Purpose of Life...To Learn

I struggled with whether or not to post about my latest thoughts & feelings, but my heart won the battle with my ego this time and although my ego is fighting me by saying "people will think your are an idiot" my heart tells me that I am surrounded by LOVE.  so although these thoughts are my own they are ones that I would like to share with any and all that may read them.
     
A line from a scripture has stuck with me the last couple of days.  I recently read Jacob 7:26 "I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our LIVES passed away like as it were unto us a DREAM..." a primary song also came to mind after reading this sentence..."row row row your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream." LIFE IS BUT A DREAM...What kind of dream am I creating?   I realize how often we choose to create nightmares in our own lives. Just like the primary song indicates we are to live our lives MERRILY(cheerful way, brisk & lively way) How often do we hear the word "Awake" in the scriptures, which indicates that we are asleep.  To be asleep is to be stagnant, not moving, or to have a consciousness.

I guess you could say that I have been on my journey or quest of "Awakening" for about 5 years now.  The Purpose of life is to LEARN.  To awaken is to see (D&C 76 116-119), feel, move, be alert, arise. I feel as though my heart was the one that needed the awaking. We are living a dream away from our Heavenly Family, but as we awaken our hearts & learn line upon line, precept upon precept, we will "see" how much good surrounds us.  We will "feel" and radiate the LOVE that is within all of God's children.  We will be "moved" to action to serve all of God's children. We will "arise" & let the light of Christ shine.  I feel as though I can't adequately articulate how big of an impact this study had on me.  My intention of documenting this is not to be preachy, but maybe to spark a study of your own,  possibly even an awakening.  I might add to the statement I made above.  The purpose of this life is to LEARN...to LOVE.

Here are a few quotes from some books that I have been reading.  I love to get lost. Sometimes it's in the pages of a biography or murder mystery & yes your occasional romance.  More recently it's been in the pages of books that make me think, reflect, ponder, meditate, become open, books that push me to stretch my thought process past the surface and to dig deeper.  I love to be challenged, but I'm not sure challenged is the right word.  I love the books that make you feel like you can become elevated.  These 2 quotes below seem to fit well with my scripture study. (D& C 90:15) "become acquainted with all good books".

Eckhart Tolle

Quote #1: Be present as the watcher of your mind -- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations.  Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react.  Notice also how often your attention is in the past or future.  Don't judge or analyze what you observe.  Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction.  Don't make a personal problem out of them.  You will then feel something more powerful than any of those things that you observe: the still, observing presence itself behind the content of your mind, the silent watcher.

Quote #2: Many expressions that are in common usage, and sometimes the structure of language itself, reveal the fact that people don't know who they are.  You say: "He lost his life" or "my life," as if life were something that you can possess or lose.  The truth is: you don't have a life, you are life. The One Life, the one consciousness that pervades the entire universe and takes temporary form to experience itself as a stone or blade of grass, as an animal, a person, a star or a galaxy.

Can you sense deep within that you already know that? Can you sense that you already are That?

Death is not the opposite of life.  Life has no opposite.  The opposite of death is birth.  Life is eternal.

Greatest American Tradition

 I set goals back in January like most of us, that would make me stretch. I get really comfortable in my own little world and routines. One of my goals was to stop being that girl or person that said "That sounds fun we should totally do that". or "Yeah we should plan something sometime" and never follow through with it.  I set a goal to follow through, if I wanted to have a girls night;  I would do it, or if I wanted to go on a trip; I would start planning.  I also wanted to follow through with my word.  If I said I was going to do something I wanted to be my word!!  Well this trip was part of working on the goal.

One of the greatest American traditions is the road trip.  Every once and awhile I realize that sometimes my life traps me and before I know it, another year is gone & I haven't enjoyed the moments in my life.  I had met some pretty amazing girls this summer and wanted take a road trip home, to share with them what I love about Southern Utah.  Let's be honest road trips are great for getting to know each other better:)

These 2 quickly became those girlfriends that seem to take a lifetime to find.

I can't say we did anything extravagant but we didn't need to. We did all those awesome, simple things great friends do that we may take for granted. We talked, we ate, watched a few embarrassing home videos of my Steve Erkle impression, talked some more, hiked Zion's, swam, went golfing & went to Tuacahn's Aladdin.  Here are a few shots that we captured along the way.

SOOO EXCITED!!

ALMOST THERE...

