Can I Give 1%?

Did you know that 15 minutes is 1% of your day. 

I am most happy when I study the teachings of Jesus Christ. I am most happy when I take time to study the scriptures. Living a healthy life is also living a healthy spiritual life. 

I was thinking we have been asked to study the scriptures everyday. Then during one of my group scripture studies someone pointed out to me that 15 minutes of scripture is only 1% of your day. Is it that hard to give 1% of your day to the Lord? 

Then it got me thinking can't I give more than 1% of my time to serving, or teaching, or learning about Jesus Christ and his gospel? I began thinking about tithing and how we pay 10% of what we earn to the Lord and his church, wouldn't it seem like we should at least be giving 10% of our time to the Savior, so we can be instruments for him to bring people to the gospel? 

10% of your day is 144 minutes thats 2 hours and 24 min. I am not saying that this time should just be studying the scriptures, but if we get so busy in our lives that we can't give the Lord, who gave us everything he had, 10% of what he has already given us, shouldn't we filter out some of the less productive things in our life to make us happier by giving back to our Savior? If 10% seems like too much at least strive to make time for 1% of your day to get to know our Savior better. Can you give 1%?

I Love...

This past week my cousin came home from serving an LDS mission. He started his talk off stating he was not blessed with public speaking, the very next words were "But I love Jesus Christ". It was instantly then the entire congregation became silent and his entire talk was his testimony. He battles with Asbergers Disease. Yet the Atonement allowed him to serve a mission, and for him to bring people to the gospel. 

Also this past week I was able to go to my friend's Baptism. This child of God, was someone I would have never expected to accept the teachings of the LDS faith, yet he did.

 These two experiences taught me a lot about love. Yes I know, how did a baptism and a homecoming teach me about love? Well, I believe that when we LOVE Jesus Christ he will fill in all the spaces missing in our life. 

Imagine the kind of love that performs miracles. The kind of love that accepts everyone. The kind of love that is within all of us. This kind of love is the pure love of Christ. I have been thinking a lot about charity lately and how I can acquire more of it in my life. I realized that to have more love for other people you need to love Jesus Christ more deeply. My cousin's mission president had a theme for their mission and it said:

 " Obedience is the Price. 

Faith is the Power.

 Love is the Motive. 

The Spirit is the Key. 

Christ is the Reason."

I have realized that being obedient is a great way to start, Faith is the way to act. Love is the way to move forward. The Spirit tells you the direction. And Jesus Christ is the person that makes everything possible. 

The pure love of Christ not only allows us the use His power but to become like Him more than we could ever imagine. His power is Happiness. His power is Love.

finding a purpose

It amazes me how the world molds and shapes our minds to believe that we have to look a certain way, dress a certain way, weigh a certain weight, live in a certain kind of home, drive a certain kind of car, and work our way towards a certain career so to speak in order to be somebody. In order to be "ideal".  In order to be of worth. 

I truly believe that in order to be in a healthy, happy state, we need to push aside the worldly views and appreciate who we are as individuals.  We are all different, and all of great worth. There is no "ideal" person.  That is the beauty of this world.  There has never been one individual exactly alike.  Ever.  And I believe that it is not a coincidence.

It is important to live up to your best self and be happy with it.  Living up to your best self does not include molding yourself to be what the world says you should be.  And as hard as it is to push that aside, the already skewed perspective,  the more you do it,  the more you realize who you are and what your great purpose is. When we have purpose, it is amazing what one individual can accomplish. 

Finding your purpose is the first step to a happier, healthy life.  I found my purpose here.  A divine purpose that has provided me with happiness that has never left me, and I believe never will.  They say to find joy in the journey, but I heard someone else say that the journey is the reward.  

Like What You Love.

So, I follow Emma Watson on Facebook.
I know, I have fallen into the trap of celebrity stalker, but don't judge me. Emma Watson is so cool.

But I digress.

I follow Emma Watson on Facebook, and she (or one of the many people who work for her) posted this quote:

Don't feel stupid if you don't like what everybody else pretends to love.

We've talked a lot about loving yourself. Well, a big part of loving yourself is liking what you love. 

Let me explain. 

It's so easy to get caught up in trends. We listen to the cool music because it's on the radio. We buy the cool clothes because the models wear them. We want the cool phone because the cool people have it. For some strange reason, we (as human beings) have come to the conclusion that if we act like everyone else we deem as "popular", we will become like those people. Known, liked, imitated. 

People spend their whole lives doing things they hate because they think it makes them cool. 

Can I tell you a not-so-secret? It's not cool to hate yourself. If you're ashamed of something you like because it's a bit nerdy, don't be. Honestly, everyone has their nerdy little secrets. It's also not cool to act like someone else when you don't actually like the things they're doing. 

Smoking? Not cool. 

