"I Am Come a Light Into The World"

This week we read chapters regarding the last week of Jesus Christ's life. It's so hard when I know what is coming up. However, I continued to read. There are many stories in the scriptures we read this week. We read Matthew 21-24, Mark 11-13, Luke 19-21, John 12 and we also read the scripture that Joseph Smith Jr wrote regarding Matthew chapter 23:39 and chapter 24. These stories have been told through the tv series "The Chosen". When I read through the scriptures I can picture these characters in real life. I can see Jesus Christ washing the feet of His disciples. I can see Mary and Martha washing Jesus' feet. And I can see Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. All of these ring true in my head. I know that Heavenly Father sent his son so that we could live with Him again. I know that Jesus Christ had suffered for us, so that we can have the opportunity to repent and become like Him. 

                           

I strongly encourage you to watch the series of "The Chosen" if you haven't already. This show helps me to understand the life of Jesus Christ as I read through the New Testament. If you would like to watch it with me please reach out. Watching it on the big screen is like having Jesus in your living room! It is so amazing! 

You can also watch the series here. 

How Can I Help You?

This week in my entrepreneur class we talked about being a leader and following your big dreams. I really enjoyed reading some of the talks regarding becoming a leader. For example, BYUI had a president in 2007 named Kim B. Clark. He spoke in December to the graduating class about being a leader with a small "L". I remember reading this talk a while ago in another business class I took. It's so uplifting. It's so profound that I took a lot of things he said to heart, and have worked on them since I read his words. If you would like to read this talk, you can find it here. 

                                                                                 

He listed a few principles to live by when becoming a leader. 

1. Lead by Example
2. Lead with Vision
3. Lead with Love

He goes on to give examples of each of these three. The amount of knowledge and self-help that I have learned throughout this journey in my life has been so amazing. I have grown so much from going to college. Because of these three principles, I have become a better mother, a better wife, and a better person overall. 

One of the videos I watched this week talked about building trust. One thing he said that stood out to me was, "How can I help this person?" Instead of thinking about ourselves, we should be open and willing to help those around us. I've always felt that if we want to become a better person, then serve others first. 

I read this book called Good to Great (by Jim Collins, found here) a while back (again in a different business class) and enjoyed learning from it. His first chapter talks about how Good is the enemy to Great. Don't get comfortable being good. Do better. There are many people out there that are good people. But, we should strive to be great! We can be better than good! 

Another video I watched talked about the License to Pursue Dreams. The concept this lady shared had me floored at first. Apparently, every Friday this company allowed their employees to work on whatever they want. Now, here's the cool part. Out of the "work" that they were doing, fifty percent of what they worked on ended up being part of that company! No wonder the company allowed them to do what they wanted every Friday. Half of their fun time became income from them! Can you imagine working in a place like that? So much fun. 

All throughout this semester, in both of my classes, the importance of knowing who you are and becoming who you are meant to be has been a big deal. Here's the thing, I didn't know who I was for sure. I had lost the person I truly was and became like a robot. Living each day just to get to the next. It was difficult. I forgot who I was. Taking these two classes has helped me figure out what it is that makes me, well, me. It first started with making my 50 item bucket list. Then to my "becoming" project. And then, figuring out what I want to be when I "grow up". Not necessarily grow up in age, but when my mind decides to live for me. Let's do what is best for Nini. So, here I am, about to graduate and I know who I want to be. 

                                             

I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without Him, I don't know where I would be. All because of Him, I can do the things that I want to do. I can overcome any challenge that comes my way. I mean, so far I have overcome 100% of the challenges already! All because I have Him in my life. I am blessed. 

"Behold, I Send You Forth As Lambs Among Wolves" Luke 10:3

     This week while reading through the New Testament, I was searching for any flag phrases. I have quite a list of phrases that were mentioned in the small amount of scriptures I read. Since I am reading about the stories, I am reading some from different books at the same time. This week I read Matthew 19-20, Mark 10, Luke 10-18, and John 11. 

When looking for flag phrases, you focus on certain words that will make it easier to find. Words like, yea, behold, even, and it came to pass are some things I looked for. Others to look for are, Thus we see, therefore, wherefore, and nevertheless. Sometimes there are similes that you can find in the scriptures as well. Look for the words as and like to spot them. 

