Using the internet to share testimony

I just read an email from my Aunt that expressed her testimony of Gospel principles and asked all of her children and nieces to remain strong and stand for what it right. In the past, my mom has sent her testimony via email--testifying of the Word of Wisdom and Temple attendance. I love that my parents and relatives are able to share and preserve their testimonies this way! I think we can all use the internet to share our testimonies and strengthen those who read them.

Discovering Oneself

I read a wonderful quote by one of my favorite essayists Laurel Thatcher Ulrich today. She was discussing what it means to truly be and discover oneself.

"True identity is found only in being anonymous, in not being connected to another person, place, or thing. Only by not being identified by connections can we discover who we really are. Only when I am not my home, my husband, my crowd, my children, my car, my job, my church job, or even my past am I really myself.
"Anne Morrow Lindbergh says that true identity 'is found in creative activity springing from within. It is found, paradoxically, when one loses oneself...Women can best refind herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own,...Only a refound person can refind a personal relationship.' Or, I might add, find reason and enthusiasm for being all that she can be in any other realm." (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, p. 18, All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir).

It's a good reminder to me to not let myself get too busy to do the creative activities I love so much. It's so easy to get caught up in the practical cares of life like cleaning, shopping, even church callings that we sometimes have to schedule time to be by ourselves like Ulrich learned to do. She is an example to me. At one point in the same book, she talks about attaining the highest level of thought and concentration, "writing at level four," she calls it. At this level, she makes connections, she truly creates, but most of her life is spent at level one, the making lists, writing notes level of creativity.
Writing at level four seems to be the ultimate place for self-reflection, for creating yourself as you want to be. We should all visit more often, I think.

Me and My Bobby McGee

I just listened to the song "Me and My Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin for the first time. She has the most interesting line in there: "Freedom's just another name for 'nothin' to lose.'" I like this line—it seems right on when it comes to relationships. There are a lot of euphemisms we use in dating—I'm wondering if it would be better if we just were truthful and said what we meant...

Editing is fun!

Even editing aerospace articles can be fun when the author uses "line-of-sight," "line of sight," "LOS," and "line of site" all within two paragraphs on the same page :) At least this makes me feel like my job is worthwhile.

Just Saw Over the River and Through the Woods at the Hale Center Theater in Orem

Oh my goodness! I just saw the cutest play at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. It was called Over the River and Through the Woods and it made me laugh and cry so much that my roommate and I had to pull over on the way home because we were both sobbing so hard. In the play, the characters sang "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." Listen to this sweet song. It means so much more to me now after seeing the play.

Busted Ankle

So Saturday night, I broke one of my longstanding rules: Never ride down a hill on a block of ice. The last time I participated in an ice-blocking activity, I fell off the ice block and bruised my tailbone, an injury that took months to heal completely and left me with the personal commitment to never ice block again. Like I said, I broke that personal promise I'd made to myself. I agreed Saturday night to ride one ice block down a hill one time. And what happened? Well, what always happens when you break a promise? Nothing good. I sprained my ankle pretty badly and have been crutching it for the past five days. The Bishop has begun calling me "Skippy" and one of my friends and I discussed the etymology of the word "gimp" last night. At least I'm turning this into a learning and growing experience. Unfortunately, lacking health insurance, I haven't been able to go to the doctor for x-rays, so I don't know if I did something worse than just sprain it, but I'm banking on my belief that it really is just a sprain and will get better on its own. My philosophy is purely a money-saving one. X-rays are expensive. I have faith--in another week, I'll be as good as new.

The Prophet spoke to us today

President Monson came and spoke to us today at BYU. He told us storied and quirks of the past prophets he's been associated with. President Kimball liked to crumble date bread into his milk and eat it with a spoon. President Hinckley always took off his hat when traveling through the passageway under the temple. All the prophets were thoughtful and certainly called of God to be His mouthpiece on the earth. I know that is true. I know President Monson is the true and living prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ. If we follow him, we will never go astray.