Thursday, March 22, 2012

“Life is All About How you Handle Plan B"

So it's been a while since I really blogged about anything, so I thought I would give it a go.

Everything is in place for London in May. I've got my plane ticket and tuition paid for, so now I just have to wait.

I'll be graduating in May! You're all welcome to send me presents and money for graduation and my birthday, which is the day before graduation ;)

As for being single, it doesn't bother me anymore. I've decided that there are many things to be grateful for in my life, and being single is a blessing as well as a trial for me. As much as I'm sick of being alone there are many things that make me grateful to be single. For instance, I get to go to London this May. I can go to school back East if I feel like it. I've decided that I'm going to love being single, and even though it will be hard for me sometimes I've turned to some talks from the Ensign. Here's a few I would recommend to anyone, even if you're not single, but just struggling:
I've also pulled out one of my favorite books to reread called The Power of Positive Thinking.

This is such a great book. It has helped me out a ton. It helped me out recently when I was feeling very negative about things in my life. One chapter in particular called "How to Create Your Own Happiness." It sounds silly but it wasn't until I read this chapter again that it dawned on me. If I want to be happy I need to choose to be happy. I want to share some quotes that might help more than just me.

"The happiness habit is developed by simply practicing happy thinking. Make a mental list of happy thoughts and pass them through your mind several times every day. If an unhappiness thought should enter your mind, immediately stop, consciously eject it, and substitute a happiness thought. Every morning before arising, lie relaxed in bed and deliberately drop happy thoughts into your conscious mind. Let a series of pictures pass across your mind of each happy experience you expect to have during the day. Savor their joy. Such thoughts will help cause events to turn out that way. Do not affirm that things will not go well that day. By merely saying that, you can actually help to make it so. You will draw to yourself every factor, large and small, that will contribute to unhappy conditions."

"...if you visualize and affirm an unhappy outcome, you tend thereby to create just that type of condition. So affirm happy outcomes at the start of every day, and you will be surprised at how often things will turn out so."

"The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised."

I hope these quotes are helpful to you like they have been for me. Life doesn't always work out the way we plan. I remember thinking that things would work out after I graduated from Dixie. Now I'm getting ready to graduate from SUU and I have no idea what I'm going to do. That's just life I guess.

To end this post here is an inspirational poem for anyone who finds their plans not working out the way they planned. :-D

“Life is All About How you Handle Plan B
Plan A is always my first choice.
You know, the one where
Everything works out to be
Happily ever-after.
But more often than not,
I find myself dealing with
The upside-down, inside-out version --
Where nothing goes as it should.
It's at this point that the real
Test of my character comes in..
Do I sink, or do I swim?
Do I wallow in self pity and play the victim,
Or simply shift gears
And make the best of the situation?
The choice is all mine...
Life is all about how you handle Plan B.”
- Suzy Toronto

3 comments:

kimmeeg said...

Good for you Jessie-face :) I've definitely noticed a difference in you. You're an inspiration to us all!

Lib-Dawg said...

Love the poem. I guess I could use some re-reading of this book...since i do own a copy. :/

Good luck with everything - I hope you choose SLC, then back east. Cause you know it's just cause I want to come visit you. ;)

Anonymous said...

What a great post! I still have trouble with positive thinking, but I'm really working on training myself to do that. To force myself to start listing blessings when I'm wanting to just wallow in doubt and pity. I like that poem, too. Those are also good Ensign articles. Really looks like you have a great attitude about your life right now. You are at a crossroads and probably somewhat of a midlife crisis! At least that's what seems to be the next step after graduation. Anyway, best of luck to you, and Ethan and I are so happy for you and your awesome accomplishments! You really do have a bright, happy future ahead of you.