The Book

Its pages are filled with enlightenment and yet some shun it. Why? Because it is not always easy to understand, nor does it fit into your day unless it is a priority.

Within we can find peace and joy, yet often it is left on the shelf.

Bound with daily nutrients, some days we go without, replacing it with chips n’ dip.

Why do we forget the most important daily vitamin? Why do we put our health at risk?

Health is not just physical. It is all encompassing. Your mind, your soul, your body. Emotions. Spirituality. Physicality. Health is all these things.

Do you forgo the water after a long hard workout? Do you forget to brush your teeth each morning? Probably not because they are essential and routine.

This book I speak of is dear to my heart. In the pages I have found solutions to the longings of my soul. However, I too am guilty of skipping out on all this book has to offer.

The Book of Mormon is something we cannot live without. If you have read it before, you know what I say is true. Have you not yet let your eyes gaze its pages, I invite you to do so, because those pages are full of happiness. Ponder the teachings of those who have gone before us. They are wise and can help us navigate this falling world. Happiness was not left in the 1950s, but we too in the 21^st Century can achieve that happiness which flows pure and strong—without 50 shades of disaster or self-destructing pressures of the world.

Discover the book. Love the book. Live by the book. Have happiness.

Word's of Wisdom from Pixar

Last week BYU had a forum where Edwin Catmull, President of Pixar Animation, came and spoke to us. I look back and laugh because the events that happened following that forum had me looking at life thinking there’s no way I can accomplish my dreams.

In his address Catmull had many great one-liners, my favorite was: “If you aren’t failing you aren’t trying new things.” Little did I know this was foreshadowing the failure that awaited on my horizon.

I went to Chinese class and I failed. Big time. So big in fact I knew at that moment my ability to speak this language did not mean I was anywhere near being capable of reading and writing at a 200 college class level. After talking to my teacher and an advisor I decided to withdraw from the class. Technically it’s not failing, but at that very moment I felt like a failure. All my studying hadn’t paid off and I was no longer a full-time student. I also decided I wasn’t going to minor in Chinese anymore. What am I going to do with my life now?

“If you aren’t failing you aren’t trying new things.”

The words rung through my ears throughout the day. Then at the end of the night after salsa dancing with my boyfriend, he grabbed my hand and we ran outside, like Ben being chased by Jerry (an old cartoon reference for those of you sitting there like...ummm?). We stopped abruptly in front of a sign by the library and he asked me to read it out loud. My heart caught in my throat, as I choked out, “You can do hard things.”

I can do hard things. We can all do hard things. Life is about making mistakes and learning from them. Catmull also said, “We don’t look backwards for excuses we look backwards for lessons.”

Sure I didn’t make it in Chinese 201, but you know what? I’m going to make it in Chinese 112 and I am going to figure out a way to change the world as I learn from each failure.

As Remy, from Ratatouille, said, “The only thing predictable about life is its unpredictability.”

Pondering

I love big cities. An energy that never ceases as the taxi’s whiz by, horns honking at pedestrians crossing with the orange hand flashing. The crowds of people, each headed in their own direction and yet they move as one up and down the streets. Whistles blow and the screeching of metal on metal can be heard in the distance as a subway beneath rushes off, or the trains on the tracks circling the city pause just long enough for you to jump on. Decisions must be quick and fluid, lest you pause and cause a ripple in the rhythm of a city.

My last months spent in Australia were spent living the life of a city girl. Busing from the outskirts of Brisbane to the very heart of the city.  The heart throbbed energetically as people bustled from shop to shop. Pounding were the feet against the pavement as each person walked down Queen Street in search of the best sale. Wednesday’s we never wore pink, but the Farmer’s Market would come with exotic fruits, filling your soul with the smell of sautéed mushrooms, popcorn, and warm breads. Like every big city, Brisbane too had an energy unique and beautiful. Most days I appreciated being able to walk to the city’s music adjusting my stride to match the beat of the day, but from time to time a gust of unfiltered cigarette smoke would hit me in the face and my heart would stop and dream of blue skies where trees hemmed the horizon instead of skyscrapers.

Today I went for a run amongst the skyscrapers of nature, breathing in the crisp cool air that has settled just in time for the winter holidays. The mountains that surrounded me reached towards heaven and I took time to appreciate the creations of my Father in Heaven.

On my couch, before I write in my journal, I sit and look out the window at the trees and the fields where horses graze amidst their friends, the cows. My thoughts run to a million places pondering the mysteries of life; love, family, God, etc. My heart is filled with content as I feel the blessings that surround me in life. Problems, which once clogged the funnel in my brain, become resolved as I sit and ponder.

The city is great. I will always enjoy the freedom that is felt in a city, a place I’m free to chase dreams that reach higher than the Empire State Building. The heart, however, cannot always remain in the city. For if it is always walking, never pausing, then there is no time to ponder and untie the jumbled mess that is created in my brain here and there.

As Socrates said, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”