My Simple, Happy, Beautiful Life

I was working on a group project last night and talking to a friend about grad school and life. I remember last October I was going through a dark point in my life and thinking that I had no bright future ahead of me. I was comparing it to all the opportunities I have now, my life has completely changed! I could of never imagined the opportunities I have now. It was further evidence that God definitely has a plan for us individually. I never knew that I could be doing the things I am doing now and networking with the people I am now in October. I guess this post is about having faith in God's plan. We may not know what is ahead of us, but trusting in his plan is so important. We plan for our future and things may go somewhat different than what we had originally planned. That is okay. Things will be better if we follow God's plan. It is hard to remember this when we are going through hard times, but just enduring it and trusting in God is what is important. My life isn't ...

Today in my Psych 101 class, they talked about health and social psychology. I am a social psychology emphasis for my cluster because I love my social psych classes. Anyways, one of the research studies performed was about gratitude journals and journals in general. Did you know that writing a gratitude journal increases your health and longevity? The research claims that writing in your journal will lengthen your life by three years. It makes you think about when the prophets talk about the important of gratitude and writing the "hand of the Lord" in your life journal has spiritual and health benefits. Anyways, this is my new goal. Find something positive each day that occurred and write about it. Today, I had a good day. I went to the Psi Chi Induction dinner where I officially became a member. The Psi Chi is a international psychology honor society where you have to be in the top 35 percent of the students in your major. It is a way to ne...

Seriously, I really did. First, I have been wanting to TA for Psychology of Gender since it has been my favorite class. I love the teacher and the content (not the exams) but I got the position! I have heard that the teacher is really picky so I am lucky that she picked me! Plus I can get my foundation capstone for my senior year for that . That was a tiny miracle in my life. I was so afraid of not being able to make connections with the teachers and having research positions and teaching positions but everything is working out :) Anyways, my day was wonderful because of a breakthrough I experienced. I realized that nothing is wrong with me. You know how people tell you things but you don't believe them? They will try to comfort you but the problem still exists. I can finally say that I can move on from my past hurt. Here is how it happened: I was watching this therapy session where she was talking about something I have experienced and then she said something that struck me. I h...

Then stop asking for things and start counting what you have. I have realized that in my life when I am struggling in life, I tend to ask others for help. I have been taking the wrong approach the whole time. If I want to truly experience joy, I need to do the opposite. I need to be asking others about their needs. It is against human nature as we are naturally selfish human beings. We think about our own needs and wants all day long. I think the hardest thing in life is overcoming this selfishness that is innate in us. This is where I look at my family. They are good examples to me of unselfishness, not seeking for personal gain but for your loved one's above your own. This is a process of developing a selfishness, so I just need to realize that I am continually working on this. Don't get frustrated with yourself when refining. It will take nearly eternity!