The Importance of a Nutritious Diet

This semester, I’m taking a nutrition class. I’m learning so much and I am so grateful. I’ve always enjoyed good health and I don’t eat horribly. But this class has been a real eye opener and I’m developing a stronger passion for good eating habits and physical activity. I want to live a long and healthy life.

This class has made me aware of some dietary changes I need to make. I need to eat more fruits and vegetables. This class has inspired me to eat better and exercise more than I ever have before. I feel so good after eating a nutritious meal and going on a run. I’m really seeing the benefits of my efforts.

I feel like I’m living the Word of Wisdom better, and I’m grateful for the impact this class has had on me. I appreciate my health and a healthy person is who I want to be.

This is Not Adieu

Although this blog started as an assignment for class, I do not want it to end there. Although I am no longer required to post on my blog, I do not want to stop. At the beginning of this blog, I was posting in large part because of my class assignment. I do not know when that stopped being the case, but it's not my main purpose anymore. Recently I've posted without thinking about the assignment. I'm posting because I have something to say, something to share.

If this whole blog was to just to fulfill an assignment, it wouldn't be very meaningful. Who I am as a person, and my ability to recognize and share my reactions to the world around me should not stop with the end of a class. I have developed lasting changes and lasting desires to be a better person, and this blog should last too.

I am grateful for what life teaches me and helps me become. I hope you, my readers, will continue to enjoy my reflections on integrity.

Easter Sunday

How grateful I am that today is Easter. It is such a beautiful holiday. I am grateful for this special day to remember my Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to bear testimony that He lives. For although He was crucified, He was resurrected. Christ lives and I may live again too. I am so grateful for all that Easter celebrates.

Because Christ performed the Atonement, I can become who I am meant to be. I can grow and change and repent and become a better person each and every day. Without the Atonement, I am nothing. The Atonement is a central part of who I am and who I am continually becoming.

Happy Easter everyone!

A Productive Start Leads to a Productive Finish

Today me and my husband woke up, him at 7 and me at 8. I made pancakes for breakfast and then we cleaned our apartment. After that, we sorted our clothes and proceeded to do 5 loads of laundry. While we've had a good amount of down time during the day, we've been able to get a lot done and we have plans to do homework and go grocery shopping tonight.

From experience over the years, I truly believe that when I wake up in the morning and get a good start on my day, I will be more productive all day. If I wake up and laze around for a few hours it is so much harder to motivate myself to start doing anything.

I feel so much better and happier when I am productive. I hate that feeling of having wasted a day away. I want to fill my days with good things and I want to be in bed early so that I can be up early and have a good and effective day. That is part of who I want to be.

Journal Time

It's always been important for me to keep a journal. But I've never been very good at it. I've kept a journal on and off over the years. My best stretch was on my mission. Looking at the journals I do have make me grateful for the record that I have kept and they inspire me to do better.

I think journal keeping is important for me and for my posterity.

It's important for me because it helps me see how I've progressed over the years. I sometimes read through old journals and think "I was so silly" or "I can't believe I did/thought that!" But I could just as easily be saying, "Wow. I'm such a different person now. I've really become someone amazing and special. I've grown so much over the years."

I think journal keeping is important for my posterity because I want them to know who I am. I want them to know what my life meant and what I did with it. I want them to be proud of the life I lived. I want them to have footsteps to follow in.

Prioritizing Time

There's so much to do each day, it's often hard to get it all done. I've been feeling that way a lot lately. I'm in my last semester of my university education. I graduate in a month. And boy am I busy! I'm exhausted, but I've got to keep going.  I feel like I'm nearing the end of a marathon and it's hard to see how I'm going to have the strength to finish.

But, the better I plan my time and prioritize my tasks, the more successful I am. I've thought a lot this week about the object lesson with the jar and the water, sand, and rocks. How do you make it all fit? How do you get everything done? If you put the sand or water in before the rocks, the jar will overflow. You've got to put the rocks first, the sand second, and the water last. Life is the same.

My rocks are scripture study, homework, and my responsibilities as a wife. My sand is reading a good book, keeping connections with friends and family. My water is checking Facebook and playing games on my phone. As I focus on my rocks, everything always gets done. I love starting my day by reading my scriptures. It's the only way to start my day. It sets the tone for the rest of my day and things always seem to go better. I'm happier, I have more energy, and things get done. And the things that go wrong don't seem so important and don't upset me as much.

I know it is important to prioritize my time because it helps me feel better and do more. And that's who I want to be.

Moral Relativism

Moral Relativism is an issue that occurs when someone thinks it is okay to base their standards on the current situation.  For example, if someone has the standard of going to church every Sunday, but rationalizes that it's okay to miss--just once--for great-great-grandma's 103 birthday, then this person is experiencing Moral Relativism.  Their morals are relative to the situation.

Prophets have taught that this is not a way to live. We cannot rationalize keeping the commandments in certain situations and breaking them in others. It just doesn't work like that. Learning about Moral Relativism has been important to me. I want to make sure it is something I avoid. I want to be a Moral Absolutist.

Active in Politics

I've never cared for politics. I hated learning about it in High School. I thought politics were boring and confusing. I'd never voted and that didn't bother me. My freshman year at BYU, I took a class called American Heritage, and I still remember an article that I read. It said that the only reason we really need to vote is that it is our civic duty.

