Becoming a Better Listener

Boise State v. BYU

This past weekend I went to Boise, Idaho, to watch the Boise State v. BYU game. I have a lot of extended family in Boise and it was nice to get to see a lot of them. While I was there, I visited one of my cousins who is about a year and a half older than me and she is married with a baby on the way. We don’t have that much in common, so I was surprised by how much time we spent together on that short vacation. Mostly I just listened to her but I feel that that is sometimes one of the best ways to get closer to someone. 

My mom always tells me how important it is to be a good listener. She says that really listening to someone can help people feel important and loved and it really helps strengthen your relationship. And that is something that sticks with a person. There is a quote that I love that says:

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”― Maya Angelou

This is such a true statement. Looking back on my life, I don’t really remember specific things that people said or did, but I always remember how they made me feel. That is why I think listening to people is so important. When you really listen to them, you get to know them better and they feel important and loved.

All of the things we’ve learned about in Mcom about reflective listening are just as important in everyday life situations as they are in business situations. When you truly listen to someone, it really helps strengthen your relationship and people will remember that you cared enough so listen. And so that is why I really want to work on becoming a better listener.

Did You Think to Pray?

This past week I have heard so much about remembering to say morning prayers, which is always something that I have had to work on. When I was younger, my dad would always help me by singing the song “Did you think to pray?” and he is not a very good singer, so that was always a funny but good reminder. Unfortunately, I don’t get that here now that I am at college.

My Friend Emerson 

Before this week, I was trying to get better at remembering but without much success … Then I started getting all of these amazing reminders throughout the week! 

In my D&C class, my professor told us that we need to make morning prayer such a priority in our life that we would never even consider leaving our apartments without saying morning prayers first. This really helped me to think about the importance of saying morning prayers.

Then, when my visiting teachers came on Sunday, they also talked about prayers, and how we can use them to get our daily guidance from the Lord. They also talked about praying to help remember to say prayers, which has really been helping.

I also got a letter from one of my best friends who is on a mission right now. We used to text each other every morning to remind the each other about morning prayers, but now that she is on her mission, we can’t really do that. But in this letter, she wrote this cute little poem and drew a picture that I now hang on my wall to remind me to say morning prayers.

So this week I have been pretty good at remembering and it has made a difference in my day. I want to be better at remembering all the time, and this week has been a good motivator for me to keep up with it!

This is Water

This week, my friend showed me this amazingly inspirational video. It’s a little long, but if you have the time, you should definitely watch it!

This video is a good reminder for me. I think that it can be easy to get into the routine of life and not be aware of everyone else around you. Like the video says, our default setting is to think that this is “all about me,” and what I want.

I think that it is especially easy for me to fall into this mindset while I am at college. I am here to get an education for me and the have fun for me. The only person I have to take care of and be responsible for is me, so it is easy to get caught up in that. That is one of the differences I really noticed when I went home this summer, how different life is when I live with my family not just me. I’m not to only one I have to take care of.

And so one thing that I really want to work on is to just be more aware of all the people around me. The video says, “The capital T-Truth … is about the real value of a real education which has (almost) nothing to do with knowledge and everything to do with simple awareness.” Becoming aware and choosing to reach outside of myself is something that I want to learn while I am here at school. Getting an education is not only about getting a degree, but also about learning how to live life. And I want to have that. 

Teaching the Right Way

Tomorrow in Relief Society, I am teaching the lesson, and so this past week I’ve been thinking a lot about what I am going to say. It’s amazing how when you are thinking about something, like a lesson, that everything seems to connect back to that. Whether I was listening to conference, or in my D&C class, or even just talking to my mom, everything seemed to connect back to what I am teaching about.

But one of the most helpful things I learned this week was not actually about my topic, but rather how I should teach my topic. It comes from D&C 43:8.

8 And now, behold, I give unto you a commandment, that when ye are assembled together ye shall instruct and edify each other, that ye may know how to act and direct my church, how to act upon the points of my law and commandments, which I have given.

In my D&C class, we discussed how the three most important components of teaching are to instruct, to edify, and to inspire to act. This past week, I have been worrying only about the instruct part of teaching, which is important, but it’s not the only part of teaching. I realize that I also need to try to edify and inspire them to act. It has helped me to focus how I teach my lesson, but also has helped me to get more out of my studying. I have learned a lot more from thinking about my lesson in this way instead of focusing only on the instruction.

