Living in the Moment

A few years ago I came across a book called "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher. It was one of those books that you pick up and don't put down until you've read every single word. Today, I downloaded a book co-authored by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler called "The Future of Us". I started reading it and didn't stop until I finished, which was about 15 minutes ago. While I didn't like it as much as "13 Reasons Why", it did get me thinking a lot. "The Future of Us" is basically about a girl and her friend who get an AOL disc and download it onto her computer (before the internet was everywhere and iPods or Facebook were invented) and it has a Facebook account on it with their lives 15 years in the future. They become obsessed with how their current lives affect their future lives and it turns into this huge life changing thing over about a weeks time and don't realize how they are ignoring their current lives. 

As I've written in previous posts, I love Buddhism. Not as a religion or anything, but I think Buddha was very wise and teaches very useful concepts and ways to find happiness within yourself. A big part of Buddhism is something called mindfulness. It's about being aware of yourself and what is going on in the moment, how your body feels, managing your thoughts, and being totally present in the current moment. I have a few buddhist books and they go more in depth about the concept but it is really helpful. Most people don't know this but last year I found out I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I'm not ashamed to admit this anymore. Millions of people suffer from it, and it's not something you can just "get over" and stop on a whim. I've found that mindfulness is helps a lot with people who are suffering from extreme stress and use it remain calm in stressful situations. Practicing mindfulness and being in the present moment helps you stop worry so much about the future and enjoy life more. If you just focus on being happy here, right now, then a lot of stress goes away. Your life will turn out how it is supposed to. Everything happens for a reason, and it does no good to put all your time, energy, and emotions into worrying about how one little thing you do now will affect your future 15 years from now. 

If anyone is interested in reading more about mindfulness or Buddhism I love all the books I've read by Thich Nhat Hanh, he is very wise and has changed my life. 

Here is a very artistic rendition of him lol (all his photos were low res). Doesn't he look wise?

Being Mormon in Happy Valley

The current presidential race has shone a lot of light on Mormons, due to the fact that candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon. While the light has been shone, it hasn't all shown truths. I really don't understand what it is about the world and media that devotes almost all of its energy on tearing other people and beliefs down, whether the stuff they are saying is true or not. Most of the time it's not. What blows my mind the most is that people don't see the hypocrisy of it all. If a Mormon is around a group of non-mormons who are drinking, more often than not, they will be asked why they aren't drinking. They give their answer. And then they get harassed about it (not all the time, I'm not generalizing, but a lot of the time). Think about if the roles were reversed. That Mormon, being around a group of non-mormons drinking could ask them why the ARE drinking, and then harass them about it. They could shove their point of view down the non-mormons' throats all night long. And guess what. That Mormon would be considered arrogant, preachy, judgmental, etc. So how come it doesn't go both ways? How come people who aren't Mormons can harass Mormons about their beliefs, openly and harshly, but nobody says anything? Why is it ok for people to shove their anti-religious beliefs down Mormons throats, but when Mormons try and say what they believe they are being judgmental, un-accepting, and arrogant? I really don't get it. The hypocrisy is ridiculous. 


I read a post on the internet that said "Mormons are arrogant". Come on. Really? You're going to stereotype every single Mormon on the planet because maybe you met a handful of arrogant Mormons? I have lived in Utah Valley my whole life, so I have obviously been around my fair share of Mormons. Are some Mormons arrogant? Yes. Are all Mormons arrogant? No. Generalizations and stereotypes are ridiculous. Try not to be in the high school mentality, okay? Realize that not all people are what ONE person is. That's like saying all Hispanic people are illegal, or all Black people are criminals, or all White people are racist, etc, etc, etc. It's ridiculous. There are endless amounts of stereotypes and generalizations that are completely FALSE. 