TUCKERED THEM RIGHT OUT:)

SUCH A GOOD TIME

PERFECT WEATHER FOR TUACAHN

POSSIBLE LPGA PLAYER RIGH HERE!

 Couldn't help but put this one up... I was half temped to just post pictures off all of CC's faces, but decided against it this time. 

It was such a great weekend.  I was with my family(who I absolutely love being with), the weather was perfect & I was able to learn and share with those that I was surrounded by.  It was one of those weekends that you experience a change because you allow the light of others to teach you.  I'm so grateful for the blessing of friendship.  Not just with the girls that I brought with me, but the friendship I share with my Mom, Dad, Sisters, Brothers, my Sister/Brother in Laws, my nieces and nephews.  They truly are some of my best friends.  Love you guys!

Rasp"berry" FUN

Raspberry Day's in Bear Lake always brings the family together...I'll be honest.  I love me some raspberries, but raspberry shakes just don't do it for me! Now that we got that out of the way we can continue on with the other good stuff.  As many of you know; I absolutely love being with family! Well the first weekend of August was no exception.  We were able to have everyone except Amy(my little sister) & Devin (Brother-in-law) together.  I can't wait for next year.  

DAY AT THE LAKE

RASPBERRY DAY PARADE

RANCH HAND BREAKFAST

BAPTISM, GOLF, FOUR WHEELING

"Things to Chew On"

  I recently was told that I was not as open as I claimed to be.  This gave me pause because I feel that I am a very open individual.  Then I realized how many different ways being open can be taken. Open- Minded, Open to Love, to Feelings, to feedback, open with communication... To be open has so many different meanings.  So am I less open then I claim to be?!  Maybe, in some areas, but here are my thoughts.

- Open to me means reserving judgement, trusting, having an equally strong belief in everyones potential, being self aware enough to recognize ones own blind spots and the value of all perspectives. 

- Open is the polar opposite of guarded, defensive, hiding, closed down, afraid, self protecting.

- Open is Courageous, Humble, Powerful, Willing, Accepting, LIGHT, Unconditional.

- Open(ness) comes natural. It doesn't have rules or regulation to follow. Open doesn't have to look a certain way. One's openness is not defined by a single moment or event.

- Open is individualized and generalized 

- Open is not forced, but living in the moment

- Open roots you (This one might make you think:)

- Open is not limited, or restricted. 

- Open is LOVE

I feel as if there is a strong shift taking place in the way people are thinking.  We no longer want to be held back by judgement and someone else’s idea of normal. As my personality develops and my needs become more unique, I am bound to start seeing how my path diverges from others’. All the while, we hold on to our commonalities and seek new ways to connect with our fellow human beings. Between the pull to connect and the pull to specialize, we find ourselves challenged with new ideas and old ones. Changes are naturally seen as foreign and suspicious. We inevitably form opinions about others who make choices which contract with our own.

Now these opinions can go one of two ways. Firstly, they can shape our view to become narrow(limited perspective) – singling anything out of our scope as bad or wrong. Yes, perhaps wrong for you, however, right for someone else or as I like to say "there is no right or wrong" only "working and not working". What works for you might not work for someone else.  Secondly, it can be used to grow our perspective. Growing our perspective is what is referred to as ‘being open’. Although indirectly, taking noticing about how others differ from you can allow you to make choices about how you will continue to treat people. Instead of reacting with fear to another person’s choice – because this choice for you would have bad consequences – you can choose to act with perspective.

I Look at it this way. You are a religious person and you meet an atheist. You, a strong believer in faith, can (a) treat this person with an attitude expressing your view as better, or as RIGHT or (b) understand that this atheist holds their own beliefs because of their unique life experiences and that they are entitled to their own choices. 

Being open can go a long way towards bridging communication between people with opposing views as well as those who have the same views. Also, being open can free you from narrow black-and-white descriptions of things, giving you room to express freedom, creativity, preferences and much more. Thirdly, being a person who is open demonstrates your skills to accept, understand, grow, mature and, above all, strive for greater things...such as to live a life of LOVE.

I found the following questions in a book that I was reading a while back and liked them so much I thought I would share.

Ask yourself these questions now, and think about what it means to be someone who can achieve ‘being open’:

• Am I willing to push past my assumptions and take the time to understand why people act the way they do?
• What will I lose when I refuse to judge people according to my view of the world? What does being RIGHT really mean to me?
• How can I find a way to act, that will free someone from unfair oppressing expectations?