That really struck a cord with me. In the years since, I've become much more interested in politics. I still don't like discussing it or getting into deep issues and possible resolutions. But I do like to be informed. Occasionally I'll watch a political debate. I still haven't voted, but I'm excited for the chance to vote this November.

I bring this up because church leaders have always encouraged members to vote. Joseph Smith ran for President himself, not because he thought he could win, but because the people didn't feel right about voting for any other candidate. Just a few weeks ago a member of my bishopric read a letter from the First Presidency encouraging us to be active in the current elections. I think it is important to follow the counsel of church leaders. That is part of who I want to be.

Patience is a Virtue

Patience is a virtue that I have been learning my whole life. It's one of my biggest weaknesses. I'm easily frustrated when things don't go my way, when I don't understand something, and when someone doesn't understand me.

My mission taught me a lot of patience and I thought I had it down. I learned patience on my mission and I wouldn't need to learn it anymore, right?

WRONG! I keep learning about patience. I keep having trials that test my patience. I've come to realize that patience is not an attribute I can learn and check off my list. It's a skill that takes a lifetime to learn.

Service is Love

This week I've had several opportunities to serve. I love to serve others. It is something my mom is always doing and as a child she often included me when she would serve others. From her, I learned of it's importance.

From my mom, I also learned that service is love. I could always see the love my mom had for the people she was serving, whether or not she knew them. She always acted with kindness and love. When I serve, I feel that way too. It is hard to serve someone, know you have made a difference, and not feel love for them. It is also hard to not feel more love for yourself. That's what I love most about service. It helps the person in need, but it also helps you.

Face2Face With Elder Holland

Last Tuesday, Elder Holland, Sister Stephens, and Elder Hallstrom did a face2face with the Young Single Adults of the church. Although married, and unable to watch it on Tuesday, my husband and I watched it on Sunday for our Family Home Evening. It was a wonderful program and I felt the spirit strongly.

Although many of the questions related to marriage, I want to talk about some of the ones that didn't. One question related to sisters who chose not to serve missions and were feeling pressure or secondary for not serving. Elder Holland declared that the age change was never meant to create "second-class citizens" in the church. This same issue came up when there were a few questions discussing same-gender attraction. I liked how Elder Holland said that we don't want second-class citizens. That is never how God views us, so we shouldn't view others that way.

It got me thinking about the person I want to become and how I view others. As a returned missionary myself, I sometimes have a hard time understanding why young women don't want to go on missions. It was the best experience of my life and although I know it is not for everyone, I sometimes wonder how that can be. I realized that if I want to be a person of integrity, I need to treat all people equally.

Carrying Christ's Name

Today one of my professors asked my class a very important question that I want to reflect on and discuss. She said, "What does it mean to you this week that you carry Christ's name? What does it mean to your hands? What does it mean to your eyes? What does it mean to your mouth? What does it mean to your ears?"

I've always thought about carrying Christ's name or taking His name upon me as doing things that will make me a better person. It means that I will remember him and strive to keep the commandments.  But what do those things mean, and how can I accomplish them? What my teacher asked us to think about really struck me and has given me further insight on what it means to take carry Christ's name.

My whole body needs to respect that I will stand as a disciple of Christ. Becoming a better person and following the Commandments is an effort that my whole body needs to be a part of. In response to my professors questions, to my hands it means I will write good things and serve others, to my eyes it means I will read and view good things, to my mouth it means I will speak good things, and to my ears it means I will listen to good things.

Lastly, I love how my professor posed this question in relation to this week. This is not something we think about once and then master, it is something that we think about at least weekly. And I think this is because our ability to take Christ's name upon us changes and grows. As we grow in faith and learn more of Heavenly Father's will for us, our goals and actions will better reflect Christ's name.

Gossip Guilt

The other day I was with a group of friends, and we were talking about someone we all know. I made a rude comment and my friends laughed. I thought I'd feel cool and funny. But I didn't I felt bad. I had been unkind. I knew better than to act that way. That's not the kind of person I want to be.

In a way, I'm grateful for this experience. I learned a valuable lesson. It's been a long time since I've been part of gossip. I hated people that would gossip when I was younger. I tried so hard to stay out of conversations where gossip was occurring. I used to walk away from such conversations. And I would feel good about not participating. Contrasting the times I've felt good for not participating in gossip with the experience I recently had provides a clear guide for how I want to act. The person I want to be. I want to speak kindly, not harshly of others. If I can't say it to their faces, I shouldn't say it at all.

Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause

I love the scripture D&C 58:27. It says, "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;"

I recently watched a BYU Speech Be Excellent: Becoming Who You Are in Today's World. The part of the speech that struck me the deepest was about being engaged. As of late, I've been trying to multitask and focus on some classes more than others. I have one class that I always go to, but never pay attention in. I always listen halfheartedly while doing homework for other classes.

After listening to the talk and thinking about how being engaged in my current task, no matter how dull, can help me become who I am, I have found a deeper desire to live in the present and give my full attention to what I am doing. Thinking about this in comparison to the scripture, I'm thinking that being engaged will help me become who I am and in that process I will certainly "bring to pass much righteousness." God wants me to become someone special and He wants me to be righteous. I can do His will if I am anxiously engaged in a good cause, that of becoming who I am meant to be.