{some good thoughts for ya}

tiettyjen juttujen takia mulla on menossa oikeen kunnon unettomuusputki joten käytetään nyt sitten tämä aika tällä kertaa vaikkapa bloggaamalla...

so... earlier this month i went to my very first "Time Out for Women" event. it was such an amazing experience for me and i've been wanting to share little nuggets about this event with you. so here goes...

Mary Ellen Edmunds mentioned that we don't judge growing plants saying that they are immature and aren't much. so why do we judge ourselves so often when we are still growing and learning?

Heidi Swinton wrote the biography for President Monson who is the president of the church i belong to. he is one busy man even though he is up in age. one of his fellow church leaders said this about seeing him in the church headquarters office: "Walking by him was like walking past a whirlwind." but somehow, this most busy man, has written 47 thick journals. Heidi told us that she got to read all of them (!!!). instead of talking about all of the important meetings and committees President Monson has been involved in, his journals are about interactions with people. helping them etc.

anyways, i kept thinking that if such a busy man as Pres. Monson can find time to write in his journals, surely the rest of us can do the same. the things you forget if you don't write them down!

Hilary Weeks (an amazing singer/song writer) told us about her experiment with a clicker. she had learned that us women think about 300 negative thought per day. she bought a clicker and clicked it every time a negative thought came to her mind. she told us that her average was about 149 per day (she did it for a week). she said that she felt depressed after that one week of her experiment and she thought that focusing on those negative thoughts so much (noticing them more than usually) made her depressed. she decided to change the experiment to see how many positive things she thought every day. she did it for a week again and her average was 321 per day. focusing on positive things kept bringing more positive things to her mind. the result in her words: "I have never felt so good."

"I can accomplish anything."

notice that nothing had changed in her life except her thoughts (!).

Emily Freeman told us a story about a woman who had lots of troubles. a church leader was asked to come to give her advice and help (at a not so convenient time).

the woman said to the church leader afterwards "thank you for coming." the church leader replied: "you're worth it." (versus "you're welcome)

we are all worth it!

S. Michael Wilcox mentioned something profound an university professor friend had told him: "Never compare "your" best to "their" worst."

for example: we shouldn't compare Mother Teresa to Osama Bin Laden.

it's just not fair.

there are many bad Catholics and many amazingly good Muslims.

i thought this advice was very relavant in today's world.

Wendy Ulrich had a list of seven things that would make you happier.

#5 was Celebrate Failure!

explanation:

failure often means we are taking the necessary risks to grow, stretch, etc.

the lessons we learn from failure are worth learning.

we could ask our children: "who failed at something today? let's celebrate it!" then you can talk about how great it is that they tried and talk about the things they learned from the failure.

Kris Belcher was so funny! she's a lady who lost her eyes to cancer. she went through a very dark time (literally) but came through it and now she is a motivational speaker. her sense of humor... i tell you... we laughed so hard when she spoke! she told us about a time when she needed to use the bathroom at a family reunion. she went in one of the stalls, put her cane in the corner, took her pants down to get ready to sit on the toilet, reached behind her with her hand to make sure she sat on the toilet... and... felt a little girl's head!!!!! the girl had been too shy to say anything. Kris said to her: "Was that scary?" she later told the people who asked her what was wrong that she'd pay for the girl's therapy. :) anyways, i wish you all could have heard her talk. an amazing woman. did i mention that she went blind when one of her children was still in diapers? yikes!

i knew this would end up being a long post. what can i say - Time Out for Women was AWESOME! :)

Time Out for Women

it's past 1am and i'm still not sleepy at all. insomnia is so frustrating, i tell you. i've been tired all day long but now - zing! - wide awake. 

the actual color of the sky that day was this:



we get many days like this here in Alberta. clear, bright blue sky.

gotta love it.