Just Thinking.

So I have a post already written from my recent trip, which should satiate both Berta and Kristen (the latter of which really shouldn't have been complaining to me at all considering she's been back from Greece for months and I still have yet to see/hear of any pictures or specific stories/experiences), but there were a lot of points during my trip where I didn't feel like taking pictures (pretty much a first for me, I know), and I just resolved to get copies from Becca and Heidi. Anyway, I figured I'd get all the trip pictures together before I posted anything, and that way I could post some of them too.
Today is day 5 of my "try to be more positive and happy" resolve. I actually had an excellent lesson at church today on just that, which I found to be pretty awesome given that I had made many of the same realizations we talked about at church a week ago, and am currently trying to implement them. We talked about how you have the agency to react to the situations around you in a positive way, and it doesn't matter what's happening as long as you're in the right spiritual mindset. With school and work I've lately let myself get sucked into a vortex of bad feelings and not too positive vibes, but even if things aren't perfectly the way I'd like them to currently be, I can at least choose to be happy--which is closer to the ideal way I'd like things to be than they would otherwise be. All in all I started out the day rather chipper, and it wasn't until the boredom of the weekend hit that the good mood faltered in any way. Sadly I failed at the no gossip part of my resolve (in regards to a guy and girl I work with who had a falling out), which never was a problem for me before this year, but that I've become quite good at. Not to justify the situation, but I didn't really GOSSIP so much as I happened to just COMMENT on truths told to me, but which were nevertheless not very nice things to say. I'm not saying they weren't necessarily true things, but after said "gossiping" me and Austen (the kid telling me the what's the what) started to talk about how we always feel bad AFTER gossiping, and that it really is better to try to see things from the perspectives of those you're talking about. When you think about it, most people are inately good--at least a little to some degree--and unless you're a serial killer or Hitler, in most cases that goodness is closer to the surface than others might expect.

So that's really all I have to say, but having written all of this I think there's a better chance of me now sticking to my guns, or at least my metaphorical guns as I don't own any real ones. I'm not particularly psyched about my test tomorrow, but I was able to study a decent amount this week, I socialized more at church today than I normally do--which was a nice change, and there was a cheesecake Mingle after church. I think someone up there must love me.