Perspective

A couple of weeks ago I read a blog post where the girl shared a suggestion that would (hopefully) help others to be less critical of their appearance.

(For the life of me I cannot remember which blog it was and I have searched endlessly and still can't find it. So if you know who it was, or if it was you, tell me so I can link it and give credit!)

She said that when you look in the mirror, look at yourself as if you're looking at a stranger. I read some of the comments and one girl mentioned that she knew she would be fooling herself so there's no way it would work. Some others mentioned that they had tried it and it completely changed their perspective of how they think they look. 

So I tried it for the next couple of days. I generally don't like to let myself get critical of my appearance because I look how I look, and who cares if people are critical of that? But being honest, I am hard on myself a lot more than I would like to be. The first time I tried this I felt like I was having a particularly bad hair day, and lo and behold, when I took on that perspective and looked in the mirror, I was surprised at what I saw. (I hope this doesn't come across as conceited...) I didn't notice all of those little things that I am so typically critical of, and my hair suddenly didn't look as bad as I perceived it to be.

Fast forward to a few weeks later...

I had forgotten about the advice I read in the blog and the experience I had with it. 

Today in church a member of the bishopric spoke about perspective. His advice was to look at ourselves and others as our Father in Heaven does. I realized that my little experiment about seeing myself as a stranger does was a step in the right direction, but it was purely physical. It was a way to boost my confidence regarding my physical appearance, which our society places so much emphasis on.

When I think about looking at myself as my Heavenly Father does, that's about my divine nature, my infinite worth, and who I am as a person, not who I appear to be on the outside. This can not only change how we feel about and view ourselves, but when applied to others, it can change everything. 

Perspective is a powerful thing, especially when we apply it personally. Taking on the perspective of another person or of our Heavenly Father can allow us to have compassion, love, understanding, or just the opportunity to be a little less critical of ourselves or others. 

So do yourself a favor, for me. Give yourself the opportunity to have a little more perspective. It's an amazing thing.

New Year

Yesterday I wrote this rather hilarious (if I may say so myself) but probably slightly offensive blog post all about resolutions.

I decided not to post it for the latter reason (and also due to insecurity about the fact that I'm seriously not as hilarious and I believe myself to be ;) ).

Anyway, I can't decide if I love the whole New Year's Resolution hype, or if I find it a little silly.

Either way, I made two resolutions for this year.

1. Wear more lipstick

2. Have better posture

Yes, I am 100% serious :)

All of those other eating better, exercising more, being a better person things I like to work on and evaluate year round, or at least try to.

So for me, the New Year is just a refreshing moment where the whole world seems to push the reset button.

And it seems to put everyone in an incredibly happy mood.

I can't complain about that.

It's just emotions taking me over

I apologize for the corny Bee Gee's blog post title.

Or maybe you prefer Destiny's Child.

I couldn't resist :)

Life has been pretty crazy these past few months.

I've been through a lot of fairly drastic changes and have spent a lot of time rethinking what I want from my future.

I've had a lot of opportunities to get down on myself, to be upset or depressed, to let loneliness or self-pity take over, or to just want to completely give up.

Instead, I've put all of my energy in to focusing on seeing the good in all of this change and unpredictability. By focusing on the positive and having faith in the Lord, everything has changed.

I'm so excited for everything to come, but more importantly I'm content with where I'm at right now. I've realized that I can't keep looking forward to where I'll be in the future, otherwise I'll spend my entire life just waiting for the next big thing rather than enjoying the ride.

We have our agency and we have the power to change our outlook on life.

I'll tell you from firsthand experience that it isn't easy, but with honest effort and desire, it is possible.

I saw this quote this morning and I can't believe how true it is.

Feelings will come.

  Sometimes they creep up on us or sometimes they hit us like a ton of bricks.

But we have the power to embrace them or control them.

We don't have to feel lonely, hopeless, depressed, self-pitying, or any other negative emotion which the adversary would love for us to embrace and ruminate about.  