OPEN ARMS:) hahaha couldn't resist

Oh The Places We Go...

I'll let the pictures tell the story! Summer vacation...

 June 25th-29th

June 29th-July 2nd 

July 2nd-6th

July 4th in BOSTON was amazing!!

Me "Mor" ial Day Weekend

As many of you know I love going home to (Hurricane)...So this past weekend I decided that although I love going home because of family; I also love going home because of where it is!  I feel like Hurricane is a hidden treasure that hasn't yet been discovered or ruined with over population and commercialism.   There is so much to do within a 10-30 min drive from my humble abode.

Zion's National Park

Gotta Love I-phone Pictures

   My Sister Amber and her family were able to come with us.  We hiked to all 3 Emerald pools with them since they still have semi-small little ones:) They all did awesome!  We had some good moments on this little hike.

1) Bathroom Dance (Shaylee needed to go to the bathroom)...Sorry Amber!!

2) Addison was our Fearless leader...no but seriously she was a quick little hiker. But when she ran out of juice she really runs out of juice.

3) Shaylee was holding my hand down the hike and fell in some sand & I thought she had her feet under her and then I realized I was dragging her through the sand!

Shaylee, Addison, Myself and Rana excited for our hike:)

After we ate lunch Rana and I went back to do Angels Landing...It's been a few years for me! I absolutely love it.

It doesn't look like it, but I was at the highest point on top of Angels Landing!

Post Angel's Landing...Such a good DAY!

   So on Sunday we went to church the next morning & it was one of the most interesting sundays I have had in a while.  I just have to say that being in the Primary Presidency is probably one of the hardest jobs in the church.  I know, I know,  some of you are shaking your head thinking that there are so many other calling that are harder.  Let me spell it out for you.  Not only do they have to deal with kids, they have sharing time, birthdays, and bulletin boards to decorate, weekly talk schedules, planning a yearly program, scouts, achievement days, & last but not least you also have to deal with the teachers.  I couldn't believe how many teacher would just leave town without finding a substitute for their class...Anywho, because I was visiting and happen to know someone in the presidency I was asked to substitute last min.  As I was teaching the lesson to the 9-10 year old boys about the conversion story of Limhi's father, I realized how easily as adults we miss what a blessing it is to be among his children. 3rd Nephi 11: 37 we are to become like them.

My friend Rana did have an admirer :) He loved that she would listen to all the of interesting things he had to say which were many! Priceless face...Thanks Rana you were such a sport! 

GOLF

Sand Hallow is Beautiful

Finished off the trip with a little SnoKaps!!

hOw tO sEe & ReMeMbEr...

    I recently read Henry B. Eyrings talk "How to See and Remember God's Kindness"  I feel as though I have been asleep spiritually lately & needed to experience a personal awaking... I had this very visual image of sleeping soundly and having a pail of ice cold water thrown on me (It woke me quickly, but I wasn't happy) vs. the other visual of waking naturally after a good nights sleep to the sun peeking through my window(Much more peaceful and pleasant experience).   I feel like I sometimes expect my Heavenly Father to be holding that "Pail of Water." Even though that thought brings a smile to my face, I prefer the light that comes through my window to be coming from him waiting for me to finally wake up & to see that everything in life is good and he is waiting to teach me line upon line.

   Every once and a while I feel as though the "Pail" is needed in order for me to wake up.  I'm not sure if the Pail of water represents anything specific other then what's specific to every individual.  Maybe your pail is a huge trial that opens your eyes wide enough to draw closer to your Father in Heaven.  Maybe, your pail is a bad relationship, a health issue, losing a loved one, self-confidence issues.  Whatever our "Pail" remember it is there to help us See and Remember God's Kindness!

  This talk allowed me to recognize all of the good things that God does for me on a daily basis.  I'm not the best journal keeper...(Does this blog count?) but I have decided to make an effort in being more conscious to all the blessings he does bestow, which are many.  I believe it's easy to get mad or unhappy when we have a trial(or pail of ice cold water thrown in our face), but to keep the perspective that God wants us to be happy changes everything.  Take a moment and think of what your reaction would be to being waken up with a pail of water and the difference between if it was your Father in Heaven vs. someone else that was doing the waking up.  
   I feel like my thoughts don't flow as clearly when I have something that was extremely powerful for me, but here it is documented...Happy Day!