There are several stories in these chapters that I read. However, I focused more on just the flag phrases. What I liked about singling out these phrases is that I was able to use it for my gain. I can take this advice and know that Heavenly Father is speaking to me and trying to help me become the person I want to be. In one of my other classes I had watched this video of one of my favorite apostles from our church, Jeffrey R. Holland. His talks always help uplift me. He is such an amazing speaker. Some day I wish to be able to listen to him in person. I just love his soul. Please enjoy this video as he speaks about good things coming.

The scripture found in Luke 10:27 reminded me of this video. It says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." How truly helpful this neighbor was as he helped this young father. 

As I work towards finishing my degree, I am also working on Becoming Like Christ. Right now I am focusing on my prayers. It has been such a blessing to work towards being like Him. I am thankful for this opportunity to grow so I can become the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

    Have you read the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey? 

Well, I got a little snippet of it and let me tell you, it is exactly what I needed. I was just talking with my friend about how to find the real me. Who I am as opposed to who I want to be. What Stephen Covey does is give you 7 tips on how to do just that. The 7 habits he lists are as follows: 

        Habit 1 - Be proactive

        Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind    

        Habit 3 - Put first things first

        Habit 4 - Think win/win

        Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood

        Habit 6 - Synergize

        Habit 7 - Sharpen the saw

    I've been asked to relay which habit is the most meaningful to me. To be honest, there is a part of his book that is in between habit 3 and habit 4. He calls it Public Victory. This one opened my eyes a bit. Covey says, "You can't be successful with other people if you haven't paid the price of success with yourself first." 

Ouch. Guilty. Guilty as charged. You see, I have always had a low self-esteem. I've never really thought highly of myself. I am super happy with the things that I have learned and accomplished in my life but in the back of my head I hear the negative self-talk of how I could have done it better. It's never good enough. I'm never good enough. It's a learning trait that is ingrained in your brain when you grow up in an abusive household like I did. So, how do I get over that? How do I become the person I really want to be? Well, I guess I need to start being proactive. Stephen R. Covey says it is my choice if I want to be proactive or reactive. But where do I start? How am I supposed to know what to do? Luckily, he also lists a few things that can help us "Make deposits into (y)our Emotional Bank Account." 

1. Understanding the individual. What may be a deposit to one person may be nothing or even a withdrawal to another. Therefore, you need to get to know the individual.
2. Attending to the little things. In relationships or associations, the big things are really the little things - courtesies and small acts of kindness. Little forms of disrespect can make large withdrawals if you're not careful. 
3. Keeping commitments. Keeping a promise is a very large deposit, breaking a promise is the largest withdrawal it's possible to make. People tend to build their hopes around promises. 
4. Clarifying expectations. The cause of many problems is simply conflicting or ambiguous expectations. There, it's vital in any new situation to get all expectations tabled so they can be discussed and covered. This may take courage on the part of all parties involved. 
5. Showing personal integrity. Integrity is the basis of many kinds of deposits, while lack of integrity undermines almost all other efforts to make deposits. Honesty is telling the truth or conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words or keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. One important way to manifest integrity is to be loyal to those who are not present, as that communicates consistency. Integrity means you treat everyone by the same set of rules. 
6. Apologizing sincerely when you make a withdrawal. This requires a great deal of strength of character. 

Now, this might not make any sense to you at all, which is why I am leaving a link to buy the book here, so you can understand it! I'd like to leave you with another quote from Stephen R. Covey that helped me understand what it is that I truly want to become, and how to get there. He says: 

            "The 7 habits proved an incremental, sequential, integrated approach to the development of personal effectiveness moving us progressively from dependence (on others) to independence (take care of ourselves) to interdependence (looking after others and combining strengths)." 

John 10:9 I Am the Door

This picture has always been one of my favorites. Jesus is knocking at the door. But, what do you see? Or technically, not see? A doorknob. Jesus can't let Himself in, you have to. Such a powerful image to remind us that He is there, waiting for us to reach out/open the door. 

Speaking of door, I read this scripture this week, which made me think of this picture:

John 10:9 "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture"

Honestly, the picture and the scripture have nothing to do with each other. But I couldn't help but share one of my favorite pictures. 

This scripture talks about pastures. Earlier it was talking about sheep. What Christ is saying here is that he will be the gate to the pasture. He will let man in, if they are saved, and he will keep those that will hurt the sheep out. 

