Lifting Up or Pulling Down?

Is what you're doing, saying, keeping, making, eating or purchasing lifting you up or pulling you down?

Since becoming a Mommy I don't get a whole lot of time to myself anymore, so I've found that I'm becoming a lot more careful and conscious of what I do with the "me time" I do get. There are so many things that pull me down, but also many other things that lift me up. More and more I'm listening to my sensitive heart with the time I'm spending on things.

Do I feel lifted?
There's a surge of energy that gives a skip to your step almost as if you're spirit is lifting your outer body shell and moving it forward effortlessly. You feel giddy, excited, motivated, and optimistic. It's like you're literally lifted 2 feet off the ground.

Do I feel pulled?
There's a drain of energy that drags your step like your spirit is trying to keep your outer body from doing this. You feel guilty, unmotivated, and pessimistic. It's like you're literally being pulled down 2 feet into the ground.

We live in such a blessed era and location where technologies and advances have made everything so readily accessible. It can be overwhelming to try to choose only a few things to devote our time to, but I think it can be as simple as this: if we feel lifted - do it,  if we feel pulled down - don't do it.

With so many things that lift our souls, why would we ever choose to feel pulled down?
I think the biggest reason is caring too much about what people think or what we think others think and expect from us.

Your youth is a time to explore, to try every hobby, sport, and artistic venture, but I think once you hit your twenties you should start focusing in on the things that are you; the things that lift you. It's about magnifying what your specific skills, talents, and passions are.

Expressing to yourself or others what your talents are doesn't mean you're declaring that your are an expert in them, it simply means that you love doing those things. Meanwhile, stating that you don't have a passion for other pursuits doesn't mean you dislike them or dislike the people that do them. In fact, I think the more you focus in on your own talents you become more grateful for those people who posses talents which you do not have. You're no longer measuring yourself up to them, but instead truly viewing them in their glorious capacities and can then generate an actual genuine compliment (not the one's where you're like "if only I was as good as you are at this" type non-compliment).

I've found as I am editing out the "stuff" in my life and my home I'm becoming more and more enlightened in identifying my talents - that which uplifts me. --> watch out for future post on "getting rid of 465 things in 30 days".

I personally feel like you can't lift anyone up if you're being pulled down yourself, so it becomes a vital necessity when you give of yourself to others to be pre-uplifted.




Heaven's slice is lifting up others.

The Handmixer - A Lesson On Humility

This post also has to do with the silliness that is a mommy brain, but I thought I'd make it a little more serious (because I'm super melodramatic like that).

I made some lazy cake cookies a few weeks ago. Using my hand mixer, I shoved in the beaters and started at 'er on low. It was a struggling unit, so I turned it on high. As it still persisted on wrestling with the mixture, I figured the batter was just too thick. I trudged it along then called it good and unplugged it. Going in for the lick, I stopped myself and realized this was cake batter not cookie dough and I sucked my tongue back into my face. I then went on to rinse them and dunk them in some sitting water for a bit. I finished up the lazy cake cookies and started in on loading up the dishwasher, placing the beaters in the utensil rack. A few hours later I unloaded the dishes and placed the beaters back in their container, noticing that there was 2 different beaters in the dishwasher, one of which was mashed up pretty hard. I shrugged, chalking it up to a two year old playing with stuff in the pantry and putting it in the dishwasher while my back was turned. All was unloaded and kitchen cleaned when I realized I had only put 1 of 2 of the cookie beaters in the container. Not seeing it's mate in or around the dishwasher or sink, I figured I'd check in the mixer container for the other... low and behold the other one was already in there as well. It FINALLY dawned on me that I must've used two different beaters when mixing the dough, hence the struggle, hence the one bent beater I unloaded from the dishwasher.

There were at least 5 different instances where I could've and SHOULD'VE noticed my mistake.

With something as obvious and tangible as putting 2 completely different beaters in my mixer and it falling entirely unnoticed by me, I can't help but think - what other things could I be overlooking so carelessly in my life? I had played the blame game with this error insisting that the struggle must've been the cake batter's fault, the battery power, my 2 year old... then lastly, I looked at myself as the cause. How many times and how many situations have I so pridefully done this? What other instances have I quickly labeled others as pot stirrers before realizing I held the gigantic spoon in my own hand?

Humility gets thrust upon us in so many different ways, sometimes it's a heavy burden or trial... and sometimes, it's through a hand mixer.

Either way though; humility brings us the power of divinity we so deeply need in a world of constant turmoil.


"Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God—the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption. " -Richard C. Edgley The Empowerment of Humility



Heaven's slice is being humble.