Drugs? Not cool. 

Obviously. 

But even silly little things like music, TV shows, books, fashion styles... sometimes, we're afraid to say we don't like them because they're so popular. Who cares if you don't like The Hunger Games? Who cares if you don't like The Office? Who cares if you don't wear colored jeans? Who cares if you don't like Mumford & Sons or Inception? I don't.

The best person you can be is you. The best thing you can do is find out who you are. Like what you love, recognize what you don't, and love yourself. There's no healthier way of living.

The Happiness Advantage

Sometimes being happy is a matter of changing the way we look at the world. 

I love this message from Shawn Anchor 

about the advantages of choosing the see the world

in a positive and happy way.

Listen for his suggestions at the end for proven ways

 to train your brain to think more positively! 

It's like creating a healthy habit, for your brain.

 

I, for one, am going to try it out.

Poison of Good Relations.

I know this blog is about healthiness and happiness. I also know that my sisters and I have talked about choosing happiness. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, but I have a bit more to say on the subject.

For me, a big part of growing up has been learning when I'm wrong, learning that I can be wrong and right at the same time, learning that anger achieves nothing save for heartache and misery. I took this personality test a few months ago. It puts you into one of sixteen categories, and mine just happened to be the most rare. (Heh.) As I was reading about my supposed self, some of the things I read actually rang true. For example:

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubborness and tendency to ignore other people's opinions. They believe that they're right.

I'm a very logical person. When I know something to be true, I have the hardest time accepting any other opinion. If you don't believe me, my sisters would be more than willing to back me up. As a result, getting into a fight with me can be quite dicey.

I went to a party a few weeks ago, and I was talking to one of my friends about his ex. He said that, when they got into fights, it was like she thought she was on Gossip Girl. She would say some snarky comeback, aimed to hurt, and then walk away in a huff. I think that, with girls especially, the lure of getting the last word in an argument is great. At least, it is for me.

I used to think that if I just yelled enough, or if I proved someone wrong enough times, I would come out victorious. But do you know what? It never made me happy. Ever. After fights like that, whether it was with friends, my boyfriend, or my mom, I always ended feeling even more hurt and angry. In addition to that, I felt awful because I knew I hurt someone else. And it's not like they were in any hurry to talk to me after I'd so carefully planned their demise in the argument. And I wasn't any better. After all, I was the one who yelled and then walked away.

Life is not like Gossip Girl. Problems are not solved by hurting each other's feelings. Problems are solved by talking. Communicating. Listening. Even though it's so tempting to hurt someone who hurt you, don't do it. Odds are, they didn't mean to hurt you. Odds are, they're just as hurt as you are.

I'm here to tell you that I've both fought angrily and communicated calmly. I've done both with several different people, actually. It's hard to swallow your pride and actually listen sometimes. I have a hard time listening when I "know" I'm right. But every time I have listened and understood, the argument didn't turn out to be a fight after all. It turned out to be two people talking and understanding each other.  It turned out to be ok.

It turned out that I was, well, happy. :)

Key to happiness in every kind of relationship: mindless anger solves nothing.

A New Kind of Gratitude

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."

                       ~Unknown

I always thought of myself being a pretty grateful person until this year. I was going through life like I normally did but I felt different. I began to ponder about why I felt different and what I could do to change that.
 
People who know me know I am not a consistent journal writer, (why this blog will hopefully get me into a better habit). So I was thinking of ways how I could motivate and remind myself to write in my journal. Normally what would happen is it would be several months since I last wrote in my journal so it would take me a very long time to write everything I wanted to write. My solution was what I realized was the reason I wasn't very happy like a usually was. I decided to write every night 5 things I was grateful for that day. It wasn't just like my bed, food, etc. I really tried to think of things I was truly grateful for. It started out with things that I had done for myself, after a couple days it was small things that people had done for me. I had things like someone smiled at me today, or I saw someone that was really close to me.
 
I began to realize that I had forgotten how much people actually did for me. I can live my life doing as much as I can, but I came to a knowledge that I would not have done as much as I have done without all the people in my life to help me. I realized gratitude isn't just about saying "thank you", when people give you a gift or give you a ride home. Gratitude is knowing how much people do for you and being grateful for it and trying to give back in return.

The new me

{photo via pinterest}

It has now been 2 months since I have exercised on a regular basis.  Doesn't seem like that big of a deal.  Back in January I found out a few ladies in my neighborhood would work out every morning (Mon-Fri) for 1-1 1/2 hours at our near by church.  And the kids would play in the nursery room.  