I know this is also a great reference to Him and us as well. He is the door. He can open the door for us to return to live with Heavenly Father again. Because of His atonement, we can choose to follow Him and return to Heavenly Father.

I can see Jesus Christ as a door for me to enter the kingdom of Heaven again. I know He is my Savior because of what He did for us. Another favorite picture of mine is below. At the hardest time of our lives, I literally felt like I was drowning. I honestly felt like I couldn't get enough air to just breath. I posted in 2017 about this time and I remember my son calming my spirits when he said, "I'm fine. I've said a prayer and everything's going to be ok...." I thanked my Heavenly Father for showing me that I did an ok job as a mother. I remember seeing this picture afterwards and knew that He had reached His hand out to me that day. 

Jesus Christ is my Savior. He is my redeemer. Through Him, I can become whole. I will strive to live my life like Him every day. 

Mastering the Power Inside You

First up, I wanted to share that my daughter, Ashlee, will be serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Honolulu Hawaii starting in October, 2023. We are so excited for her! 

This week in my Entrepreneurship class we learned about becoming a master. We started reading the book "Mastery" by George Leonard. (Found here) We learned a lot about becoming the master of ourselves. Some videos we watched talked about finding our passion, how to be a great entrepreneur and not a rock star (even though some make just as much money). Then we watched a video about a hero's journey and how it's about us, but in the long run it's all for Heavenly Father. 

The first few chapters we read in "Master" talked about the different kinds of paths we can take to master. He calls them the Dable, the Obsessor, and the Hacker. Here's the thing, all of them end up plummeting. They either get bored, overwhelmed, or just fall into a plateau and not want to change anything. Honestly, how many times have you realized that life is going great right now, then all of a sudden, WHAM! Life throws you a curveball and you're struggling to swing that bat. I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me. But the great thing about that is, the challenge is there. Yuu can either accept it, fight it, or let it take control. If you let it take control, then you start to plummet. If you accept it, you're in the middle of your plateau. But if you fight it, your start to move up and learn and grow from it. Without the plateau, we wouldn't be able to grow. Be thankful for those small moments of perfectedness that he calls the plateau because it is the calm before the storm, the trial to help us become stronger and grow into the masters we are so desperately seeking to become. 

One thing that has been going through my mind lately is how amazing it felt to be an entrepreneur. To own my own studio was the highlight of 40's. Unfortunately, it didn't last long as Covid hit hard and I just couldn't keep it up. But I keep thinking of opening one again (shh, don't tell Jason). I'm learning things with this course that could potentially help me become a better entrepreneur. However, is this the route I want to go? Right now I am so close to my Bachelor's degree. Soon after I will be working on my Master's degree for special education. 

Earlier this week in the video we watched, it was mentioned to ask five of your closest friends/family members this question. What is one thing I do better than anyone else you know. Some friends said it was hard to put into words but finally said, 

"You have an extra pep in your step that helps motivate people in a positive way." 

Others mentioned were, 

"You have a gift working with special needs children." 

"You can bust out in a song with all the joy, energy, and confidence like no one else I know." 

"You have a big laugh that makes others smile." 

"Empathize"

Now, in the video, we are told to use this advice to help find our passion, our purpose in life, our happy to be working, career. (See where I'm going with this?) So, does owning a studio help me with that? Does teaching special education help me with that? To be completely honest? Both of these sound like a good fit for me, considering all of the answers my family and friends gave me. 

One thing I read about during this class is to never start anything unless you have the support of family and friends. I know that my love of owning a studio will always be there, but I won't do anything without the full support of my family and friends. I know that my family will be with me forever, the studio won't. So, unless we all agree on it, then I'll keep this little dream of mine just that, a dream. Which I am ok with. There are more important things to worry about. 

Honesty? Work Ethic? Core Values?

 This week I finished the book Launching Leaders by Steven A. Hitz. If you are looking to better yourself, then you should read this book. Whether you are looking to become an entrepreneur or not, this book has some great ideas on finding yourself. If you are interested in getting the book, you can find it on Amazon here. 

Launching Leaders by Steven Hitz

One thing I really enjoyed reading was towards the end of the book, entitled Effective Communication and the Power of Storytelling. I loved the list he had referring to a good story. If you think about it, you'll realize that every good story has a main character that people either love, hate, or can relate to. Then of course there is the drama, the anticipation, the uncertainty of what's going to happen. Each story has a part where the main character does something empowering that turns out to be amazing. And of course, there is always the emotional ties that make us want to "awe," "ooh," or giggle about something. Yep, every story has all of these in it. For instance, let's talk about the movie Tangled. You know, the one about Rapunzel.

