Photo by Manish Sharma on Unsplash

Today the sun is shining. We are relishing each sunny moment after a long winter! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are. If not, stir up some sunshine inside by doing something meaningful, fun, challenging or relaxing!

On long car rides, my son often asks for “5’s.” It’s a game that my mom introduced to him. One person introduces a category and challenges the other person to think of five things in that category. It might sound something like this. “Name 5 lakes,” or “Can you think of 5 kinds of trees,” or “5 of your favorite desserts.” It can be anything.

This afternoon as I was waiting in the Walmart parking lot for my grocery order, I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to a few “5’s” and anyone that would like to join in the comments below is welcome to! Let’s keep it simple for today…

5 things that help me relax:

Taking a hot shower, drawing, petting an animal, listening to music, receiving a hug.

5 things I’ve done with my family recently:

Went geo-cashing, watched jockeys and their horses warm up at a Kentucky race track (!), had a bonfire on our land, ate yummy custardy ice cream, and attended the Louisville, Kentucky temple together.

What are 5 things that help you relax?

What are 5 things you’ve done with your family recently?

Bye for now,

Laur

Good morning!  It’s a great day to be alive, isn’t it?  This morning on my walk/run I came across this beauty:

Its hard to see but here were some miniature purple flowers in this weedy plant that fascinated me. They were so tiny! But they matter, and they reminded me of this truth: Heavenly Father is in the details of this flower and he is in the details of my life- and yours!  Can you see it today?

This week I revamped my goals for Melodies of Light. I kept asking myself “what’s the point?” when I would sit down to write music.  It was getting really frustrating because it felt like every writing session became a “Why am I doing this?” session which would end in me surfing the internet for ideas and not writing anything.  Very productive…

So goals.  Because of my question “What’s the point?” I decided to come up with my “focal point.”  One dictionary defines a focal point as “the thing that people concentrate on or pay most attention to.”  My focal point boils down to these 5 P’s:

1- Passion

2- Purpose

3- Process

4- Progress

5- Personal

I will likely spend some time in future posts elaborating for now, but that’s the teaser.  I then went through and did an exercise (thank you, Steven Covey) of visualizing Melodies of Light 10 years from now, 5 years, 1 year, 6 months, 3 months, and the end of this week.  It was probably the most effective I’ve ever been at getting specific about what I think I want in the future.  I dreamed and wrote and it felt so good!  My motivation is on fire today with my focal point and goals to remind me “why.”  The only problem left is finding a healthy balance with how I use my time…

Hopefully (hold me accountable!) that will mean more activity here at Melodies of Light! So I’m feeling excited about diving back in!

I want to share a few other things that I’ve loved lately:

One is this:

And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them… (1 Nephi 17:3)

Here is the companion to that scripture:

But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.  (1 Nephi 9:6)

Isn’t that so reassuring?!  No matter what He asks of us, He prepares a way for us to do it.  What has He asked you to do?  Is it apparent yet how He has prepared a way for you to accomplish it??  Perhaps for now it will take trust and hope to keep moving forward until the way is clearer.  But rest assured that it is possible with His help!

This morning I re-watched bits of episode 1 of this amazing show (Artful)- have you seen it?  It’s all about artists who share how they view their art.  I find it so inspiring.  The first man is a painter and he talks about reaching heavenward as he paints – that longing for a connection with heaven is part of what makes the creative process so satisfying.  Take a look!  (The painter I’m referring to is Brian Kershisnik.)

Artful

And finally, this song has been a theme for me lately.  “Slow down. Be still and know that I am God.”  I have felt the nudge to slow my breathing, soak up the beauty around me and allow myself to be still more often.  It is in that stillness that I can “hear” (or feel!) God speak to me through the Holy Ghost.  Such a beautiful message, beautifully expressed (by Sissel and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square).

Slow Down

Lyrics:

In the midst of my confusion
In the time of desperate need
When I am thinking not too clearly
A gentle voice does intercede

Slow down, slow down, be still
Be still and wait, on the Spirit of the Lord
Slow down and hear His voice
And know that He is God

In the time of tribulation
When I’m feeling so unsure
When things are pressing in about me
Comes a gentle voice so still, so pure

Slow down, slow down, be still, my child
Be still and wait, on the Spirit of the Lord
Slow down and hear His voice
And know that He is God
And know that He is God

That’s what is on my mind today, friends.  I hope you are enjoying a day sprinkled with  sunshine, hope, giggles and peace.