For quite some time before this I was feeling pretty stuck.  I was not content with my mommy body, my teenage acne came back after having a baby, and I just seemed to be missing a portion of good self esteem that was starting to wear on me.  It seemed as if all the women around me who had just had a baby looked far better then I did, and everyone else around me that hadn't had a baby didn't quite understand what it feels like to have your body completely change on you with out your consent.  Yes, the baby is worth it ( I would do anything for my little man), but it still doesn't change the fact that even after I lost all the "baby" weight my pants never fit the same.  And over time, with the wrong attitude, my self esteem dropped. Fast.

After a while I realized that sitting around and moping about it was doing me no good.  I gained the courage to ask the ladies if I could join their group.  I had no idea what an impact it would make on me. Especially after I have gone with out it for 2 months.

3 healthy habits I have learned:

1. Exercise.  People, its only function is not just losing weight.  After about 4 weeks of consistently working out, I not only looked better, but I felt GREAT.  I didn't lose a single pound. (gasp)  I was in shape, a toner more lean body,  and little things like carrying my little man up and down stairs no longer made me pant for breath.

2. Social.  I didn't realize talking to a 2 year old all day can limit your self esteem.  I am moving in a month, completely across the country.  I thought I successfully didn't make any close enough friends to have it be a hard goodbye when we leave our neighborhood.  In a matter of a few months seeing these ladies everyday I can say I have made life long friends and would trust them with anything.  They are truly amazing and lift my spirits everyday.  It is important to have friends that are positive in life.  It's like seeing someone smile, you can't help but smile back. 

3.  Attitude.  "if your feeling blue, try painting yourself a different color." I still couldn't fit my jeans.  But with the uplifting friends and exercise I happened to gain a bit of courage.  So instead of moping about it, I went and bought jeans that did fit, and from that day on I have far less days spent looking in the mirror wishing and hoping for a better.  Change is good.  Especially motherhood. Since my change in attitude towards my body and trying to love the new me instead of always wishing for something different,  I truly feel my appreciation for motherhood has grown immensely.  I am completely in awe each day with the love I get to feel as a mother, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Even if it means getting bigger and bigger hips as the years go on.  At least,  I know what matters most.  And that perspective was all I needed for a happy heart.

Happiness Simplified

 

 

From: happinessinyourlife.com

I'm Worth It.

In the last few years, I've struggled with an issue that so many people struggle with: self-worth.

My story is not an original one. It's not even a particularly inspiring or heart-felt one. Everyone in my family weighed less than 100 lbs, and I weighed more. My mother was constantly dieting, my sisters were eating whatever they wanted and not gaining any weight, and I was eating cookie dough all the time.

The sad part is that there were many more people out there who had it worse, which only made me feel more unworthy. It's not like I was struggling with my weight. I wasn't overweight. Most people didn't even know I was having a hard time with my body image. I, however, was having the same mindset that so many people do. I was thinking that if only I could lose ten pounds, I'd be happy. If only I had a boyfriend, I'd be happy. If only I could fit into a size 2, I'd be happy.

If only, if only, if only.

Longing for something doesn't make it happen. Longing for something only makes you sad and disappointed.

After longing so long for the kind of life my sisters had (a skinny life), I heard a saying that really struck me.

If you're not happy with yourself in the present, you won't be happy with yourself in the future. 

This might take a bit of explaining. I'm all for wanting to be better and changing bad habits. But, in this context, being happy with yourself has less to do with unhealthy habits and everything to do with self-worth. If you don't think you're worth anything when you're fat, that's not gonna change if you get skinny. If you don't think you're worth anything when you're single, that's not gonna change when you get a boyfriend. If you don't think you're worth anything now, and you continue thinking about the future instead of the present, your perspective won't change.

You deserve happiness. Everyone deserves happiness. It's ok to want to be better, as long as you know that you are worth everything to somebody. You are.

It took me a long time to figure that out. Once I truly realized that my family and friends love me for me, I decided that I wanted to be healthy. I had motivation to be better.

Honestly, the way to be healthy starts in your head. So, you. Start now. Look at yourself in the mirror every single day and say these words:

I'm worth it. I. Am. Worth. It.

I don't even know you. But I know that no matter how far gone you are, no matter how lost you think you've become, no matter how overweight or lazy or lonely or unhappy you think you are, you're worth it. A loving heart has no physical form.

I believe in you.

Be Happy

Source: sayingimages.com

A quote from Sara Breathnach's book Simple Abundance:

"When we can't access our inner resources, we come to the flawed conclusion that happiness and fulfillment come only from external events. That's because external events usually bring with them some sort of change. And so we've learned to rely on circumstances outside ourselves for forward or backward momentum as we hurtle through life. But we don't have to do that any longer. We can learn to be the catalysts for our own change...

"...you already possess all you need to be genuinely happy."

I love this. 

All too often I find myself in the "I'll be happy when..." trap.

I forget that my happiness depends on only one thing--  me.

I can find and create my own happiness. 

I already possess everything I need to be happy. 

That power is inside of me.

I just have to choose to use it.