Saturday, October 17, 2009

New Neighbors

A few weeks ago, the family living across the street from me moved out. For a period of time, their old house was empty, starting a couple of days ago, we started seeing people go in and including carpet people and service men. Upon arriving home from a rolfing session with my grandfather, I saw that there was a Uhaul truck in the driveway and people carrying things into the house. Right away I had a prompting to go over and ask if they needed help. Being a quiet and somewhat reserved person, this was out of my comfort zone. I wanted to help, but I was afraid of going over there and asking (pretty silly isn't it?). But I decided I wouldn't let myself think about how it would be uncomfortable so I almost ran inside to my room, changed my shoes and emptied my pockets, and then hurried over across the street. I nearly chickened out but I forced myself to follw through and approached someone working over there, introduced myself, and asked if they could use some help. They said yes and I spent about the next three hours working with them. During which time I was able to find out where they were moving from and to tell them about my family. They thanked me for my work and wanted to pay me when I had to go. I am very glad that I followed through with my SayGoBeDo moment. It started a good relationship with my new nieghbors and brought me out of my comfort zone.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

A SayGoBeDo Surpise

Hold onto your chairs, hats and anything else that may go flying... I just may have stumbled across the secret to staying young and having lots of energy! Do you want to know this secret? (Those of you on this blog probably have already figured it out) Yes! The secret is to follow your SayGoBeDos! Here's my experience from this morning:

I haven't signed up before now because I feel so overwhelmed with what is already going on in my life, but after reading the other posts and having a sgbd this morning, I feel like I need (uh-oh, is the reactive or proactive language?) to get on board!

My SayGoBeDo - I have been feeling like we need to meet our neighbors that we haven't met yet, but my family is not as excited as I am to do this. So I have decided to just go on over there without them. But of course I want to take them some homecooked goodies. This morning as I was starting banana nut bread for breakfast, I had the thought I should make a full batch and save a loaf by putting it in the freezer or for giving it to my neighbor. We ususally don't even finish half a batch and since I get tired of wasting good food, I ignored the thought at first. I was feeling kind of whiny about the day ahead. When I finally decided to go ahead and make a full batch and follow my sgbd, I felt more energized and lighter (that sounds funny but since I went jogging this morning, could I really be possibly lighter? :) ). So I added more ingredients to what I started (any time I bake it is a loooong process). But then the worries came in, what if I don't cook it long enough, what if the baking soda clumps and they get a nasty tasting clump (and this is even after I sift and stir it in with some flour and it still clumps!), what if there aren't enough bananas in it to call it banana bread? Well, I tried to be very careful while watching for clumps and mushed the one I found. I then rummaged through my freezer and found more bananas to thaw. And I'll just have to be careful to make sure the loaves are all the way cooked. It's okay if it's not a perfect loaf! (I had almost talked myself out of planning to take a loaf over.)

I cannot believe the energy I feel! Wow! Does this mean when I am tired that it's because I haven't been following my sgbd? Hmmm... and Wow! Who needs sleep when all you need to do is follow your sgbds?My bread is baked and it looked and tested done :)!

Stay tuned for when I actually make it across the street to meet my neighbor!

(Sorry about posting this as a comment, OOPS! I'm learning) Now I'm blogging! :)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Career Possibility

For the past year or so, I have been having slight back problems, especially during wrestling season. The pain has never been very bad, but has sometimes bothered me along with other aches and pains. About a week ago I was over at my grandparent's house with my family to watch general conference and I have a SayGoBeDo moment. I felt like I should mention my pains to my grandparents. I already knew that my grandpa was a rolfer, trained by Ida Rolf herself, and that my grandma did feldenkrais work, but I had never thought to mention it to them. (For those who don't know, rolfing and feldenkraising help your body return to it's perfect blueprint of movement and structure. They take care of many problems that chiropractors seek to fix, but at a deeper level with permanent results.) After mentioning my back pain, my grandma worked on my back for a little on the same day and I scheduled days with my grandpa when I would come over for rolfing sessions. (I just finished with my fourth session today and I will be going in for my fifth tomorrow. The results are amazing! But I won't go into that here.) During one of my rolfing sessions last week, I began wondering how someone is trained to become a rolfer and I thought it would be interesting to find out. I decided that I would ask my Grandpa. I forgot to ask on that day, but I did remember today and I am glad that I did. I am not sure if rolfing will ever be part of my career; I am not sure I even have what it takes to become a rolfer. But I am glad that I followed the SayGoBeDo moment I had and talked to my grandpa about rolfing.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Friends, problems, cleaning up...by Kathy

