I know I almost never write on this, but I guess something new has come up since I last posted. I have decided to go on a mission, and in other news, I added to my list of 50 things to do before I die.
For the whole mission thing, there are more specifics on the homepage of my blog. I just had my paperwork sent to the Church Headquarters this morning, and I will get my call (where I am going) here in the next few weeks. I am so excited to go and serve people somewhere in the world. This is an experience that I never thought I would actually have. I didn't seriously consider it until a few months ago, and soon it will be a reality. Man. That is just crazy! It will be a great experience, and I will keep updates on that, probably on the main page of this blog.
As far as the new things I added to the list, I just added a few more art museums to go to. Taking art classes again after so many years has rekindled my love and appreciation for the visual arts. They are just so inspiring and truly unique. It is amazing what you can tell just from a painting, or a sculpture, or anything else. They truly are beautiful!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Serve
So for that same amazing English class that I have been talking about, I have had quite the assignment over the past week. Our teacher gave us a five page paper, and over the past week, I have spent nine hours reading it and two hours writing about it. The paper is really good and all, but it has been very time consuming. The subject matter is very interesting, but that's just a TON of time to spend reading five pages. Don't get me wrong, I have learned a lot. I promise. It's just that I feel like I have already learned everything that I can from READING the paper. The only way I can learn from it now is to ACT on what I've read. The paper is all about thinking. It explores the various degrees of thinking, and I find it to be really interesting. It took me a long time to figure out exactly what the highest grade of thinking was, according to this paper. Now that I have figured it out though, I can hardly stand to just sit and read the paper.
Most of the notes that I took while reading had to deal with the fact that thinking brings up an infinite amount of contradictions. In the end, I realized that the most effective thinking has to do more with action than pondering. While pondering isn't bad, it's actually very good, the actions that take place with the knowledge gained from pondering is what matters. It is pointless to realize or learn something unless you utilize it in your daily life. After reading this paper many many times, I have come to conclude that real thinking is more than just pondering. It's taking those thoughts and bettering not only yourself through actions based on those thoughts, but more importantly, it's helping and serving others. It's truly living like you believe.
Having figured this out, it has made me want to serve others so much more. It can be even the littlest things that make the difference. It might be just smiling at someone when you walk past them, or it could be talking to a person that you don't get along with about how their day is going, and being genuinely interested in what they have to say. If you feel the need to do something specific for someone (something that is kind and beneficial for them) then JUST DO IT!!! Last Tuesday, I just felt like I needed to bake bread for all of my roommates. I'm not sure if one of them was just having a particularly hard day, or what. I just know that I needed to do it. I wrote each of them a little personal note to go with it, and left it for them in their rooms. These are the kind of things that the paper is talking about. It's going out of your way to help others. It doesn't matter if you benefit or not because that's not what it's all about. It is selfless, not selfish. There is a HUGE difference between the two.
Help someone. Serve them. I promise it's worth it.
Most of the notes that I took while reading had to deal with the fact that thinking brings up an infinite amount of contradictions. In the end, I realized that the most effective thinking has to do more with action than pondering. While pondering isn't bad, it's actually very good, the actions that take place with the knowledge gained from pondering is what matters. It is pointless to realize or learn something unless you utilize it in your daily life. After reading this paper many many times, I have come to conclude that real thinking is more than just pondering. It's taking those thoughts and bettering not only yourself through actions based on those thoughts, but more importantly, it's helping and serving others. It's truly living like you believe.
Having figured this out, it has made me want to serve others so much more. It can be even the littlest things that make the difference. It might be just smiling at someone when you walk past them, or it could be talking to a person that you don't get along with about how their day is going, and being genuinely interested in what they have to say. If you feel the need to do something specific for someone (something that is kind and beneficial for them) then JUST DO IT!!! Last Tuesday, I just felt like I needed to bake bread for all of my roommates. I'm not sure if one of them was just having a particularly hard day, or what. I just know that I needed to do it. I wrote each of them a little personal note to go with it, and left it for them in their rooms. These are the kind of things that the paper is talking about. It's going out of your way to help others. It doesn't matter if you benefit or not because that's not what it's all about. It is selfless, not selfish. There is a HUGE difference between the two.
Help someone. Serve them. I promise it's worth it.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Dreaming
My English Class has gotten me thinking lately, about life and all the other stuff like that. It has inspired me to be a better person. It has made me want to make a difference in the world. I want to better not only myself, but others too. So I guess on this page of my blog, I am just going to be writing mushy inspirational stuff about life. I guess I can make it fun too, and I'll probably do a lot of writing about what I am doing to make this all happen.
A few people from this amazing English class got together last Friday to hang out and stuff. They really got me thinking about what I could do. The question was asked, "what would you do if you could do anything in the world, and not fail?" There were answers that ranged from curing cancer to skydiving. I wasn't exactly sure what I would do. I gave some random answer that I can't even remember now, but Saturday morning, I thought of something that really matters to me. I posted this on Facebook on Saturday morning, "My dream: inspire the world through music-to tell my story and use it to bring others up." My classmates had really gotten me thinking, and I decided that this was really something that I had a passion for that I think could add to the world in a positive way.
Another thing my English class helped me to start was a list of 50 things to do before I die. Here are the 36 things that I have come up with so far:
So between music and doing these amazing things, I am going to change myself for the better, and hopefully others too! More to come on these dreams of mine!
A few people from this amazing English class got together last Friday to hang out and stuff. They really got me thinking about what I could do. The question was asked, "what would you do if you could do anything in the world, and not fail?" There were answers that ranged from curing cancer to skydiving. I wasn't exactly sure what I would do. I gave some random answer that I can't even remember now, but Saturday morning, I thought of something that really matters to me. I posted this on Facebook on Saturday morning, "My dream: inspire the world through music-to tell my story and use it to bring others up." My classmates had really gotten me thinking, and I decided that this was really something that I had a passion for that I think could add to the world in a positive way.
Another thing my English class helped me to start was a list of 50 things to do before I die. Here are the 36 things that I have come up with so far:
- Compose a Song (vocal-jazz style)
- Write a Hymn
- Learn html code
- Learn how to oil paint
- Learn to dance
- Go to Barcelona
- Be a part of La Tomatina
- Visit family in Bilbao
- Visit the Louvre
- Visit Versailles
- Have card for Library of Congress
- See on Broadway show in New York City
- Go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Visit the Smithsonian
- Memorize my mom's bread recipe
- Take photography class
- Learn to play guitar
- Perfect growing an herb garden
- Learn how to arrange flowers
- Visit Andy Warhol museum (Pittsburgh, PA)
- Make art prints in "the factory"
- Learn to cast (jewelry)
- Stand in turn lane in front of CV seminary building
- Pull an all-nighter
- Chase a rainbow
- Participate in a flashmob
- Film music video for "mormonizer"
- Make a 3' by 5' finger painting
- Have a paint fight
- Learn "Un Sospiro" by Liszt
- Write a book of piano pieces for all emotions
- Paint a picture laying down (on my back with paper above me)
- Visit Chicago Institute of Art
- Visit Museum of Modern art (both New York and San Francisco)
- Visit Nation Gallery (of Art, in London)
- Become fluent in another language
- Visit the Guggenheim (art museum)
So between music and doing these amazing things, I am going to change myself for the better, and hopefully others too! More to come on these dreams of mine!
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