Friends

I once heard that if you can count on one hand five good friends, then you are lucky. Well whoever said that is a total moron. Just kidding. I'm not even sure if anyone has ever said that before, but chances are SOMEONE SOMEWHERE has said that statement. And if they did, then I agree with it...and if no one has said it before then I take credit for its wisdom. Because I love friends...not just the acquaintance type friends that make you feel popular at church or at a LAN party....but the real friends. The good ones, the close ones, the ones that truly make an impact on your life. The ones that really matter. I consider a good friend not only someone that I can have great times with, but someone that I can call up at any time and divulge my every thought and feeling - the good and the bad - and know that not only will they listen, but they will desire to help, love and support me through all of it. It's also someone who can throw you back into reality when perhaps you can't see it...someone who will tell you when your hair looks bad and that you need to "take it out of that dykish pony tail" (direct quote from one of the best). I love feeling close to the people that are important in my life and a part of that is being able to talk to them about things that are near and dear to me. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family in my life who are willing to listen.

There are a few girls out there who know me inside and out and who have helped me through so much in my life. Some of these friends live far away and many I don't see every day, but I always know they are there for me. Honestly I probably would have made some really crazy decisions without them. But then again, they've probably facilitated other pretty crazy decisions as well! I'll list all those crazy decisions out in my next blog post. From the small things in life like needing someone to talk to after losing an intense game of Spider Solitaire to some of the hardest trials in life - I've always had people to pick up the phone and call when I've needed them. Most of the time it's all about laughter and being sarcastic because my friends are hilarious, - but luckily when occasion calls for it in addition to the silliness I can talk about the most serious things in life such as the oil crisis, endangered species and communism in Cuba. Among a few other things, too.


Even if I don't have a million different people I can call friends and even if I'm not voted most popular in this years yearbook - I know that my life is so much more fulfilling and rich because of the few close friends that I do have. If I never made another friend again in my life I still feel like I'd have all the love and support I need because of the life long friends I already have. For that I am so incredibly grateful. Shout out to all my homegirls, including the ones in prison! I love my friends and hope that I can be the kind of friend to others that my friends are to me.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I really hate that song. Don't Worry Be Happy. Sorry Bobby, I don't know why but it really bugs me. But it does have a great message even though the song itself doesn't do it for me. It's a great motto - Don't Worry Be Happy!!!

If there's something in your life that you are frustrated with or that you are unhappy about, do something to fix it! Whatever it may be - job, social life, spirituality, relationships, etc. If you aren't where you want to be then make a plan to fix it! And remember, complaining about problems does not make them go away!! So if you find yourself complaining a lot and not doing anything to fix the situation...then just stop. Please stop. There's no use for that and if you're not making the efforts to make it better then you really have no right to complain...right!?!

Although I know that there are many things in life that we have no control over...I feel just as strongly that there are SOO MANY things in life that we do have FULL control over. So most of the time if we are unhappy or frustrated then it is our own problem and it is up to us to find a solution. Beyond that, when things happen to us that aren't fully in our control that frustrate us I still feel like it doesn't give us justification to settle for unhappiness. Because in these cases we always have the choice of how we will react to the situation.

We get a limited time here in Earth. Why spend a second too long being unhappy? Whatever situation you are in, do everything you can to make it what you want it to be, then just decide to be happy. Never ever settle for unhappiness. Make happiness happen. Listen to more Bobby McFerrin or in my case the Beatles...their music always makes me happy!

I Came To Win

This is going to sound really pathetic. But there is a hip hop/rap song on the radio right now that inspires me. Really, it gets me all emotional and literally makes my eyes tear up everytime I hear it. To be honest I'm not even really sure what the entire song is about, I don't think it's your typical rap song about boats and hoes, but who knows maybe it is and the white girl in me never saw it coming. So maybe I'm crying to a song about a stripper and making love in da club - who knows - but there are some lyrics in the chorus of the song that totally gets to me because I guess I'm applying them to situations in my life past and present. The song is a Nikki Minaj song called "Fly" and the lyrics are these:


"I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
to fly, to fly"

Is anyone else crying right now? Like a pregnant lady watching Little Women, right? Maybe you just have to listen to it. She actually sings it really pretty in the chorus. Hahah I really don't know what it is, but I love the lyrics. It makes me think about life and our purpose of being here. None of us were sent to this Earth to fail or to feel defeated. We all came to win. To conquer, to thrive, survive and prosper. I know that we all have so many times when we feel absolutely defeated and feel like giving up. Well don't. Even if there are things we fail at in life, as long as we pick back up and keep pushing to get through it then we will be victorious. There will be sadness, there will be heartache and hard times, but we came to conquer all of this and to rise above it. So don't let it overcome you and define what your life is. You came to win, so act like it and always be aiming to fly, even when you feel like you're grounded.

I have been inspired by a rap song. My next post will be about how Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back" changed my life back in '92.

Change

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become."

I love this quote.

