful I am for my family especially since I can just sit and talk with them for hours. Times of change are coming. Megan and I are both graduating in April and then a new adventure will begin for us (scary but exciting!). Stuart and Laura are starting a new adventure of their own in the form of heading to California for Chiropractic school. I kind of miss having them around....especially since for the first time in my college career I have to keep track of quarters just so I can have clean underwear.... I'm really excited for them though. Mom and Dad, you rock my socks and even when we are so far away from each other, you still manage to keep me entertained :) Love you! And my baby brother is finish his associates. He's growing up :) Ha ha. Well the point is, I love you family and though times are changing, I'll still love you no matter what and we'll still find time to hang out I'm sure :)

Okay onto the second thought process of this post. As I mentioned, I talk with Megan for a really long time today and I came to realize something. I can be really hard on myself (it's an easy thing to do really) and it sometimes causes problems (i.e. stress, sadness, you get the idea). Then it dawned on me: I need a shift in my attitude. I always use phrases like "Will you read this to see if it really sucks that bad" or have mindsets like "I really need to lose weight so I can be beautiful." So perhaps my thoughts aren't like that verbatim, but I realized that part of the reason it's so easy for me to be hard on myself and fall into that occasional depression is simply because of the things I say to myself or how I phrase things. My roommate Sara was talking to me yesterday and mention how at one point when she was able to lose weight it was mostly because she changed her mindset. As soon as she started telling herself she was beautiful and came to believe it, she was able to lose the weight she needed to lose.

This idea popped into my head when I was telling Megan that she would have to read a story that I'm working on to see how much it sucked. I then corrected myself by saying something like "I mean so you can see how wonderful it is." At that moment, with that simple change of attitude/positive word choice I actually felt much better about myself. It was one of those "aha" moments where I realized that I'm the only one bringing myself down. No one else tells me I suck at this or that. In fact, other people have been telling me good things about myself, but I counteract it with my negative thinking towards myself.

So my main point is how completely awesome I am. Ha ha nah my point is mostly a message to myself to stop being so negative. And my advice to you is don't be so hard on yourself either! You are your own worst critic. Start viewing life in a positive way. You'll be a lot happier with yourself and your life in general. Give it a try!

Now it's time to do my homework....stay positive. Stay positive!!!

Night all.