Haven't been too good about posting, life is crazy but quite honestly I think I must like it that way :)  I've had a few sgbd's lately that I'm really glad that I followed.  One was to call a friend, led to some meaningful things.  Another was to ponder a really big problem in my life and I feel some direction on it.  Like Brent, I feel way too many sgbd's about cleaning to mention but I'm trying to follow them even when it isn't convenient or it's "somebody else's job" or "somebody else's mess."  One that kind of falls in the category of cleaning but didn't happen at my house may be worth telling.  I was on the Cuyamaca campus where I work out (o0o now you know why I'm in such fabulous shape...jk (unfortunately)) and I'm walking along during a pretty busy time of day.  Lot's of people everywhere.  I saw up ahead on the sidewalk that someone had dropped something embarassing and right after I wondered how embarassed the person would have been if only they'd known, the thought went through my head "I wonder how many people have walked by that and kept on going" and the next thought was "Are you going to be the next to do the same thing?"  So then I picked it up and threw it away.  The funny thing is that the trash can was probably 100 feet away and it was no big deal but it was like the natural inclination was to "see nothing, do nothing."  Amazing how many things we let fall into a category called "Someone Else Will Take Care of This"  Too bad that would make a terrible acronym.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

What is important

For the past month or so my grandfather's health has been failing dramatically. He has had medical problems for several years now, but it hasn't been very bad until recently. At this point, he could die anytime now. For the past several weeks my family, especially my mom, have taken trips up to Riverside to spend time with him while we can. During most of the trips, I have had other things going on and haven't been able to go. I knew it would be a good thing for me to visit him, but I wasn't to concerned about it because I felt like I would have much meaningful time with him if I did, especially since my grandpa wasn't up to talking several of the times my family went up. But then one night after my mom came back from visiting him, she started telling us about the conversasions that she had had with him and about how she was able to find out about his past and other information that she never knew. During that time I had a SayGoBeDo moment telling me that I should go up and visit him. I told my mother about my desire and we arrainged for my sister and me to go up the following Saturday. We had a great visit with him. I was able to talk with my grandpa quite a bit about important things. I am very glad that I followed that SayGoBeDo. I am glad that I decided that it was important to go visit my grandpa.

My next one isn't quite as big, but it is a SayGoBeDo nonetheless. Last night I brought several CDs to mutual with me so that I could give them back to my friend who lent them to me. During mutal someone from my family came to the church and took the car that we had brought, leaving us the van in it's place. I discovered this when I went out to get the CDs. The van was locked and I could not see the CDs inside of it. I told my friend that the CDs were in the other car and that I would have to give them to her another time. AfterI said this, I felt like I should check anyways. So I found my dad and got the keys from him. Sure enough, the CDs were in the van and I was able to give them to my friend. Maybe the person who switched the cars had a SayGoBeDo to put the CDs in the van.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Yesterday...by Emily

Well, I can't really think of any SGBD's I had today but I do have one from yesterday that I thought was pretty funny.

I was driving (to Kathy's house, actually, which is a little ironic) and I accidently got on the wrong freeway. Thankfully I noticed right away and I was able to get off pretty much right after I got on. I exited on a road that I knew sort of well but I didn't really know any way to get back to the freeway except basically going all the way back to my house, and I didn't want to do that but I didn't know what other choice I had. As I came up to the first light I felt like I should turn right, even though I didn't know that road. So I turned right, thinking that I could always turn around and go back. Amazingly, it led right to the freeway and I could get back on heading the right way!

