12.16.2010

If you're happy and you know it

This has not been a fun week. It's been very stressful, hard, depressing, difficult, trying, and flat out miserable. In short, we haven't really been cultivating a nice environment at home (which is ironic because I just taught a fabulous lesson to the Beehives about cultivating a nice environment wherever you are). It's frustrating.

I feel like there will always be ebbs and flows in my spiritual journey through life, however sometimes I get so sucked away that it seems impossible to return to a state where I was just a few weeks/days/months prior; happy, more selfless, and motivated.
There was another time in my life where I was obviously feeling incredibly down (although I can't recall how long ago this was), but I grabbed my scriptures and began reflecting on the semesters I lived at BYU-Idaho. For the most part, I was incredibly happy at BYU-I. I was surrounded by an incredible spirit-filled campus, with wonderful roommates, and good influences where ever I went. But, what was it that truly made me happy?

This is what I wrote down in the back of my scriptures:

What was I doing then that made me so happy?
-The basics. I prayed morning and night, in private and aloud, and with sincere thought.
-I read my scriptures daily, and read much. It was the year the prophet challenged us all to complete the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.
-I tried to do things for others, and control rude thoughts.
-I attended my meetings and fulfilled my calling.
-I wrote in my journal. I stopped doing unrighteous things, pushed any evil influences away. I kept my guard up.
-I heeded my patriarchal blessing.
-I worked my hardest, well at least worked and concentrated a lot on my school work.
-I maintained a balanced schedule.
-I apologized.
-I tried to show gratitude.

I'm really glad that I wrote this down, because it tells me that I know what I need to do if I want to be happy. But even though I know this and the blessings it will bring, why is it so difficult to form and keep good habits?

And humility? Let's not even go there.

6 comments:

Lucy van Pelt said...

What a fantastic reminder! All of those are things that I constantly need to work on. I'm not sure why it's so hard to keep the habits, but rest assured that you're not alone in this difficulty.

Mallory said...

I hope next week is less awful. I love your list, I wish it was so easy to actually do most if not all those things but at least for me I find it hard. Anyway on a different note I just want you to know I think you are awesome!

Michelle said...

Thank you for sharing! I am actually in the midst of preparing my January R.S. lesson and it is about making sure we focus on the basics so we can have the Spirit with us and be happy. I appreciate hearing your tesitmony of this!

Katie said...

I'm about to teach the good environment lesson this week to the girls in my ward. Don't worry Diana, everyone has ups and downs. The important part is to recognize that you are down and get moving back up again. And there is nothing like Christmas to bring that happy spirit back into your life.

Brittney said...

thanks diana i too have been having a hard time and byui was when i was super happy too. thanks for the reminder :)

Shaillé said...

Hey! Happened upon your blog...

I really appreciate this post - very insightful - love it.

This is random, but one of my friend's here has a fun blog that is always very insightful for me too. Laughter is something that helps me when I feel depressed, and I always laugh when I read her blog. ;)

http://my-backdoor.blogspot.com/