I've heard people say that being a non-mormon in Utah sucks. Well guess what. Being a Mormon in Utah sucks too. I can imagine what it would be like to be the minority somewhere. I've grown up in an environment where the majority of the people around me have the same beliefs. It's a weird way to grow up, considering that most of the other places in the US aren't like that. Except in the South maybe....anyway. I can understand why it would be hard for non-mormons to try and fit in in Utah. Mormonism isn't just a religion in Utah, it's a culture too, because it's so condensed. I'll tell you a secret. It's hard for Mormons to fit in in Utah too. The Mormon culture is definitely unique. There are a lot of desserts involved, along with a lot of overly friendly people and pot luck dinners. There's a lot of pressure. A lot of insecurities. But most Mormons really are just trying to be good people. Sometimes Mormons might come off arrogant, because they ARE overly friendly and cheerful. It might come off fake or condescending. But guess what. Every single person in this world is just trying to live life the best way they know how. Nobodies opinions and beliefs are exactly the same. Mormons try to be friendly because the religion focuses on service and helping the people around them. Cue the enormous amounts of food. And crafts. Some Mormons ARE self righteous. But a lot aren't. 


I don't understand why people have so many negative things to say about Mormons anyway. The religion promotes lots of service, families, education, travel, morality, health, ethics, etc. None of those things sound bad to me. When there are natural disasters, Mormons are usually a huge part of the people who volunteer to help. When people are moving, Mormons usually stop by to help whether they know the person or not. If your neighbor is a Mormon and they see your sidewalk covered in snow, they usually come shovel it. Mormons donate to charity. They visit old people. They travel to 3rd world countries and try to help the people there. I'm not saying all Mormons are good people, cause some aren't. But nobody is perfect. Mormons aren't polygamists. They don't wear weird clothes or eat weird food. They don't live on compounds. They are regular people. 


I have been a Mormon my whole life, and will always be a Mormon. I am sick of people telling me that I let other people make my decisions and think for me, BECAUSE I'm Mormon. Just cause I've grown up being Mormon doesn't mean it's always been easy to be one. We all go through stages where we try to figure out what we personally believe. We question things and try to make sense of the world around us. I questioned a lot of stuff. I studied scriptures, read articles, prayed, soul searched, you know the drill. I came to believe, BY MYSELF, that I believe in the LDS church (aka Mormonism). Nobody forced me to believe it or brainwashed me. I make my own choices. I'm not saying that I don't still wonder about stuff and question stuff, but everyone does. We are all just trying to find a belief system that works for us. I am not a lemming who just follows along with everyone else. So people, STOP SAYING MORMONS DON'T MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS. We are normal freakin people like everyone else. We just believe in stuff that maybe you don't. Big deal. You can go smoke, drink until you puke, sleep around, steal, do whatever, and I don't care. I seriously don't judge. It's your life. I don't want people judging me for what I do, so I'm not going to judge anyone for what they do. It's their life, and their decisions, and if they decide to believe in Buddha, Ra, nobody, the cult leader down the street, GO FOR IT. More power to ya. I'm not going to force my beliefs on anyone, but if anyone wants to actually have an open, intellectual, respectful discussion about religion or just beliefs in general I'm completely open to it. Just don't come bash my religion and beliefs when you wouldn't want me to do that to you. Simple enough concept, I think. 


If you come to Utah, don't automatically assume everyone is judging you if you're not Mormon. Or that they're judging you BECAUSE you are Mormon and you might not live up to their standards or expectations or whatever. Live your life however it makes you happy. Don't judge other people. We are all human beings on planet earth and that is one thing that ties us all together. You know the saying "I'm only human"? Well it means we all make mistakes. We all have things we need to learn. So stop judging people because of the ways they are different from you, and try to focus on what is the same. We can all learn from each other if we just try. 


And that is the end of this rant. It didn't quite go where I was expecting it to go since I just winged it, but you get what I'm trying to say. I hope. 

National Geographic Has Stolen My Heart

For those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with National Geographic. My ABSOLUTE dream job would to be a photographer for them. I know that people can submit photos to their photo contests and such so I guess that's a start.

