A Happy Thought in The Midst Of...

 (last year)

Its been a rough week. Like, test who you really are kind of week. Like, if it don't kill ya, it will make you stronger kind of week. And I really believe those things, that when times are tough, one can take great pride in never losing a certain optimism. And when its over, when you overcame, when you look back with the knowledge that you actually smiled and enjoyed moments of the journey because you knew what a funny story it would be to look back on how laughably bad things were, that sense of accomplishment, that pride in yourself will move you up a few notches in the got-this-life-figure-out pole. And that kind of confidence boost is priceless. And when a person gots confidence, a person can do anything. 

I believe that life is like a muscle, lets imagine our life is a bicep. And if you want a stronger, more awesome bicep, you can't just go to the gym everyday for 10 years and lift 10 lbs for a half hour. The strength will remain the same, and it will be easy. You know what you gotta do, you have to increase the weight. You have to push your limits. Because right when it starts to burn. Right when you want to stop because it hurts so bad. THAT is the moment when you grow. 

In short, I truly am grateful for when life teaches me a lesson. I would never give up the rough times I've been through to make my life easier. Looking back at who I was five years ago, I can't believe how little I knew about life! This, is a journey. An Adventure. What adventure movie can you think of where everything went right and easy? (booooooooorrrring!)

I can't wait to see what kind of person I am ten years down the road, with ten more years of muscle-growin under the belt. 

Here is us last Christmas, after the most grueling 3 months of my life (I really think so). Moving from the west coast, leaving all of our friends who had become like family, ditching so many of our loved things that we couldn't bring along, to a scary new, lonely place, with no job. And look at how good things turned out! (I will not allow this week to taint the past year as we come upon our 1 year anniversary here!)

p.s.

To those who are aware of the plumbing incident, that was definitely the straw that prompted this post, but not the only straw on my back at the moment! Thankyou for everyone who has expressed their prayers and concern during this issue and during our flu sufferings! Love you all <3

Eliminate Negativity

We should all always have AT LEAST one way we are trying to better ourselves. Here is something I’ve been working on, and I can feel the difference in my life, a lot.

You know how when your at a restaurant sometimes the waiter will come and fill up your water cup? You know how sometimes the waiter will come and fill it up after every time i make a sip? Yeah that drives me insane. And I always point it out to whoever I'm with....because it drives me insane.
Well this inspired a thought in my brain.
Just because I point out that the waiter comes to fill my water cup much too often doesn't mean that I'm not having a good time. But it's a negative comment. And any kind of negativity is just that- negative. And positive energy cannot exist when its little negative friend is stealing the attention. A little while back I realized this, and decided that I was going to try to be more positive in the tiniest ways such as this waiter with the water example.
At first I was obviously still being silently annoyed, but I would think this negative thought, decide not to voice it, and then i would either keep thinking about it and being slightly annoyed, or i would slowly forget about it and that was the end of it. Either way, I wasn't bringing negativity out into the open, where it seems bigger and more real.
After doing this for a few weeks, I think that I don't even have nearly as many of these tiny annoying thoughts as I used to. And if I have them, I don't associate them with negativity, just observations, and I'm definitely happier for it. I feel overall more positive in my daily goings on. My eyes seem to just look over these "annoyances" and not register them with my brain. I'm a happier, more positive person this way!
Something else I’ve been doing, is when I do have a random, positive thought- go back to the waiter with the water example- amplify that positive thought.

The waiter brings the water. Its good timing, I’m ready for more water. I tell the waiter, thank you so much that was perfect timing! He is happy because he came with perfect timing and is being appreciated for it, and I am happy because I made someone else happy. It’s the little things in life right?

Although I’m still working hard on this, I like to think the proton cloud circling my head has increased in size.

Happy List.

I’ve been seeing these all over the blog realm and they make me happy :) . I’m a list freak so umm ... This feels right.

LATELY IN MY HAPPY

1. blazing through a fun book
2. learning something new & awesome in photoshop
3. at the grocery store playing peek-a-b0o with Atlas around EVERY SINGLE corner
4. suddenly getting all into a new past-time/hobby that you don’t really have time for yet its strangely enjoyable and liberating…and realizing that it really doesn’t take as much time once you have it all set up as you thought it would! (umm…in the mood to blog anyone?)
5. enjoying, I mean really enjoying reading the Ensign
6. when Mike gets to work from home on his laptop
7. getting inspired to make something awesome on pinterest. Even if it never happens, I like the feeling…
8. Marshmallow Mateys for dinner
9. car sounds Atlas makes while pushing anything (such as a laundry basket) around
10. eating my 59-grams-of-whole-grain-bagels smothered in cream cheese

make a happy list. and tell me about it. it makes me happy to know my friends are happy. and it will make you happy to remember what you are happy about.