truth.

"To lose balance sometimes for love 

is part of living a balanced life."

-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

via pinterest

Who is ever adequate?  We all create situations each other can't live up to,  then break our hearts at them because they don't. -Elizabeth Bowen

five minutes.

If you are studying to become a teacher, I strongly suggest any book by Ron Clark.  He is a fantastic teacher with so much experience to share, and he has changed my outlook and given me so many ideas for this profession (I know, people say this kind of stuff all the time, but I'm serious!).

Anyway, he writes about his sixth grade teacher who had them write in their journals everyday, even if it was just for five minutes.  They were to write about how they were feeling that day and anything that was on their mind, and he says that journal is one of the biggest treasures he has.  He wishes he would have done it every year.

I decided to incorporate this into my classroom.  Oh how I would LOVE to see into my own fourth grade mind!  Some of the boys think it is corny, but they are the ones who write the most! Writing is a huge struggle for my students, and thus the least favorite part of the day for all of us.  I am hoping that these five minutes of freedom will give writing a better rep in their minds.  Three-fourths of my class absolutely LOVE journal time now (Yanni plays over the speakers, who wouldn't love it?).  And you should have seen the excitement on their faces when I told them they could write in Spanish once a week.

I take these five minutes to write in my own journal.  It is a different book than my real journal, but it is where I write my thoughts on teaching - my worries, fears, and celebrations during my first year.  I am hoping it is as therapeutic for my students as it is for me.




"Get a good notebook, a good book that will last through time and into eternity for the angels to look upon. Begin today and write in it your goings and your comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements, and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies." -Spencer W. Kimball

seriously, go away.

Not you. No, not you. I like you, dearest readers.

I'm talking about the evil little thoughts that creep into my mind when I all of a sudden realize I'm not invincible:

"You aren't good enough/pretty enough for him."

"You can't make a perfect score on the test, therefore you are incompetent."

"Seriously? You just cried in front of your coworkers and then slept through a party?"

"You made the wrong decision and now your entire life is going to take a different course and happiness will be very hard to come by and all your friends will get married tomorrow and you will be in Provo forever and probably gain ten pounds by Saturday."

Ok, so the last one was an exaggeration. But really, what can we do when these horrible doubts and fears try to plant themselves our heads? Nothing! It's an endless cycle of horrid torment! Just kidding.

We've actually been given a ton of guidance in this area. We (...I...) just need to remember to listen:

"You know enough."-Elder Neil L. Anderson

"Fear and faith cannot coexist."-Kevin W. Pearson

"You are creatures of divinity; you are daughters of the Almighty. Limitless is your potential. Magnificent is your future. Never forget that you came to earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup.  The Lord did not send you here to fail." -Gordon B. Hinckley

"The Spirit can guide us when to look ahead and when to just take it one day at a time."-Elder D. Todd Christofferson

"Come what may and love it."-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation." -D&C 18:10,17

All it takes is to remember our worth. But why is it still so hard? Because we are human. We cannot do it on our own; these degrading thoughts would tear us to pieces. Rely on the Lord to buoy you. He, and He alone, can give us the eternal perspective we need in trying times.

"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." -D&C 6:36

Do you have a favorite talk or scripture you turn to when you are feeling down on yourself? 

i really, really need this right now

so maybe you do too.

"Things work out, it isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out, don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in him, if we will pray to him, if we will live worthy of his blessings, he will hear our prayers." — Gordon B. Hinckley

Thanks to my Dad for reminding me of this quote.

"Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings. The work of patience boils down to this: keep the commandments; trust in God, our Heavenly Father; serve Him with meekness and Christlike love; exercise faith and hope in the Savior; and never give up. The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

someday i'll be living in a big old city (but honestly, I prefer the country).

Sorry for my month-long blogging hiatus.  I did some renovations, on my blog and on my heart.  Check out the blog changes (the heart ones are kind of private).  I've been in a good place.

I've blogged it before, but this is what I need to hear, so maybe it will help you too:
"I beg you... to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.  Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.  And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now.  Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." -Rainer Maria Rilke


Stay tuned for an update of majorly awesome things that have been happening!

less chronological facts. more heart.

I wrote this post about six months ago, and just rediscovered it...

It’s time.

These moments of realization have surfaced over and over again for more than a year now. And finally, emotion has stopped coming with them. It’s like an inside joke with myself, these recurring thoughts. Months pass with no remembrance. Then boredom settles in, and old hopes reignite. Someone else is around more than I am. That someone else has taken my old place. Because my life has taken a drastically different course than I had planned.

But my new course is slowly weaving itself into a beautiful one. Distractions. Adventures. Huge decisions. Sometimes the threads are painful ones; sometimes the confusion is worse. But the shining moments of happiness far outnumber and outweigh the struggles.

And none of this revolves around what it used to, which brings more freedom to my heart than I have ever experienced.

{except for maybe on this day.}

Well done, Breanna. You are finally done. The door is closed. And thousands of new ones have opened.

Being a daughter of God means that if you seek it, you can find your true identity. You will know who you are. This will make you free--not free from restraints, but free from doubts, anxieties, or peer pressure. - President Faust, Nov 1999

merry christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you all had a wonderful day! I sure did.

It's funny when your favorite present is luggage, prepping you for adventures to come. But the true present is the gift of our Savior and His infinite love. How His birth changed our lives!

I thought I would grace you all with my favorite Christmas song:

Bahaha.

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!"

- Charles Dickens

merry christmas eve eve!!

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

(picture via Christmas 2008)

december.

"As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always."

-Thomas S. Monson

some upliftation.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"This life is yours. take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. take the power to control your own life. no one else can do it for you. take the power to make your life happy."

-Susan Polis Schutz

"If I had one gift that I could give you, my friend, it would be the ability to see yourself as others see you, because only then would you know how extremely special you are."


-B.A. Billingsly

"Now, my dear sisters, that is the way with you. You are doing the best you can, and that best results in good to yourself and to others. Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord; then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do. Then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord. You will discover that you have accomplished something beyond price."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now."

-Thomas S. Monson

"for verily I say unto you, that great things await you;"

D&C 45:62

love this:

"Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you."

-Elsie De Wolfe

...