So I was driving along, happy that I had followed my SGBD and I was now heading the right direction, and I would only be a little late. Then I looked on the seat next to me and realized, oh no!! I had forgotten my purse and consequently, my driver's license! If a cop pulled me over, that would be BAD news for me. I noticed this just as I was coming up to the exit for my house (which I was now passing since I had gone the wrong way and then turned around), and was thankful that I had actually gotten turned around since now it would be easier to get home. But I was hitting myself because I knew that now I would be REALLY late...and I looked at the clock to see just how late I would be...and I realized that I had gotten mixed up about the time I was supposed to be at Kathy's house and had left half an hour early, so I had plenty of time to go back home and get my license. It was a wondrous circle of SGBDs! Ha ha. Glad I followed them all--and ended up at Kathy's house just about right on time! :D

Monday, October 5, 2009

Paradigm shift!!!...by Emily

I'm taking a youth leadership class this semester and we're reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In addition, we have a journal type thing to fill out where you answer questions like, "What is the definition of 'consequences'?" and, "What are principles I need to stay true to?" and stuff like that.

Well, as I was looking through it at the beginning of the class, I was drawn back to another time...another time in which I was brutally FORCED (okay, so I exaggerate--I take my cues from Kathy!) to fill out just such papers and turn them in, and if you didn't write the kinds of things the teacher expected you to write, you didn't get such a good grade. In fact, in this other time, I found out how to put my brain in the right mindset where I would write all the kinds of things the teachers would absolutely love, and hardly have to think about it at all! Thankfully, since this other time, I've learned that that sort of thing really doesn't teach you anything, and therefore have avoided it like the plague.

So of course you can see how I didn't want to do such a thing in this class. I tried to get out of it, with not much luck (since my mentor is wonderful and wants me to do my work). So today I was sitting there trying to think of schoolwork that I needed to do that wasn't that journal, but I really felt like I should do the journal. So I got it out and started doing it. And I realized that since last week when I had tried to get out of doing it, I'd had a paradigm shift about the assignment. I realized that if I actually tried to get something out of the assignment, I would, because the people who wrote it didn't write it just for busywork or to get me to write a certain thing. They actually wanted me to be able to have a better experience reading the book. And it was giving me new insights on how I could use the book to help myself.

So that's my SGBD for today--and hopefully I can keep up in this new paradigm as I read on!

I love cleaning...by Brent

Okay I was being a little sarcastic with the title but it seems like I am going to keep getting cleaning SGBD's until I enjoy cleaning. Last night on our drive home from Utah my Dad asked me what I would be doing in the morning. I told that I would probably be doing schoolwork but other than that I was doing nothing. He asked me if I could help him clean the garage so that we would have room for the new food storage we bought(when in Utah, buy food storage). I think I said something like, "Oh, I have a lot of catching up to do on my homework but I could probably help you out a little bit." Anyways this m orning came and he told me that he had to work early and that we would have to clean the garage another time. At first I was like,"Oh ok that's fine." But the thought came into my head that I could easily clean the garage on my own(since have the stuff in there is mine) and I quickly told him that I could still clean it with out him. Cleaning is awesome!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Conference...by Kathy

After a weekend of hearing the leader's of my church, I have a million sgbd's.  Okay, slight exageration but 'tis my trademark.  I know I need to be better at attending the temple (it's on the calendar!), do some sewing for humanitarian aid (it's the only sewing I do if I can help it!), and be more diligent about serving the people around me.  In between sessions of the conference I visited my friend that had a stroke because she recently came home and she was the one that came to mind.  And tonight at sign language I followed all my sgbd's to help where needed and was given several opportunities.  I'm grateful for sgbd's because they really do help you to be a better person (when followed...otherwise you just feel lousy! :)  And I'm also thankful that they usually encourage me to do things for others. 

One other quick thing that happened yesterday.  I was writing an email to my students encouraging them to enter an essay contest and I felt like I should create an internal essay contest and award a prize.  I've already had one student take me up on the challenge so I'm pretty excited about that.  Here's hoping there are a few other ones :)

Joining :) ...by Emily

Hey, this is Emily :) Hope you guys don't mind if I join your blog! I'm excited to start sharing my SayGoBeDo's and, of course, ALWAYS following them ;) (Well, okay--trying to always follow them!)

My first SGBD is to ask Kathy if I could join this blog...reading it has inspired me a lot and I felt impressed that I should share my own SGBD's too.

