Friday, October 17, 2008

Comfortable In My Own Company

Although some people would vehemently disagree, I feel very lucky to attend school at BYU. Where else could I take a marriage prep class that would be chalk full of ways to apply gospel principles to marriage?

Today we talked about happiness. Our teacher posed the question "Are you comfortable in your own company?" We talked a little about what that means. One option is, do you feel comfortable being at home a lone on a friday night when all your roommates are on dates? Another option is do you recognize who you are, and are you happy with it? Are you comfortable with what you and the Lord have made of yourself?

The point of our discussion was to encourage us to stop looking for someone to 'make us happy' and start realizing that whether or not we are happy will depend mostly upon ourselves, and our relationship with God. If I can be happy alone, then when I get a husband I can still be happy even when he doesn't always make me happy. I don't really know, but from what I hear husbands aren't perfect...which is weird, because wives are...right? :)

So, being comfortable with who I am alone, is going to set me up for being comfortable and happy and having joy in my marriage, and every other aspect of life as well.

Something that helps me be happy each day is when I start out by saying to my self: Self, you are GREAT no matter what anyone else thinks. Not that people don't think I'm great, because they do :), but you know how easy it is to make up that someone doesn't like you because they made a funny look at you when really they were just about to sneeze or something.

Wow, I made myself laugh when I wrote that last paragraph. Self, you are so funny.


My sister tagged me to place my 4th picture from my 4th album on my blog. I wasn't going to do it because I was embarrassed about this one. I had just received a haircut and straightened my hair for the first time since the cut, so I took a bunch of pictures of myself. I guess maybe I'm a little too comfortable in my own company?

3 comments:

Hannah said...

I was woNDErING if you were going to fulfill the tag request! I might have been mad, so i'm glad you did it. :) That is cool that you can have those discussions in your classes and all so true and good to think about.

Andy's Appetite said...

Joe was telling me about this post on the way to Costco today. He thought it was a great thing to think about. It's very true.
I like the straight hair picture.

Russell said...

Abby, it's CHUCK FULL, and even the people who insist on saying it wrong spell it chock.

I AM PECULIAR (this is a permanent post. If you have already read it, scroll down to see my latest)

Those of you who read my blog could probably make a list of all the reasons that you think I am a bit peculiar. No worries, I would be the first to shout an amen to everything you could think of. I know I’m peculiar; but let me tell you the number one thing on my list that I think makes me a peculiar person.

I know where I come from, why I am here and where I am going. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some of you will know me as a “Mormon” although that is just a nickname. The word ‘Saint’ just means ‘member’ in this context. I believe in God the Eternal Father, that I am a daughter of God, and that He loves me and wants me to be happy. I believe in my Savior Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life, atoned for my sins, died and was resurrected all that I might enjoy the blessing of being forgiven of my sins, and having my body and spirit reunited after death. I know that just as God called prophets in the Old and New Testament times that He has in fact called a prophet to lead and guide us today. I believe that families can live together for eternity; death does not have to be the end of our relationships with the ones we love. Some of you may wonder how on earth I can know these things. As I learn more and more from the Bible and other scriptures and actually live what I learn I see the promises the Lord has made being fulfilled in my life, and I feel the Holy Spirit bear witness that these things are true.

I know, I’m peculiar, but thankfully there are over 13 million other peculiar members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and with each year that number grows. I feel so much joy and happiness in my life because of this knowledge. If you want to know more depth about anything I have said that makes me peculiar, visit www.mormon.org. This website explains in detail much of what I have just professed to believe and more.