I still have to finalize what I am going to say, but now I know that I also need to aim to edify and inspire the Relief Society too. If I want to have a good lesson, I need to have all three of these components. And it is amazing how we had this lesson in D&C right before I have to teach. It must truly be inspired! 

I Love to See the Temple

My Favorite Temple: Washington DC

This week, on Tuesday, was my ward temple night. This week was pretty busy and wasn’t sure if I would be able to get everything done in time, but I decided that I was going to make going to the temple my priority. I hadn’t been to the temple in months, because at home, the closest temple is a three and a half hour drive away, so I didn’t go at all over the summer, but now that I am here in Provo, Utah, I don’t have any excuse. And I am so glad that I took the time to go on Tuesday. It was a great experience, but I have to say that it wasn’t all smooth sailing!

When we got to the temple to do baptisms, there were so many people there … In fact, they ran out of baptism suits and we had to wait just to even get dressed. And then we were singing in the waiting room for hours before we were able to actually do the baptisms, but what amazed me was that I didn’t ever get annoyed or impatient. I still had lots of homework that I had to do that night and it was getting late, but I never felt stressed – it was great! Usually waiting would bother me, but I just felt peaceful the whole time I was in the temple, which was such a blessing. The temple really does have a different spirit and it is so wonderful.

Another thing that made this trip so great what that I was able to do a friend’s family names. It makes a difference when you know a little bit about the person because it is easier to visualize them and how they must be feeling. And my friend had found so many interesting stories! She told me that she had originally thought that all of her family history work was done, but when she sat down to do some research, she was able to find lots of information that she didn’t even know was missing. It was inspiring. I have always thought that all of my family history work is done too but now I’m not so sure …

So this week I have been inspired to go to the temple more often and to try and find more family history information. I have been hearing a lot about temples and family history work in church and in the General Women’s Broadcast, but I haven’t done anything about it until this week when I decided that I am going to change that! I can wait to see what I can find!

Hats off to Technology

This week, I am really loving technology. I’m enjoying all of the amazing ways there are to connect with people! Right now, my family lives in Pennsylvania, my brother in the Mexico MTC, and my mom is on vacation in Italy. But because of FaceTime, texting, Snapchat, Facebook, and email, I get to keep in touch with all of my family members no matter what part of the world they are in. It is amazing! I get to be a part of my family’s life even when I am across the country. I feel the same way about keeping in touch with friends; even though I don’t get to see them often, I still get to talk to them and know about their lives.

My Bunch of Crazies

It’s amazing how different life is because of technology. My parents always point out that when they went to college, they didn’t get see much of their younger siblings, and that was something that I was worried about when I first came to Utah. My siblings are pretty young, and I didn’t want them to completely forget about me when I went to college. That’s why it makes me so happy that I can still talk to them. My baby brother can remember me and I won’t be just some picture on the wall of that girl that shows up around Christmas time.

So I guess that the take away from this is that you can always connect with people, you just have to make a little bit of effort. If you read my post last week, then you know that networking has been on my mind. What better way to grow my network than through technology! Keeping in touch is now easier than ever, so there is no excuse. Thank you technology!

I Can Do Hard Things

This summer, I began to recognize the importance of networking and having good connections. I had an internship at an insurance company this summer, and the main reason I got the job was because I had connections. (Thanks daddy!) This was true for pretty much every other intern there – we all got the job because we knew someone who worked there. And when you think about it, if you have two job applicants who are equally qualified but one is a complete stranger and the other you have a connection to, then you are most likely going to hire the one that you know something about.

And recently, not just in class, I have been hearing a lot about people who have gotten jobs thanks to networking. In my marketing class, we had a guest speaker come in from Nike, and he told us that one of the main reasons he got the job was because of networking and the connections that he had gained. So if networking was able to help him get an awesome job at a cool place like Nike, then I guess I’d better get used to networking if I want to be able to get a great job too!

I’ve come to realize that a lot of the things that are hard to do are actually some of the most useful things that we can do. I know that was very vague, but it’s because it can apply to so many aspects of my life. So whether it’s networking or classes or callings, if they are difficult, then it means you are learning and getting better. That’s why I’m going to try an adopted a better attitude about hard things, because they are actually good for me! I love the talk that says “I can do hard things,” because it’s true! I’ve just got to try and remember that while I am doing them.