Love,

Laura

Hello there, friends!

Autumn is in full swing here.  Do you know how I know?  The bushes in my back yard have turned a brilliant shade of red.  Flaming red.  They make me so happy.  Oh, and you want to know what else makes me feel happy?  My one living flower in the back yard.  It’s a sunflower that my son planted several months ago.  Bright yellow amid the wilting leaves from our garden.  It’s even MORE impressive to me because we did not do anything to it besides plant it and let the automatic sprinkler do its job.  This year our garden philosphy was “do whatever the heck you’re going to do, little seeds.”  We got a few cherry tomatoes and a gorgeous sunflower.  And I’m VERY happy with that.

This past month has been a mixed bag for me.  I have had an opportunity to “practice my patience” (a phrase Levi’s kindergarten teacher used regularly last year- brilliant…) as I healed from a procedure and then turned around and got a doozy of a cold which threw me back to flat on my back for a week.  Though I have missed my regular healthy self, I am coming back to the table with more than before.  Isn’t that how it goes?  The hard, steep learning curves we experience are not the things we usually would choose to go through, but we get to take with us the gold nuggets we find along the way.  I am a better human being because of the learning that has taken place this month.  Lots to be grateful for.

Because I promised to take you along on my musical journey this year, I want to update you (and hold myself accountable!).  Here are a few little tidbits, and with any luck, I’ll be checking in a little more frequently in the coming weeks!

-I LOVE journals.  I purchased a beautiful journal at the beginning of this school year (Mom gets to school-shop too, right?!) and I have used it to process music-related thoughts.  It has been magical to sit down and start my music sessions by writing.  Who knew?  I have always been someone who loved to talk things out, but there ain’t anything talking back at me during the school day currently (unless you count Siri…).  Journalling has allowed me a way to bounce thoughts off….myself!  It probably helps that my journal greets me with “Hello, Sunshine!” every morning.  I have been a typing journal writer for some time now (I print out my journal once a year and put it in a binder) but I’ve rediscovered the magic (and therapy!) writing my thoughts can be.

-Have you heard of Richie Norton?  My sister and brother-in-law introduced me to the 76 day challenge he created to help us “do something stupid”-  essentially work toward your big crazy dream.  I started the 76 day challenge when the boys went back to school and I have LOVED it.  The structure is just what my black and white brain needed to get on track, and it has really helped me settle into what I really want to accomplish and get to work.  It’s funny that as an adult I still find the hardest part just sitting my bum down and getting to work.  I’ve been using a timer (as he suggests) when I’m doing my “dream work” and it’s surprised me how long 15 minutes feels…I think “Seriously?  Haven’t I been working on this for over a half an hour?!”  Nope….apparently I’m working to extend my attention span…Seriously- here’s the link in case you want to try it too.  It’s fabulous!

-I’m chasing rainbows, people!  Actually what it really looks like is doing something out-of-the-box to create.  For example, I decided that it sounded fun to play the flute.  So I borrowed a flute from a friend and this morning, for my 1/2 hour of Joyful M.E time (I’ll have to explain later…) I played around with the flute (looked up fingerings online) and came up with a melody.  Turned out I had only been playing around for 15 minutes, so I decided to hop on the piano and crank out an accompaniment.  I was so delighted at how it was turning out that I pulled up my music program and input the music into my program- voila- I have sheet music for my new song….wait for it….”The Flute-y March.”  The point of all this is that I’m re-learning that “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.  FIND it, and snap!  The job’s a game!”  Thank you Mary Poppins.  But honestly, I’ve approached this music thing WAY too seriously so many times and it just gets stressful.  Today?  It felt magical.  With that concept, I’ve been thinking about how crazy it is that we can “hear” someone smiling while they’re singing (sometimes).  Do you think you can “hear” stress?  Or can you “hear” how magical someone felt creating it?  Something to think about!

Much love,

Laura

(Oh nuts- the sunflower decided that it had had enough today and fell to the ground.  But even on the ground it’s sunny and beautiful! 🙂