I can't do hard things

Behind every heart, a trail of deeply agonizing pain can be found. Some of these hurts are publicly known, but for the most part they go silently unnoticed by the local population. I've always had somewhat of a difficult time hearing others' words stating their accomplishment of something difficult. In a large part, the reasoning why I have a difficult time hearing it is because I don't comprehend how they alone defeated it. You see, I can't do hard things. As much as I'd may be like to share with you a grand list of my trials, failures, and heartbreaks and how I percervered because of my great strength, it's simply not true. There is a darkness that has overcome me many times in various stages of life I have had thus far, and I truly could not be rid of it. It had it's way with me a time or two (or ten) purely because I tried to fight it alone. Painful experiences and circumstances have shown themselves to me in such different and unexpected ways; still, they are all the same - they are a hard thing. A hard thing that I matter-of-factly can't bare.

I alone have never been able get through hard things, though I have gone through a plethora of them. Simply put, the reasoning is because I always had someone with me fighting out the dark and carrying me back into the light. The most important and valued piece of knowledge my parents gave me was that I was a child of God and that I could always call upon Him no matter when or where I was at emotionally, mentally, or physically. It was because of this knowledge my parents so wisely taught me that I have been able to go through unspeakable tortures that have been thrown my way. I can't do hard things, but my Savior can, and my Savior did. He went through all of what I've experienced, and because of his mercy upon my soul he has provided me with a second pair of eyes, hands, and heart far more greater than I can fathom. In my darkest hours as I have called out to divinity, I have always been given their strength to help me do the hardest things that I couldn't bare. I am lifted up because my hand stretched toward the greater; I let go of the cliff crevice and put my hand in theirs and that is how I avoided the fall. It was never my strength, it was theirs. I can't do hard things.

Heaven's slice is knowing that your strength is not your own.

Halloween 2015: What We Wore

This was our family Halloween get-up this year:

Can you guess what we were?!

What does a kid baseball player,

lifeguard,

dog,

and a baseball have in common?

Yep, you got it!! We went as The Sandlot characters!!!

FOR. EV. VER.

My Hubs was Squints, I was Wendy Peffercorn, my little girl was "The Beast" /Hercules, and my baby boy was the infamous baseball autographed by none other than the the sultan of swat! The king of crash! The colossus of clout! The colossus of clout! BABE RUTH! THE GREAT BAMBINO!





Heaven's slice is your favourite movie.

I'm cheating...

I still have some editing tweaks on some posts, so to fulfill my weekly post quota and in the event of Halloween here's a throwback link to last year's Halloween post:


CLICK -->TRICK OR TREAT 2014


Enjoy and stay tuned for this year's Halloween post!



Heaven's slice is most definitely Octobers.

Screens Suck

Firstly, PLEASE be restfully assured that this post is completely hypocritical, and that I the author am fully aware of it.

Having said that, what I will go on to write I really do believe... I just usually try to put that belief in a headlock on the daily so I can scroll through my newsfeed in peace.

Anyways.

Screens suck. They literally do. They suck the energy out of ambition, they suck empathy out emotion, they suck time away from relationships, and they suck the living out of your life. They suck you in like you are the addict and they are the answer. And they're not, they're really really not. Yet it's so hard to stop! To stop scrolling, clicking, liking, commenting, watching, reading, sharing, typing, posting; it is just so hard! There's always something new that pops up - a big news story, a crusade to defend, a tangent to exploit, a video to lol at, photos to gawk at... It's all so enticing! But it's not real.

It's not real.

That photo album you're swiping through of a past acquaintance was taken a month ago at a lake you've never been.
That video you're watching was taken a few years back on a whole other continent than you reside.
That news story you're reading was completely made up purely to get you to visit their website.
That little girl will not get a heart transplant if she gets a million likes.
You will not be the lucky winner of $1000 given by a recent lotto winner.
You're crush will not reveal himself once you share a post...

None of it is your reality.

You know what's real? This:

















(Having trouble viewing? Look up about 10 inches and it should work.)

This, this is real. Isn't it glorious?!



Too many times I've gotten a tug, or a yell, or a swat that reminds me that the screen isn't real. Too many times I've spent my time scrolling through looking at photos of other children instead of looking at my own right in front of me. Too many times, and I realize I'm seriously addicted to a screen, a stupid iPad screen. I feel so much energy and motivation when I'm out of it's clutches. I'm more patient of a mother, I'm more kind, more happy, and way more fun. When my battery power dies and it's plugged in in the back room for hours unnoticed I feel so much more solidarity and peace in my home and in my heart, and I know my children feel it too. My focus is on them and not on a screen.

It's not to say there isn't a lot of good that can come from the internet, but it can be a hard habit to break when we use it in a way that gets us out of our real life and into a false reality that's so mind distractingly consuming. This technology that is at our finger tips should be used to enhance the reality we are in, but not take us out of it. (Things like dancing around the house to music off of youtube or looking at the recipe from which you are making supper, etc.)




Heaven's slice is knowing when you are an addict... and doing something about it!

PS click here to view some addiction videos that are pretty insightful "12 steps to Change"- CAUTION they deal with mature subject matter.

And just like that...

my little baby...

is now a man.

Heaven's slice is this little one... and mustache soothers.