Thoughts from education week

I'm blogging right now, because it is a Friday afternoon, and the office looks like this.

Somehow I feel alright about blogging right now. Just saying...

 

Last week I went to a few classes at BYU Ed. week. It's always an awesome opportunity to go and feed your spirit a little bit. The class I enjoyed the most, was called "Heeding to the Promptings of the Spirit." It was a great opportunity for me to reflect on my life, and those times when the Spirit really has directed me to act. Most major decisions I've made in my life were preceded by some sort of spiritual influence.. It's taken my 25 years to learn how the Spirit speaks to me--and I'm still, learning.

Most often I feel that it's what Joseph Smith referred to as

 "pure intelligence"...

 "... sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.”

I love the idea of revelation from God referred to as "pure intelligence." When I think of intelligence, I think of doing things like reading, studyng and having experiences that give us added levels of intelligence. Pure Intelligence, on the other hand, is intelligence given to us from a higher power. It's the most critical understanding we could ever gain--that which God wants us to discover. I feel that the Spirit reveals things to me in this way. I have these "sudden strokes of ideas." It is much easier to play these off as our own thoughts. The hardest thing for me to come to understand in regards to this idea, is that often times the Lord wants us to do something, but it goes against our own desires, so we discredit these thoughts as "revelation." I know that many times, God has given me "thoughts" that are totally, and completely REVELATION.

 

Do this.

Stop that.

This will be hard, if you choose to not listen.

Do what you want, but it's better to follow the feeling I already gave you.

 

The speaker talked about how the Spirit will always give us warnings, and the only time that bad things happen, is when we willingly choose to ignore the feelings that God gives to us through the Spirit. Obviously there are difficult circumstances that we sometimes must pass through, simply because that is part of the purpose of this mortal experience. I get that. However; we can take control of our lives, and avoid un-necessary heart ache, by heeding to the spiritual promptings we receive. I have come to know that an important aspect of heeding spiritual promptings we receive, is following, acting, and remaining confident in the choice we have made to follow. Often we may not see an immediate effect, but we trust anyway.

We trust, and we "grow into the principle of revelation, until (you) we become perfect in Christ."  What a beautiful promise this is. I love it. We can "grow into it." To me this says that God knows and recognizes our imperfections. We don't always obey, but He wants us to do our best.

The life-altering decisions I have made in my life are because God was kind enough to give me these sweet and sometimes bitter-sweet promptings. He is gentle, but I also know that for someone as dense and stubborn as I am at times, he can be firm. Sometimes it takes a bit of a slap in the face for me to "get it. I openly admit to being a work in progress. I'm not a finished human being, but I will be ever grateful for God's never-ending kindness and patience he has for me.

Quarter of a century club

25 things I loved about my 25th Birthday:

1. Had the day off work

2. I did something I've never done before

3. Baked red velvet cupcakes that actually turned out

4. Threw myself a party

5. Ate BBQ chicken pizza (my fave)

6. I slept in, & skipped my run (sleep is nice)

7. Went to Park City (love that place)

8. Caught up with so many old friends

9. I sang Adam Levine's song, Love Somebody, at the top of my lungs (alone in my car=awesome way to do it)

10. My roommates decorated my apartment

My roommates were so sweet and I woke up to a banner in our family room, and baloons everywhere! It's probably one of those things I will want to secretly keep up for the next month, and then cry when I finally have to take it down.

11. I got flowers from my friends

12. Recipient of a free dessert pizza

13. I saw all of my favorite people

14. I was given illegal fireworks

15. Didn't care or THINK about calories :)

16. I had a good hair day

17. Clear skin 

18. Got a 2-part singing snap chat of my friend singing Happy B-day to me

19. I didn't cave and drink a Diet Coke (eventhough I wanted to sooooo bad. 3 months clean!)

20. One of my best friends came and hung out with me without her husb & child (A BIG DEAL)

21. My friend let me saran wrap his face (bucket list)

22. I didn't have a quarter-life crisis

23. I vented, cried, and laughed. aka. I was human, once again.

24. There was a gorgeous sun-set

25. I realized I still have so much life left to LIVE, and that I've been incredibly blessed up until this point in my life!!!!!!!
 

We went to dinner at one of my favorite pizza places--Malawi's for dinner, then I had a few friends come to the after party (of course) Complete with my red velvet cupcakes and all....  

