All In Your Head

Today at church a lot of the discussions we had were from lessons centered on the doctrine of the family. In our church, the focus of what we teach is around a Christ- or gospel-centered family unit. This teaching was further reinforced in 1995 the following proclamation was shared in the Relief Society Session of General Conference.

The comment made today was that when it comes to fostering and strengthening a relationship, the majority of what goes on in a relationship actually happens in your head. I don't think I would disagree with that at all. In fact I think there is a lot of truth to that. For example, I don't think anyone has any business in being in a relationship with someone that they do not trust. I think it would be an absolute nightmare in fact.

 

The reason I'm posting something about this is during this Christmas break, I must not being super smiley or happy all the time because the number of people who have asked me if I am doing okay or telling me to smile more has been way too many. Not as many as the number of people who asked why I am not married yet but that is a different animal all together. If you were wondering, it was ten times at the last two church events.

 

 

I normally would try to defend myself or come up with some excuse as to explain my situation: I'm tired, been busy, not a lot of friends to hang out with at home, bored... But to be honest, none of those define how I choose to feel. I make that choice. And there has been moments when a smile has happened naturally to slide across my face: spending time with the nieces, seeing and catching up with old friends, or the occasional message from friends I made back in Utah. I don't know what has changed. I've seen a lot of things in my short life and I've a lot to be grateful for. So is it as simple as needing to exercise more? Do I need to stress less over my future?

 

If people could see me with my family, they would realize that yes, I do like serious deep personal conversations but I am also the kind of person that can turn that kind of a conversation in seconds with a little bit of wit and humor. I am also the introvert in a very loud extroverted family. I am known to randomly bust a move or start singing in my own house. And generally, my poker face is a smile. So when I am not smiling all the time, this doesn't mean that there has to be something wrong in my life - I might just be simply thinking! And if you haven't noticed, I think a lot.