Another SGBD that I have been really dying to share is one that happened about a week ago. I was in the store with my mom and sister, looking for a birthday present for my brother. It's a church bookstore that sells books, music, art, etc. that has to do with our church. (My brother is going on a mission for our church soon so I wanted to get him something he could use on his mission.) I was browsing around the books when one caught my eye. I took it off the shelf and looked at it. I felt strongly that I should read it--in fact, so strongly that I was moved to tears. I was already buying my brother something that was a little expensive for me at the time, though, so I put the book back on the shelf, vowing that I would get it sometime or another and read it.

As my mom and sister were browsing through the store, though, I kept thinking about the book. I really wanted it. So I came up with a solution. I told my mom that I wanted it for Christmas. And she smiled and was all happy that I wanted a church book for Christmas, of course, and I figured my work was done.

I couldn't stop thinking about it, though. And I knew that both my mom and I would probably forget about the book by the time Christmas came around. I couldn't shake the feeling that if I didn't buy it now, I would probably never get another chance to read it.

So I bought it, spending almost my last dollar on both it and my gift for my brother. Oh well, I thought, now I have no money. Hooray. But at least I acted on my SGBD.

Time passed and, surprisingly, even though I had spent what I had felt was a lot of money on the book, I didn't find time to read any of it over the next few days. Finally I got another SGBD that I should pick it up and read it.

Immediately I realized exactly why I had been impressed to buy the book. It has everything to do with my mission and the author seems to be on exactly the same page as I am. It is an inspired book and although I haven't finished reading it, I already know it is one of the best books I will ever read. I am so glad I followed that SGBD!

Even my sacrifice of the money, I think, was rewarded. Soon after I bought the book and figured I would just have to go without much money for a while (a tragedy, I know, that I can't buy ice cream on a whim!), I was paid rather a lot of money for house sitting for friends, which I'd forgotten about in the bookstore. I was repaid several times over, which made my little sacrifice seem like nothing!

Thanks for letting me join your blog, and sorry my first post was so darn long (I doubt they'll be nearly so long in the future! :P)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Papers...by Kathy

I had a student who wrote an amazing paper and I wrote three pages of evaluation/commentary/rebuttal/logical analysis on.  After it was done I was like "whew!" that was a ton of work (and totally fun in my warped view of fun!).  And then I had the sgbd that I should scan it and save a copy of my evaluation.  So I did and decided to do that for all of my students while I was at it.  Then I turned back the papers and all was well.  At the end of the day, this student's backpack ended up missing!  We don't know if it was stolen or just accidentally picked up by a different student but my second thought (after "Wow, I hope it wasn't stolen by one of our occasional homeless visitors") was "Oh No!  All that work!  I hope he read it during lunch" (yeah right! ;) and then I remembered the scan and sent it to him when I got home.  Score!

Responsibility..

Well it has been about two and a half weeks since my family went to Utah and left me and my brother here to take care of the house and it has also been about two weeks since I have written down my SGBD's. For some reason I keep forgetting(or neglecting the fact)that I have a responsibility to share my SGBD's with you guys. Sadly I do not remember all of my SGBD moments since I last wrote but I do remember one. About two Sundays ago I was called to speak in Sacrement meeting for my church(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). I told them that I would not be able to because I was going to be in Utah that coming Sunday. Well the Saturday before the Sunday that I was supposed to speak at came and I was still home and was told that we weren't going to Utah until the next weekend. So I called the first counselor of the Bishopric and told him that I was going to be able to be at church but didn't feel like I had enough time to prepare a talk and I honestly wasn't all that upset about missing it. He told me that he understood but if I still wanted to speak I could and that he would enjoy whatever I had to say. I really wanted to say no but I had a feeling that I should say yes. Then I remembered a scripture in the bible that strongely influenced my answer. It is Revelation 22:4-5 and it says, "And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there;and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall riegn for ever and ever." And pretty much what this means to me is that if we let every one know that we are followers of Christ, then God will bless us and we will be able to live and reign with him forever. I knew that denying an opportunity to speak would be like denying the opportunity to bare Christ's name on my forehead or in other words show my love for him. So I spoke the following morning and guess what! I really wasn't that nervous and accually enjoyed it(Thanks to Kathy and her speech class).