Love your Neighbors

Unfortunately, Friday was the last day for Love Week.  Tragic!  The theme for the day was "Love your Neighbors".  I felt that was completely worth ending the week with.  What is more important than loving others? In choir we had the chance to hug all of the girls sitting next to or around us.  Love makes the biggest difference in our interactions with others.  If we love people it shows in our actions, words, and our faces!  I love to love people.  There's just something about knowing that you were the person who gave a friend a hug on their rough day, or who left them a kind note of thanks that they didn't expect.  When we love others, there is no way that we could regret it.  The Lord blesses those who strive to be like Him, and He loves everyone!

Favorite Love Poem

i carry your heart with me i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) Edward Estlin Cummings What strikes me about this poem is probably pretty obvious.  It's beautiful!  Sometimes I wonder, who else is carrying someone in their heart?  There have to be more people than just me!  It's "the deepest secret" that we all have written on our hearts.  Someone is there and with us always.  Whether that is a friend, family member, or significant other, that love can be taken anywhere.  Who is the most world-traveled person ever? LOVE!  What's even more special is that Love grows.  Poet e.e. cummings puts it just right.  It grows "higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide".  I'm constantly amazed by the world's ability to love.  No matter what kind of horror is occurring somewhere in the world, at the same moment someone else is being loved completely.  That gives me hope for the type of society and zion that we can have.  It's possible.  It only takes one person to love another and then let the cycle continue until the whole world is glowing with the strongest, purest love mankind has ever known.

Love your Funny-Bones!!!

Today was Love your Funny-bone Day.  In choir we shared jokes and embarrassing stories together.  One of the girls offered this story:

"So my dad was driving in his car the other day, when all of a sudden a rabbit hopped out in front of him and proceeded to not move.  Well, you guessed it, he ran the rabbit over.  So my dad gets out of the car and walks over to the rabbit.  DEAD. Within less than thirty seconds, a woman stopped by the side of the road ran over and sprayed something on the rabbit.  After the spray, the rabbit proceeded to hop up, wave, and bounce away.  "What is that that you just sprayed?" my dad asked.  The woman turned to him and replied, "Hairspray.  It's proven to give life to dead hare and a lively wave!""

Our whole choir was laughing hysterically!  Laughter really is one of those things that can brighten your whole day.  When you're tired and stressed, find something to laugh about.  Take a second to laugh at yourself.  It will be well worth it.

"Love" Week

With Valentine's Day so close, my choir has been learning about love and appreciation all week.  Monday was Love your Body Day.  We took about five minutes of class to talk about how much we should and do love our bodies, no matter what size or shape they are.  As women, this is huge for us!  I think that when we realize our own beauty, both physical and spiritual, that we will then begin to shine in ways that we could never have imagined.  What a lovely idea to have us all share how we feel about our physical selves and take time out of our day to thank our bodies for what they do for us!  Yesterday for Love Week we were asked the question:  What do you love about today?  The lists were stupendous!  From family, music, choir, bodies, forgiveness, energy, and sunlight, we all had so many things that we could love and be thankful for from just that one day.  Imagine how much we have to be grateful for if we think about what we love about our entire lives!  I'm excited to keep up Love Week and see what self-discoveries come next!

A Fresh Start

I've always felt that one of the most important goals in life is to come to understand yourself and then accept yourself as you are while knowing your strengths and weaknesses.  It is only after you know yourself that you 

can improve yourself.  Well, this is just the beginning of my journey toward self discovery.  Who am I really?  I'm giving myself the challenge today to start experiencing myself--to try new things, meet new people, and learn from my experiences.