Super cute main character. People fall in love with her, then feel sorry for her. Then the craziness of her kidnapping and the anticipation of someone finding her! Of course, she chooses to leave the tower to experience things on her own which makes her character empowering. And you can't have a sweet story like this without someone falling in love so of course we love the emotional ties in it. It's no wonder this movie is my husband's favorite Disney movie. (Shh, don't tell him I told you!) 

Ok, let's move on. One thing I had to do for one of my assignments was deconstruct my biggest fear (of starting a business). It was actually harder than I thought. A lot of emotions came up. Of course, I would love to open another Zumba Studio someday. But there is so much happening there, we don't have time for that story! But I realized some of my fears where attainable. Communication was a big answer to it. If I were to ever start a business again, I would make sure I had the full support of my family. 

This week we also had to come up with our own Code of Conduct. In this code of conduct we had to make three "I will never" statements and three "I will always" statements. Then, later this week we wrote a Life Plan Core Value Statement. So, we now have a Code of Conduct and a Core Value Statement for ourselves. It was kind of deep, sitting there thinking of what my core values are. One thing that helped me find mine was a tip I found in the book. It said to find a quiet, serene place where I could sit and ponder (kind of meditate) about who I wanted to be versus who I am now. What is the difference? What is it that I like about the person I wanted to be? What did she have that I didn't. It, too, was a bit emotional for me. I really liked her! How can I become that person? Well, that is how I wrote my Core Value Statement. I challenge all of you who reads this to come up with your own Core Value Statement. It is inspiring. I know who I want to be and now I know how to get there. And, if you feel so inspired, I would recommend making those "I" statements mentioned above too. It's a bit easier but well worth it! 

Insight from the New Testament

 Wow. That's pretty much how I felt after reading through the scriptures this week. I decided to use the scripture study skill substitution, where you insert your name, or I, and make it personal for you. I first started reading Matthew chapter 5. Right from the beginning I started to get emotional and had tears in my eyes. If there were ever a time where Heavenly Father wanted me to feel loved, this was it. So humbling. In verse three it starts out: 

        3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So, substituting my name in there it would therefore read: "Blessed am I, poor in spirit, for mine is the kingdom of Heaven."

        4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

"Blessed am I that mourn: for I shall be comforted."

"Blessed am I, the meek: for I shall inherit the earth."

"Blessed am I, which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for I shall be filled."

"Blessed am I that is merciful: for I shall obtain mercy."

"Blessed am I, the pure in heart: for I shall see God." 

"Blessed am I, the peacemaker: for I shall be called a child of God." 

"Blessed am I, who is persecuted for righteousness' sake: for mine is the kingdom of heaven."

"Blessed am I, when men shall revile me, and persecute me, and shall say all manner of evil against me falsely, for my (God's) sake." 

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is my reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before me." 

So, you can see why I felt so strongly that Heavenly Father was making sure I knew how important I am to Him. Let's back up a bit. 

Late last week I had been struggling with an upcoming assignment that I have. It literally got me down. My depression was starting to kick in. I had started to get anxiety just thinking about sitting down to do my homework. Tuesday came and my assignments were due that night. I spoke with my sister about my feelings. This particular assignment just had me thinking of all the things that I do wrong. It made me think terrible things about myself. I started to hate who I was. 

I know that these assignments are meant to help us grow closer to Christ, not feel the way I was feeling. My sister suggested I reach out to my professor. So I did. His response couldn't have been more perfect. It was exactly what I needed to hear. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt much better. So, I sat down and started reading the scriptures. And this is what I read. If I didn't know that Heavenly Father was thinking of me before, this really stood out now! He knew I needed to hear those words for myself. 

I know my Heavenly Father lives. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for us and paid the ultimate sacrifice. He doesn't want us to suffer. The pain I was feeling, He felt worse. I know that Jesus died for me. I will forever be grateful for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He will always and forever be my Savior, my guiding light, my example. I am so thankful for the knowledge of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

If you would like more information regarding the different study skills, the scriptures that I am reading, or more about Christ in general, please visit here.