In the May 2012 edition, Klaus Enrique, a photographer based in Mexico City and London, recreated some of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's paintings. Arcimboldo painted portraits of people using plants to make up the faces.

  
 Arcimboldo's painting "The Vegetable Gardener" 1590

Enrique's photograph recreation of "The Vegetable Gardener"

Arcimboldo's painting "Summer" 1563

Enrique's photograph recreation of "Summer"

Arcimboldo's painting "Winter" 1572

 

Enrique's photograph recreation of "Winter"

Arcimboldo's painting "Spring" 1573

Enrique's photograph recreation of "Spring"

While these aren't my favorite paintings, or photographs, you do have to appreciate the creativity and hard work that went into creating them. Both artists spent a great amout of time planning out what objects and colors to use to create their images. The idea of using small objects to make a huge object is what sculptors use all the time, with awesome results.



Also in this edition of National Geographic, they had an article about the Manakin bird. It is a bird found in Central and South America that can make music with its wings and does the moonwalk.

Check it out:

AND

Here are some awsome photographs from National Geographic.

Archaeologists recently unearthed 3,000 Buddha statues in Handan, China that are 1,500 years old:

This is a relic of the Iran/Iraq war. It is an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, "scuttled" by Sadam Hussein to block access by sea to Southern Iraq.

This is high tide at the Indonesian island Pulau Balai. In March, 2005 a seafloor earthquake lowered the island by 3 feet, and the high tide frequently floods houses.

This is Karkonosze National Park in Poland

This is a cave painting in Papua, New Guinea

There are so many pictures I LOVE of theirs, but there is no way I could put them all on here. If you want to see more, just go to www.nationalgeographic.com and they have TONS. I could spend hours on there.

I am a self proclaimed dork. I love National Geographic, Animal Planet, Mythbusters, Pawn Stars, Discovery Channel, River Monsters, the History Channel, all that good stuff. I guess I just like learning. Oh well, knowledge is power lol.

Enjoy :)

Do the Creep

I like to watch people. Don't worry, it's not in a creepy stalker way. Even though my old roommates and I would creep on the guys in the building across from us when they would have their blinds open. If you're walking around shirtless with rock hard abs and your blinds wide open you obviously want people to look at you. We were just obliging :) Lol anyway, I am super fascinated by people. I like to think that I have been blessed with the gift of observation. I feel like I notice more about my surroundings and about people around me than many others do. My mom said even as a kid I would be fine to just sit and watch people. I'm totally cool doing that too, I like watching how other people interact and seeing how they react to different situations. 

In high school I thought about going into sociology once I got into college, but I didn't wanna work for the government (which is basically all you can do) so I decided not to. I love anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, you name it. Anything that deals with people and what they did or currently do. I think that is why I love books, tv, and movies so much is because they are stories. I'm actually really passionate about figuring out why we think and act the way we do. I feel like by watching lots of different kinds of people it helps me figure out myself in the process. For example, sometimes when I see someone react a certain way to a situation, I think about how I would react to the situation and try to figure out why my reaction would be different. What leads me to react my way, and what leads the other person to react their way. Might sound nerdy but I think it's pretty cool. 

People watching has actually helped me become a less judgmental person. Instead of judging why people are doing what they are doing I just think there is an underlying reason (or reasons) to why they act a certain way. Nobody is perfect, and people act a way for a reason. Yes, we can control our actions. No, we shouldn't blame our behavior on our situation. But things that happen to us influence our personalities and behaviors. This world would be a better place if people stopped judging each other and cut each other some slack every once in a while because you never know why people are doing what they are doing. 

I am really into Buddha. 

Laugh all you want but Buddhism contains a lot of really good philosophies on life and has actually helped me become a better person in my opinion. As they say in Sons of Provo, "Mormons can be Buddhist too." Here are some Buddhist quotes I really like that pertain to this subject:

"What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?"

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill."

That's all :)