Steve, my really good friend from High school let me have the thrill of saran-wrapping his face!

 I may have to say I'm 25 now, but stuff like this still makes me incredibly happy! :) It was so fun. Thanks friend.

A sweet friend of mine made me a birthday cake a few weeks ago, to kick off my month of birthday celebrations! S/O to all of my friends and family for totally spoiling me yesterday!! Although I wish it could be my birthday every day--hopefully I can always help people feel as good as I did on my Birthday!

Life is a Marathon.

Life is full of unexpected events and circumstances.  I prefer to focus my efforts on improving those things that I have control over in my life.

 A few months ago I signed up for a marathon. Over the past few months I have learned a lot about myself. There have been days that I don't want to wake up and run. I want to stay in bed and sleep for an exra hour. There have been days where I can hardly make it up the stairs at work and I wonder how on earth I would ever be able to go out and run 20 miles. There have been Friday nights that I just want to go to bed at 2:00 in the morning, and know that I can sleep in the next day.

The key to all this, is that I made a choice. I chose to commit myself to doing something very difficult. That choice has required an incredible amount of self-dicipline and personal committment.  My body has accustomed to the waking in the early mornings. My shoes have gotten progressively more comfortable, and my lung capacity is more able to sustain me on long runs. I have learned that you don't even have to run the entire time. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds of slowing down the pace, to let myself catch my breath.

Life is a marathon people. We just
 have to keep moving forward. Sometimes we get tired and have to slow down for a second and remember our goals. There are often what seem to be endless hills. Sometimes the roads are closed (welcome to Provo) and we have to take a detour. Often we want to just give up, but we have to rely on our friends and family to encourage us to just keep going. 

Anyone can run for a mile, but there are very few who can run a marathon. I also believe that there are very few people who can constantly remind themselves of who they want to become, and remain true to those goals. It's not worth saying we will run 20 miles, and running 19 1/2. We can't cut ourselves short of what it will feel like at the end of the race, knowing we gave it everything we had, and we didn't give up on ourselves.
Our lives are a result of the choices we make. We can set goals to do things we never though we could accomplish. We have control of our own destiny. It's important to remind ourselve of this sometimes when things happen that maybe weren't in line with what we had in mind. Life happens. We must choose to make the best of every situation. Setting goals helps me to feel that I am making the most of the gift I've been given, and that is, the gift of life.

"...it is good, on occasion, for everyone to face adversity, especially if it causes introspection that enables us to openly and honestly assess our lives.  Sometimes we need a personal crisis to reinforce in our minds what we really value and cherish. All of us must come to an honest, open self-examination, an awareness within as to who and what we want to be.." -M. Russel Ballard

"...set short-term goals that you can reach. Set goals that are well balanced—not too many nor too few, and not too high nor too low. Write down your attainable goals and work on them according to their importance. Pray for divine guidance in your goal setting...Often the lack of clear direction and goals can waste away our time and energy and contribute to imbalance in our lives." - Richard G. Scott 

"I urge you to examine your life. Determine where you are and what you need to do to be the kind of person you want to be. Create inspiring, noble, and righteous goals that fire your imagination and create excitement in your heart. And then keep your eye on them. Work consistently towards achieving them." -Joseph B. Wirthlin
I am grateful for the life I have been given, and the experiences I have been blessed with [both good & bad]. Even though we face challenges in our lives, I believe with all of my heart, that God knows us each individually.

happy birthday month to me.

Party people, oh hey. 

For my own sake (and anyone else who may happen to "stumble" upon my blog) I have created my very own "August Wish List."

A few reasonable obsessions I've recently discovered would be welcome in my closet when I turn 25. 

You heard right. 

25. 

I'm approaching the day when I have to say that I'm a quarter of a CENTURY old. Eeeew. That kind of seems very old, don't you think? 

In 12 days, the days of my "early 20's" come to a close.  

So there you have it folks... 

Boohoo for growing up. I just caught myself throwing myself a pity party, when really, I just remembered that this is my birthday month, so I should probably find an excuse to celebrate and be stoked every day!!! This is coming out super weird..It's not like...yeah. Anyway. 

I leave this somber post, with few of my favorite things for August :) 

Nike yoga pants (would probably never take them off) 

* 

Suede ankle boots (they would go with everything!!)

*

Black and gold Nixon (yes, I already have two...but you can never have too many) 

* 

Boxy army jacket (for those crisp Fall days that are surely shortly to come...)