This goes for everyone in every stage of life. It may be negative emotions about a spouse, negative emotions about ourselves, our children, our jobs, our education, or absolutely anything.

If you can stop those negative feelings in their tracks and channel them in to positive and uplifting ones, it makes such a huge difference and will spill over into every aspect of your life.

I've learned the valuable lesson that if we are willing to put up the fight, then we really are in control of our happiness and our destiny.

Change of Perspective

There's been this video circulating around Facebook and the blogosphere.

Take a minute to watch...

I went through an interesting and mutual break up once, where we gave some constructive criticism that we could apply to our next relationships.

(Weird, I know. That whole relationship was weird...)

One of the things he told me was to quit being so critical of things that most people never notice about myself.

He told me that the second you point it out to a guy, they notice it, and will continue to notice it.

Whether it be a physical feature, or a personality trait that you see as a flaw, chances are they haven't even noticed it.

This video brought that back to my mind and as a result I've started a challenge with myself.

Instead of looking in the mirror and noticing how observable my "flaws" are, or examining my personality and wondering how observable those "flaws" are, I've challenged myself to look at myself without those flaws in view, much like how I would be described by someone whom I just met.

Why walk around being self-conscious about things no one even notices?

Even if they do notice, who cares?

Be confident and be proud!

You're beautiful the way you are :)

DoTerra

For the past few years I've had this weird thing about pumping too much medication into my blood stream.

I guess to me it just seems unnatural and unhealthy.

In high school I battled headaches and migraines like no other.

I'm not kidding when I say that I'd have at least three bad headaches per week.

Bad to the point that I'd want to crawl in bed in a totally dark room and lay completely still.

I was all about lack of sleep, straight A's, quality time with friends, and extracurriculars, or in other words, I was pretty much bound and determined to make my life miserable by bringing headaches on myself.

I got through high school with Motrin and Aleve as my best friend

(Disclaimer - I just mean this in the sense that if I had a headache, I took some Motrin. I was in no way ever addicted or dependent. Is it even possible to be addicted to 400MG of Motrin..? Hah.)

To be honest I don't remember what made me reconsider how much medication I was putting into my body.

It was probably just because I'm overly paranoid about my health and WebMD told me I was going to go into liver failure or something.

Anyway, I stumbled upon DoTerra Essential Oils, and thank goodness I did!

I was super super skeptical, but one day at work I had a pounding headache and my coworker had my try it. She had me try peppermint and lavender on my temples, across my forehead and on the back of my neck.

Let me tell you, it was near instant relief.

I kept using the peppermint and lavender when I'd get headaches, most often before bed.

I could tell that it helped me sleep better, which lavender is used for anyway, even though peppermint can keep you awake.

I loved how it would just completely relax me and take away the headache and allow me to peacefully fall asleep.

I got interested and started looking into some of the other essential oils and what they could be used for.

I kid you not, there is a remedy for nearly any ailment you could think of.

I finally got my hands on the family physician's kit which includes Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint, Melaleuca, Oregano, Frankincense, Deep Blue, Breathe, DigestZen, and On Guard.

So far I've used the Lavender and Peppermint for headaches, Lavender to help with sleeping, On Guard when I felt a cold coming on twice (and I didn't get sick either time), Deep Blue on sore muscles and also to help with pain and inflammation from cysts, and DigestZen when I was incredibly nauseous from a prescription I had to be on.

With every new oil I use I'm more and more impressed and convinced that essential oils are the way to go.

I've pretty much stopped using medication and it feels amazing.

DoTerra can be a fairly pricey initial investment, but the oils last forever because you only need a drop or two at a time. 

Overall, I'm in love and convinced that everyone needs to try DoTerra!

If you're interested in trying it (which I HIGHLY suggest) you can go to my sister's website for more information or to order!
www.mydoterra.com/alannaparkinson

It really works!