The Beauty Of Simplicity

Think before you speak (or act). I say this because I've had a recent experience about a stupid mistake a made and I did not even bother to think before I acted. When we do this we not only harm the other person, but we are also harming ourselves. We are showing them that we don't care about them, we are showing them that our thoughts are more important than theirs, which is NOT true. No person is more important than the other, we are all equal. And when we act/speak in a way that degrades the persons self-confidence or their self-image we are telling them that we are better than them and that we deserve a higher respect, but we Don't. My recent experience was awful on my part. I took my anger out on one of my most treasured friends, and I made them feel as if they did not matter because I did not get my way. Not only is that childish, it's also just plain rude. I had not thought through why I did that, and I had no reason to do so. The point of this article i...

I want to raise my children in the gospel. When I raise my children I want to be the kind of mother that they can go to in times of need, no matter what it may be. I want them to know that they can come to me with any problem and not have to worry about me yelling at them for it. I want to live my life virtuously so that they may realize what it looks like to live out the standards of the church. I want the walls of my home to be lined with book shelf after book shelf. I want them to realize that fairy tales are real and that we can create our own with the right ingredients. I want my children to not be afraid to be themselves around people. I want them to know that the only people who matter in life won't care, and the ones who do don't matter anyway.   I want to be the kind of mother that they can look to for life advice. I want to be the kind of mother that will be nonjudgmental of their situation because I've probably been in the same position. When I raise my chi...

I usually like to keep my religion seperate from my writings, but today I cannot do that. The Lord has done so much for me everyday, and I feel like I need to recognize it more, so here goes it.  "For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." (Deuteronomy 20: 4)   I ran into this scripture this morning as I was looking for some kind of comfort in my trials, and this alone has helped me a lot. The Lord saves us each day. He sends angels to look after us, he inspires each of us to do little things like waving to a random person on the street, or smiling to an old friend you haven't talked to In years, and we do this without realizing the impact we may have on that person.  Heavenly Father helps us each day, he never faulters with this. Today I've realized that my Lord has been fighting next to me everyday of my life, and it brings a smile to my face just knowing that.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has always b...

[Disclaimer: I am not throwing myself a pity party, so please do not treat this as such.] A Letter To Those Who Don't Like Me: I do not know everything. I simply don't. I know you expect so much of me. To be smarter, to have a little more common sense, to understand all social cues. I also know you expect me to be prettier, to laugh less, to talk less. I know you don't like how I treat people. I know you don't like my smile. And I know you don't like that I have any friends at all-- especially if they may be your friends as well. I know that you may think I'm too short.  I'm dramatic. I'm too goofy. And that I'm annoying as heck. I know that my simple existence bothers you. I know that everything and anything I try to do to make it better will never help. And I know that I will never please you, and that kills me. But if I'm to be real for a minute, I shouldn't care. I am training myself to try to understand why you don't like me...

How often do we listen to our friends? To our family? To Strangers? The first step to a great friendship is listening. When we listen to someone we let go of our thoughts, we let go of ourselves, and we listen to them. A wise friend of mine once said, "Listen for the sake of knowledge. Listen for the sake of understanding. Listen for the sake of listening." Sometimes all we can do for a person is listen to them, to let them vent about something. And that's not always bad. In fact, embrace that. Listen to the person, and you will gain a better understanding of the person, which leads us to step two. Step two to a great friendship is understanding the other persons story. And how can we do that while we're talking about ourselves so much? Often we find ourselves listening to reply, but that's not the right way to go about it. We need to listen to understand. Take a minute to look at your life, just take a step back and look at it from a distance. How grea...

So this week I was challenged to think about my life as a whole, and evaluate what can be beneficial and meaningful in my life as I progress through the many steps of eternity. This has gotten me thinking, What do I find meaningful in my life? What is it that keeps me going? That pushes me far off the edge and beyond? What motivation do I have for myself? Let's break it down, shall we? My life is full of failures, but it's also full of successes. One, for instance, is my family. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. How in the world is that a success, Hannah? And that is a good question. How IS it? For a minute, I want you to step out of your own shoes, and whether you know me really well or not, slip into mine. Imagine the normal family trials: bickering, disagreements, nasty words. Now imagine a dream family: Laughter, shoving (but in a playful manner), games, support systems, everything. My family is like both of those. We have our fights, sure, but mos...

Cellular Devices and Social Media. Why do these two programs/objects consume so much of our time? Why do we let them? What's the point? I've mentioned in past posts about how important it is to recognize the beauty of the world outside of our devices. And I also know you probably don't believe me, but it's true. The thing with devices is this: When we are so involved in our texts, instagram and facebook posts we are  making it impossible to fully embrace the beauty of the world. We let the amount of "likes" and "followers" dictate what we do with our time. But the thing is when we put down our phones we can experience the beauty, not just see it. Life shouldn't revolve around our devices. Granted, they have helped us evolve in our sciences and medical department, but that's beside the point of this article. Anyways, back to the subject. I'm going to share an experience with you guys. This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to...