In Limbo

My whole life I have known what to do. I've known what the next step is and I've known what I needed to accomplish. As soon as I entered the public school system as a kindergartner I had a plan for my life: It was to complete school. Then when I graduated from high school, I knew that my next step was to go to college. While in college decisions came up every once in a while: what do I want to major in? Do I want to serve a mission? Who should I marry? But, I was always prepared for those decisions. They never blind sided me because I knew growing up that one day I'd have to make those decisions. I majored in communications, I served a mission, and I married my best friend. The thing I haven't necessarily been preparing for is what to do when I graduated from college. I have passed those big mile stones in my life. I no longer have strings holding me to anything. I can do whatever I want. But now that I have the freedom to do whatever I want, what do I want? 

I know I want to accomplish great things throughout my life. But what are those great things that I want to accomplish? I want to make a difference in the world. I want to be a voice for good. So how do I go about doing that? I guess I just have to figure it out along the way. That's what is so exciting about this time, I get to dream big, and then see where those dreams lead me. 

I am so blessed to have the opportunity to dream big and then have the tools to get there. . 

Personal Progress: Round 2

I decided that I am going to start Personal Progress again. What a great tool we have of scripture study and personal development. It's such a great way to develop Christ-like attributes and strengthen your testimony of different aspects of the Gospel. This time going into Personal Progress I am doing it so that I can develop new talents and continue in my personal progression. I don't think you can ever be too old to progress. In fact, I think it becomes more pertinent to progress the older that you get.
I think the first time that I did Personal Progress, it was so that I could receive my Young Women's Medallion, and it was something that I could say that I accomplished. Which, it is a good reason to do it. But now, I want to become a stronger and more rounded woman. It is not about the necklace that I will receive once I finish it, it is about who I will become. And I am so excited to get started!

we have a super power

I think everyone is given a special gift or even a super power. It sets us a part from every other living thing. It is the ability to think. With that power to think we can create.
How can we use this super power for good?
I think it takes practice to master your mind. There are so many influences out in the world that try to tell you what to think. Mastering the ability to determine what to think and think about is one of the most valuable skills anyone can posses. Yet, it seems to be one of the hardest things to do. At least for me. Then once you have learned to control your thoughts, what do you think about? Our mind is seriously so amazing and I believe when we are able to master our mind to do good and be good, we can reach our full potential as a child of God.
Voices in my head...
My goal is to eliminate all the negative influences that enter into my mind and only have positive and uplifting ones that are welcome there. Negative thoughts pull me down, sometimes to where I can feel so low. However, I feel so much better when I stop thinking those thoughts and start thinking more positively. That is my biggest struggle though. Where I would like to be full of faith, hope, charity I am often filled with fear, worry, and stress. These types of thoughts drive away the Spirit so I am left feeling confused and discouraged. Oh how I would love to have my mind just full of enlightenment from the Spirit. So why is it so hard to make that happen? Maybe I am trying too hard or maybe I am worried that if I eliminate my worries, I won't have anything left to worry about...
Mastering thoughts...
Well I am certainly no expert on this subject at all because this is something that I am still working on. But I do learn new things everyday. Below is a list of practices or mental exercises I try:
-stop thinking about myself
-replace negative thoughts with positive ones
-think about something else
I feel like there may be more but right now those are the ones I can think of. Well those things work and they help to dim the negative thoughts so I don't think them as much... BUT I still struggle with them. Is there no other way to eliminate them completely?
Because those negative thoughts are there I start believing them, I am uneasy about situations, I am not sure what is true and what is not true, I get confused, and I just don't know what to believe.
It is like a never ending cycle! It is a cycle that just tells me that I have to WORRY, WORRY, WORRY!
But don't worry too much, I am pretty sure I have found the solution...
Open mind and heart!
Hmm...what does that even mean?
Well I have been trying to open my heart and mind more so I can be in tune to the promptings of the Spirit. That is I am facing my fears, doubts, and worries and really seeking the truth.
When I open myself up to whatever the Lord wants to tell me, without being scared of it, there is so much I can just let go. I have to be willing to do the Lord's will and forget about my desires. It a way of consecration where we give the Lord everything: this includes all of those negative thoughts that are sometimes hard to let go so we can in turn face the truth.
Life really is not as complicated as we can make it. Opening your mind and heart can lead you to a much simpler, confident, and healthy lifestyle. Opening your mind and heart can help you to take that leap of faith without the fear of failure because you are allowing God to be the one to lead you the whole way.
God may not give all of the answers, but He will help eliminate the unnecessary lies that float around in your head so you can make a wise choice.
Opening your heart and mind requires you to LET GO and listen to the truth. The truth is usually not as bad as you may think it is.
It does take practice. Sometimes we may fall back and think of those things we are trying to let go. But the best way you will hear the Spirit is if you just listen to Him. Don't over think or over complicate it. Don't create your own spiritual promptings. Have patience to listen and then have faith to believe.
Results
As we seek to eliminate every negative thought from our life imagine how much clearer we could see things. If we are always in tune with the Spirit, we will know our purpose. We will be able to use that super power to help others, to build God's kingdom, and to eventually become like Him.

the Lord provides a way

Nephi building the ship analogy:

Task: Nephi was given the task by God to build a ship.