Obligations and Desires

Obligations. Things that we have a sense of duty for and that we know we should do. To be honest I’ve never been a fan of obligations. Not because I don’t believe in having a sense of duty, or doing the right things; I just believe in doing these things for the RIGHT REASON, rather than because you feel obligated.

There have been many instances in my life when I’ve felt obligated to do something. In most cases If I feel obligated and if someone is counting on me, I will do it – no questions asked. I’m sure most people out there are the same way. However, in these instances where I do something purely because I feel obligated, the experience in itself is much different than it would’ve been if I would have done the act on my own accord with my heart in the right place. This is where my frustration with obligations comes from. If you truly are obligated to do something, and there truly is a sense of duty that you have to do it, then it is probably something you should want to do and something you should be willing to do on your own accord, aside from the obligation. Your heart should be in the right place…to the point where it doesn’t become an obligation anymore, it becomes a desire. Therefore, I don’t think obligations should really exist; rather they should be replaced by righteous desires. Because like I said, if you feel obligated then obviously there is a certain expectation and a certain duty you should be fulfilling and in most cases it is a good thing. There might be certain circumstances where you could feel obligated to do something that isn’t right…in those cases the logic of my blog is completely thrown out the window, so for now we will ignore those haha. But if it is an obligation that sets you to a higher standard, one that you know you should be at, then it is up to you to turn it into a righteous desire rather than an obligation and that comes from within yourself and in your heart.

Once our attitude towards these “obligations” change and we truly see them as opportunities to grow or to do the right thing we can get so much more out of the experiences we have. Perhaps our actions haven’t changed one bit, we are still doing the same things, but the attitude can truly make all the difference. I know that having righteous desires in our lives can change them dramatically because it leads us to accomplishing and doing more good than we ever thought possible. The starting point is having that desire, and if it isn’t something that is already there for us as we fulfill our obligations than there are definitely things we can do to obtain those righteous desires. I really loved one of the conference talks this past April by Dallin H. Oaks that talked about righteous desires. He speaks on the topic so perfectly. You can read it here if you haven’t read it or heard it before: http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/desire?lang=eng

Having the right desires in life will lead us to accomplishing all the right things and in all the right ways and with the right attitude. It’s the beginning step to true happiness and joy.

Reach for it!

"There are powers inside of you
which, if you could discover and
use, would make of you everything
you ever dreamed or imagined
you could become."

I can't imagine what this world would be like if each and every individual was able to recognize their true potential and continually strive to fulfill it. I truly believe that each of us were created with a divine destiny and that our conquest in life is to realize the divinity within ourselves and become the person that we were meant to be.

My biggest fear in life is never reaching my full potential, or not accomplishing all of the things that I could have done in my lifetime. Rather than allowing the fear to paralyze me, my hope is to use it as a catalyst to work harder at realizing my potential, and then doing what it takes to meet that potential during this life.

It's difficult to ever really know exactly what you have the potential to do. I think the key is to live a life where you are continually progressing and finding opportunities to improve yourself and others around you. A huge stumbling block in the way of progression is complacency. I hate complacency! I don't think anyone should be just fine with being "average" or only doing what it takes to get by. Who are we to be average? I don't think God created us to be average or to use our time on earth to just slide by. The greatest thing of all is that there isn't one person out there who can claim that they are only meant to be average or that they can't be something great. We are all children of God and meant to be powerful and wonderful. It would be a shame if we didn't recognize that and do something about it.

Push yourself to do better. Be uncomfortable, because sometimes that's what it takes to grow. You have to stretch out of your comfort zone to ever progress - and the more you do the more your "comfort zone" will expand and you will find that your abilities are so much more than you could imagine. Until those steps are made - no matter how big or small the steps may be - that "comfort zone" can't expand and it's a guarantee that opportunities in life will be missed.

"Many are called, but few are chosen." All of us have been called to be someone and do something great. Sadly, in the end there are only few that will be "chosen." The way I interpret someone who is "chosen" is that it is someone who fulfills what they were expected to do in life to the full capacity that they could. The only forces that can keep us from doing this is our own complacency and inability to recognize our true potential. If we are esteemed so highly by God himself, our Creator, then who are we to say we don't have it within ourselves to be chosen? Choose to be chosen.

DONE!

I did it!!

Half Marathon/13.1 mile race COMPLETE baby!

Even though I trained pretty well for it, it was still hard. I am NOT naturally a runner, but have somewhat been forcing myself to be one since the beginning of the year. Towards the end I really thought I was going to puke, and even had to cover my mouth with my hand as I crossed the finish line so I didn't end up puking my guts on any of the spectators. Kind of pathetic, I know...but I finished!! And I did it 10 minutes before my goal time so I ain't complaining. It was hard, but an awesome accomplishment and another thing to check off the list. I definitely want to do more races and even a triathlon in October - but I think it will be a while before I attempt another half marathon. Right after the race me, Ryan, Anna and Daniel ordered two large pizzas and pretty much devoured it all. After which I marched straight to my bed and slept for five hours. Oh yeah, I did shower at some point to...I think.