< Frohe Ostern >

This Easter morning on our way to church we listened to The First Great Commandment by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. A beautiful talk about our love and devotion to Jesus Christ. A huge part of my life and who I am is centered around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father knew we would need a Savior to atone for our sins so that we could be resurrected. I know He sent Jesus Christ to the world to do just that. His life and ministry not only taught us great lessons to live by, but also prepared the way for us to return to live with our Father in Heaven. It is so important for me to live worthy of His Atonement. I try to live the best I can in His footsteps, but because I am human I make mistakes and need a way to repent of those mistakes. I know my Savior was resurrected and that His ministry did not end on the cross. His teachings were meant to live on today and put into practice. It is beautiful to see these videos depicting the Bible stories of His final days before He would be sent to die on the cross. I am grateful to have been able reflect and celebrate the Resurrection of Christ this day. I am also grateful to have a husband who believes and knows these things to be true as well. I hope we can all remember the reason we celebrate Easter. 

More videos of Christ before the Resurrection//The Last Supper|The Savior Suffers in Gethsemane|Jesus Is Scourged and Crucified|Jesus is Laid in a Tomb|Jesus Is Resurrected|He Is Risen 

Image of Christ 1|2

>>>M

|| The Conversation ||

 

How inspiring this was. I look forward to watching more of The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet. I really miss participating in really good conversation. I get it sometimes, but not as much as I would like or feel I need. I love hearing empowering and strong words and thoughts from other women. Women of all lifestyles and statuses can have such marvelous things to say. I felt very happy and motivated as a women after watching these conversations. This episode talks a lot about self. Knowing, understanding and listening to ourselves. About being strong women for ourselves and being happy with who we are and how we choose to live our lives.

What I really liked hearing from Miley Cyrus...
You can't change your past and you can't let your past stop you from having a great present and future. Enjoy being alone with yourself. Be your own person. To go inside your mind and think, "do I really think that". If you met yourself would you really like yourself. Being cool, too cool, is so dumb.

What I really liked hearing from Melissa McCarthy...
After you have kids there is only so much stuff you can worry about. You wish certain things were different, but all the important things are there and someday I will be better on my elliptical. Women are nuts about how they look. You can maintain your sanity by saying "you're crazy, that is not actually true" when others and even yourself put down how you look. There is this weird sense of perfection in the world and in movies and television. There is too much emphasis on "perfect" female characters, that is nothing to relate to. "No matter how bionic someone looks, if they are interesting, have a point of view and if they are doing something cool...that's so much more fascinating to me and I think to everybody." Not letting our daughters have the princess mindset, that life isn't a fairytale and to be happy however your life turns out.

What I really liked hearing from Diane von Furstenberg...
The most important relationship, is the relationship you have with yourself. You should never lose yourself. All women are strong, but not all women show it. "You have to accept yourself. Look at yourself critically, the good the bad. You have to be strict with yourself to some degree, but never you can lose yourself. Trouble really happens when you lose yourself." Fear is not an option. "Women should have children, absolutely, it's part of who we are. Our bodies are made to have children. We should have children. But I think it is very important that a women has a separate identity outside the family." You design your life everyday. Solitude is very important. Trust yourself and your intuition and instincts. "I did not know what I wanted to do, but I knew the woman I wanted to be. And that was an independent women."

What I really liked hearing from Glenda Bailey...
"Time is so precious. And when you love someone and you want to do the best for them, it's an investment which will come back many many times." "It is so important to know to listen to yourself. I think so often people get so side tracked with other peoples opinion and if you are really sure of a decision just don't get side tracked. Just focus and to yourself be true. At the end of the day we only have one life and it's up to you how you use yours." "Knowing when you are not good at something and knowing when you are good at something is an art form." Be fearless, be willing to lose everything. If you are true to yourself, what risk is there really. "The biggest mistakes I have ever made are when I've ignored what I know to be true in my heart."

Also at the end Glenda says, "Time has taught me to be patient and flexible. I have to realize that maybe it wasn't meant to be right now, but that doesn't mean it can't be next month or next year. And it's inevitable you get there in the end."

Watch this full episode, here.
Thanks Brittany from The Secret Life of B for introducing me to The Conversation.

 

|| Sweet Messages//Things As They Really Are ||

"We live at a time when technology can be used to replicate reality, to augment reality, and to create virtual reality. For example, a medical doctor can use software simulation to gain valuable experience performing a complicated surgical operation without ever putting a human patient at risk. A pilot in a flight simulator repeatedly can practice emergency landing procedures that could save many lives. And architects and engineers can use innovative technologies to model sophisticated design and construction methods that decrease the loss of human life and damage to buildings caused by earthquakes and other natural disasters. In each of these examples, a high degree of fidelity in the simulation or model contributes to the effectiveness of the experience. The term fidelity denotes the similarity between reality and a representation of reality. Such a simulation can be constructive if the fidelity is high and the purposes are good—for example, providing experience that saves lives or improves the quality of life."

"Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication."

 David A. Bednar's talk Things as They Really Are

I truly believe that we live in a great time of technology and that the reason we have such technology is for advancements for good, like mentioned in the above quote. I believe it is there to keep family and friends connected and to spread and share knowledge. Technology has so much to offer, but I also believe people have abused technology, it can be a huge time waster and can confuse realities. I believe it is important to always put real human relationships first {though it can be hard sometimes} over time spent in a virtual world. We should not use technology to damage our heart and mind, but use it to uplift and help us in the many ways it affords us to do so. I believe in Bednar's warning and encouragement to be careful in the way we use technology and I hope we can all be a little better at seeing things as they really are. 

On a side note, while I was watching the above video, I noticed something in this scene, below, of the video. First I recognized the bedding, then the dreamcatcher looked like the one I have. THEN I noticed the picture next to the dreamcatcher...which I TOOK of my friend Kaitlin...then I noticed I was in one of those pictures on the wall! Then I realized it was my friend Kaitlin's college bedroom {from a while back} they used in this video! So funny.

|| Sweet Sunday Message//Be Careful In Our Judgements ||

"We should be careful about judging others, as we may be looking through our own 'unclean windows'"

"There's really no way we can know the heart, the intentions or the circumstances of someone whom 

might say or do something we find reason to criticize, thus the commandment, judge not." 

President Thomas S. Monson

|| Sweet Sunday Message//Have A Great Easter ||

Eat some Cadbury mini eggs for me.

And remember who's life and Resurrection we celebrate.

video via, here

|| Message Of Joy ||

A huge part of my personal existence is centered on my beliefs as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to many known as the Mormons. My very core and who I am in my daily life and my attitude towards life are centered on these beliefs. I have always found it important to surround myself with uplifting people, music, art, fashion, ideas, values..."all things lovely". The theme in my previous blog states..."If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we{I} seek after these things."{from here} I have made this a motto for my previous blog and have continued it onto this current blog. It is so important for me to blog about those things that bring inspiration, happiness, challenge creativity, open the mind and all things that share a peak into my heart and mind. I keep true to myself and what I love and when I find something beautiful and uplifting I can't wait to share it. I genuinely care that others feel happy and inspired. I believe in organization, being productive and continuing to improve yourself and your surroundings. I don't compromise my standards in life and that is reflected, I hope, on this bloggy blog as well. Blogging is such a great medium to spread inspiration and the good things in life.

Some of my favorite uplifting posts from this year
Anti-bullying message
A love for technology 
Taking a break from a busy life and enjoying nature
Quotes I needed to hear to motivate me
Life being brought into the world
Goofs that came to support our choice to choose marriage
The day that I married my eternal husband
Friends that constantly care
These sweeties that bring such joy to my life
Inspiring words
The importance of blogging in my life
Finding joy again
Tips for loving yourself
Setting worthy goals
Sharing blogging tips
Keeping modest and values high
Sharing talents
Sharing happy and uplifting music
Lots and lots of life's lovelies

Not photographed or mentioned in detail here on my blog are those sweet relationship building moments or conversations with my husband that bring us closer together, when my husband and I humbly pray together, when we read scriptures together in the morning before he leaves to work, every sunday that we attend church, the service and help we give to others, the sweet relationship building moments and conversations with close friends, the personal relationship I have with Deity, the huge importance of family and religion in our life and the efforts we take daily to be good individuals. I wanted to share that this is a huge part of my life and because this is a huge part of my life I have felt inspired today, while watching General Conference of our church, to share what uplifts my spirits on a more regular basis here on my blog. I feel strongly that myself and others need uplifting examples in their life whether or not they share in my religious beliefs...I want to share things that help/inspire someone to just be a better person in general like I have already been trying to do through this blog.

My goal is to share a sweet message every Sunday to start off each week right. So, if you choose not to read or listen to the messages that is your choice to skip them each Sunday, that is fine, you can participate in the other lovely things on my blog...but if you want to uplift and enrich your week I welcome you to participate. Even though these videos/messages are in direct line of what my church teaches and believes, I feel strongly they are also in line with the principles of life and other religion's teachings. No matter what our religion we can learn from these messages.

So to kick off this weekly goal of mine, I wanted to share the video below. I was personally touched by it. This young girl is quite the inspiration. What an example of someone enduring and taking a trial and making it positive. I love how instead of thinking of herself and her problems she chose to think of others and serve others. I am reminded that the trials I have, that I thought were a big deal...are not. I need to show more courage and faith in these little tests of life. I feel inspired to think of others more and not to dwell so much on such silly hardships. I hope she will inspire you too and I hope you think about how this can apply to your life.

I am pretty excited about such messages of joy I will be sharing weekly. I know I need these messages and reminders to be the best version of myself I can be.