Natural man approach: I'm sure his first thoughts were: What is a ship? How the heck do I go about building something that I have never seen before? I have no idea what I am doing! This seems like an impossible task...

Who could blame him for thinking this? I am sure he felt discouraged and worried that he couldn't do it. He probably even felt inadequate at completing such a big task.

Nephi's approach: Nephi approaches it with faith and courage. He asks the Lord where he should go that he may make the tools required for this task. He didn't start worrying about how he was going to build it. He trusted in Heavenly Father that He would be there to provide the instructions on how to do it. He could have tried to lay out an action plan and written a set of instructions, but how would that be productive since this was something he had no expertise about?
Instead, he saw this big task ahead of him that he needed to do but rather than being stressed or overwhelmed with the big task, he looked for the things he could do. He had faith that if Heavenly Father wanted him to accomplish something great, God would be able to help him along the way. He understood a certain concept- instead of asking HOW it would be done he asked WHERE are the tools that could help him accomplish the task.

How (instructions): Nephi understood he didn't need to create his own set of instructions, He trusted that God would reveal the way to build a ship as he became a more reliable tool himself. Instructions to build a shelf give you a step by step answer to the how because it tells you what you should do. We can trust in instructions to tell us how and what to do. However, it is up to us to acquire the tools needed to build the shelf. What good would the instructions be if all we had was a hammer? We need all the tools required such a the nails, a screwdriver, a wretch, etc. Yes instructions are so important, without instructions how would Nephi built the ship? But the instructions were not his responsibility. He didn't know how to do it so he needed instructions from God. The tools and equipment for building the ship is something that he could do by himself. Did you notice? He even asked the Lord where to acquire these tools.

Tools (the way): How much better is it to think about taking some load off of your shoulders? Well Nephi does what is required of him to build the boat: he acquires the tools to do it and in turn becomes an instrument in God's hands. He didn't have to worry about how it was to be accomplished, he just worries about having the tools to do it the Lord's way. Once he had the tools, he could follow the instructions as they came. He was able to accomplish the big task little by little through the tools he had.

Application: If I haven't lost you yet I want to explain this analogy so that we can apply it to our lives. Let's say you are given a task to accomplish but you have no idea how to do it. What do you do? If you read what I said above your answer would be to ask for the tools needed to accomplish it.

Example 1:
You are a college student. You suddenly have 3 papers, 2 quizzes, and a test to study for all in one day. It is crazy how those things just sneak up on you. Well how are you going to accomplish it? I don't know about you but that question alone stresses me out. I would just be weighed down with all of this stuff I have to do. But there can be ways/tools that you can use to accomplish all this without feeling totally overwhelmed.
What are some ways/tools:
-study groups
-time management
-not procrastinating
-asking someone for help
-take breaks
-prioritize
and so on...
These are things we probably already do to ease the burden and help us accomplish it. What would you do without some of these tools? Probably just feel so overwhelmed it would be impossible to finish any of them. By doing things line upon line, one thing at a time you can ease the burden. You can accomplish everything before you even know it.

Example 2:
Missionaries. Being a missionary is one of the most stressful things that you will do in your life. There are so many things to accomplish such as reaching 20 lessons a week, having 2 baptisms a transfer, having 4 investigators to church and so forth. Along with these big goals you also have personal goals like developing charity or being nicer to your companion. All of these goals are great but if you don't have a plan you will never accomplish them, then you'll overwhelm yourself to work harder.
Luckily as missionaries we are given many tools to help accomplish all of the things we need to do.
Tools for the numbers:
-your daily planner
-preach my gospel
-weekly planning sessions
-members
-baptism dates
and so on...
Tools for personal:
-little goals-- such as smiling at 5 people a day will help you be more charitable

***Tools are best when they are measurable and you can see the progress.
***Tools are little goals or ways that will help you to accomplish the bigger goal.

So Nephi would use the tools to build the ship little by little and building the boat little by little helped him to eventually build the whole ship.
Think of goal setting as you have this big, awesome goal you want to accomplish but you must set little goals to accomplish it all together.

In life we are striving to be better. As a matter of fact our big task to accomplish is to become like God who is glorified and perfected. How will we ever accomplish this? Well we can't just do it all in one day, not even this life time. It is those little things, the tools we are given to eventually become perfect.
Tools we are given to become perfect:
-Christ (that is a pretty helpful one)
-the Holy Ghost (that's important too...)
-church
-scriptures
-prayers
-service
-fasting
and so on...

We can't be hard on ourselves on our road to perfection. If we think of it just as this impossible, daunting task we will never get anywhere. But if we think of the things given to us to help us get there we can focus on progressing. We can build line upon line. This is something we cannot do alone. As a matter of fact it is not by our merits that we become perfect. We do our part, all we can while in turn Christ will make all the difference. Even Nephi's ship that he built under the direction of God was probably imperfect, but it was enough and helped them get to the promised land. We also can do our best and our best will get us to the promised land where Christ will in turn reward us for our efforts.

See 1 Nephi 17-18