A Christmas Message, More or Less

Wow... goodness, it's been a long time since I last posted. Let's see... a lot has happened in my life. Some really good things, some really bad things, but I think I'm going to focus on the positive.

School is almost done! I can't wait until December 17th. Then, I will finally be done with finals, done with papers, done with classes, and done with this semester! Not that I haven't enjoyed my classes; I have. I just wish I could focus on some classes in much more depth than others. But when time is so scarce, I don't have the time to pursue exactly what I want to pursue.

Enough about school... I am stoked for Christmas this year! I finally have money and can buy good presents for my family. I'm also really excited to start singing Christmas songs and making candies. The Christmas season itself is so much better than Christmas morning. Most people find this odd, but my favorite holiday isn't Christmas, it's Christmas Eve (I know it's not technically a holiday, but oh well). That's the day that I get to spend with my family completely; we have a huge dinner, talk, sit around and sing songs, open special presents, and enjoy one another's company. That's what Christmas should be about: family, love, the "spirit of Christmas."

My mom was reading in a magazine the other day about a tradition this lady started with her children. Every year, her and her kids would decide on 24 good deeds that they could perform throughout the month of December, leading up to Christmas. Each day, they would randomly pick a deed, and once they finished this deed, they would put it in their jar. These deeds were simple things like holding the door open for someone or picking up a piece of trash. On Christmas Eve, the mom would put all of the jars under the Christmas tree so Santa could see all of the good things the children had done throughout the month. I love this idea. Wouldn't life be a much better place if we could do a good deed for someone every day? Not just in the month of December, but all year 'round.

This story really changed how I've been looking at each day ahead of me. If I look forward to the day with a bright smile and lots of energy, I have a much better day, I'm less stressed, and I feel good about myself. Soemtimes I wish I could share my happiness and joy with others, and what better time to do this than Christmas?

Service really is the best way to happiness. Choosing to follow Christ's footsteps every single day, making the conscience decision that you will follow Him is possible, plausible, and protective in nature. I am so blessed to have a knowledge of the truth of the gospel in my life. It has changed everything about me; about how I look at events; about how I look at others. It's rather quite simple. Just start choosing to be happy, and the rest will fall into place. Life really is wonderful, we just have to consciously choose to make the best of each and every day.

The sure way to peace and happiness in this life and life hereafter is to serve the Lord today and everyday. Choose this day whom ye will serve. God will take care of the rest.

And if I don't post on here again until after Christmas, Merry Christmas! Keep the true meaning in your hearts and don't let the commercialized version get to your heads. :)

Smile! Today's a New Day :)

I have a new favorite place on campus. It's the student service center. They always have music playing, but it's low enough that it doesn't bother me when I study. I can come in here, pull out my laptop and chill while I'm waiting for class to start. It's very nice. That's where I am right now. Sitting at a table, should be reading for my next class, but instead, I felt like blogging.

I heard the best quote today. It said, "Although you may not have the best of everything, you can make the best of everything you have." Just thinking about that made me realize how lucky I am to be going to school, to have such a great family, and such wonderful friends. I am deciding right now to make the rest of this semester great. I'm going to try to be more friendly, positive, and give more compliments. We had an activity in my stress management class last night where half the class went around and wished everyone else "health and happiness." It brightened my mood considerably, and I would recommend it to anyone who has been feeling down. So reader, I wish you health and happiness. Now, go pass that message along to someone else who you either know or run into at random. It will brighten both your and their day.

Positive thought has been on my mind recently. I think that with enough positive thought, you really can get through difficult situations in life. I know I've been through plenty of them, and the best cure is thinking positively. It's easy to let reality catch up to you. Easy to get down. If you've been reading my posts recently, you'd realize I've had plenty of negative thoughts the past couple of weeks. Positivity (I don't know if that's actually a word) can really help improve your own and others' lives. And you may now know it at the moment, but even a smile can make the difference in someone's day.

This experience just came to my mind. Last year, I was walking to one of my classes, and this random guy comes up to me just says hello and starts walking with me. He's very friendly, and wishes me a good day. I've always wanted to do that to someone else. Just walk up to a stranger and be able to wish them happiness. I think that's going on my bucket list. But, this experience stuck with me. I really did have a better day just because someone was kind enough to speak with me on the crowded college campus.

I'm tired of being negative. Sometimes it brings about interesting topics of conversation, but positive interaction is better for the body. I don't really know if you cared to hear me discuss positive and negative moods, but that's just too bad. Smile! And have a lovely day!

Now go pass along the message :)