* 

Oxford heels (already picturing these with a tweed pencil skirt + tights) 

Work Hard. Play Hard. Give Back.

I have a pretty sweet job. Vivint does a great job at fulfilling their motto:

 Work Hard, Play Hard, Give Back.

1.

 w o r k  h a r d

Last week I went out to Dallas, Texas to do some training with one of our Channel Partners. I love being able to go to new places and meet some seriously amazing people. One of my favorite parts about my job, is interacting with people from all different backgrounds. 

Places I've been able to travel to in the past 6 months: 

(some more glamorous than others--but none really that glamorous haha) 

 Akron, Ohio

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Pheonix, Arizona

Iowa City, Iowa

Dallas, Texas 



Mainly, my bosses are just plain bosses. They really value their employees and do all that they can to treat us with genuine respect. Every month we go on some sort of an off-site adventure. The purpose of these is just that. To get out of the daily grind of  "the office", and de-stress by doing something fun. Another aspect of my job that I really treasure is being able to develop myself personally. My boss took me aside last month and encouraged me to devote 20% of my work week to developing myself. We now refer to this time as "Personal Development Time." I have loved this alotted time. I've used it to read great books, and some fantastic articles--Crucial Conversations, changed my life, and I'm currently reading The 360 degree Leader by John Maxwell. I love knowing that my job encourages me to continually work on developing myself.

2.

 p l a y  h a r d 

Nothing like a little mountain air. This was off-site we did that was right on the money. We headed up to Park City for the day. Some things just rejuvinate me-- Being in the mountains has an amazing effect on me.

It was my first time playing frisbee golf. It was a great time at Canyons resort! 

I have an incredible boss. Tom is a great motivator. He has taught me some great lessons. One of the main ones that has resonated with me is the importance of just going for things 200%, and not being afraid of failure.
A valuable  life lesson.

3.

g i v e  b a c k

Last week we were able to participate in a service project. Vivint partnered with an organization called Feed My Starving children. As a company, in three days we were able to make 235,000 meals. We stood in an assembly line and put different ingredients into a bag: Vitamins, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and rice. Our team volunteered for 90 minutes, and we were able to pack 21,000 meals!!

It's awesome to work for a company that is so committed to making a differece in the world.

A few of my co-workers brought their kids in to participate too.

Such a great experience.

We got pretty intense once they told us we onnly had ten minutes left to pack. Our intensity was enough for 59 kids in the Phillipines to have 1 meal every day for a year!!

what we do for love...

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that last night I walked 4 miles, at a 15.0 incline, just to watch Des and Chris get engaged (And yes, that was a two hour episode). Actually there was also 30 minutes on the elliptical that involved the ring selection and the proposal. Since I don't have a functioning T.V. I have been following the Bachelorette usually the day after--either on-line, or at the gym. Last night I was forced (by my own free will) to resort to watching the season finale at the gym. I couldn't wait until Tuesday. As much as my legs hurt, (I had already run 5 miles earlier that morning) my heart wouldn't let myself miss the ending. And yes, I was crying during the proposal. People probably thought I had health problems walking for that long and forcing myself to continue...little did they know. I've never heard anything so sweet in my entire life!!!! Chris is a keeper. YES YES YES PEOPLE!!! TRUE LOVE ALWAYS FINDS A WAY!!!!!!!! JUST LOOK AT THEM!!!!! 

Des finally realized what a catch Chris is--I think I may have fallen off the machine in an outbreak of anger had she turned him down after his profession of love for her. He has been incredibly sweet, sensitive and confident throughout their "entire" (10 whole weeks) relationship. His confidence is what made him my favorite. He never vocalized his concerns about her relationship with other guys, and how those may have compared with his own relationship. I mean, are you kidding me? If you turn down a man who writes you poetry and casts bottled love letters into the ocean, you are delusional. I refuse to believe that Chris was ever scripted. He and Des are both incredible genuine people. To them I say, happy love!!!
And lets's not let that incredible ring go un-mentioned. Holy smokes. WHOA. Let's get a closer look at that... WOW. That's all. WOW. Aaaannnnd, her dress. Also, breathtaking!

PS. I am also pretty ecstatic that Juan Pabs is going to be the next Bachelor. He's probably going to fulfill every pre-conceived notion I have of being a player....but his accent alone, is enough to keep me fixed to a treadmill for an hour every week.