Family Relations Week 9

This week when we talked about communication, we talked about encoding. It is interesting to think that what we say isn't always as clear as we thing it is. We all have different ways of saying the same thing. It has been enlightening to pay attention to what I am saying and how I say it. I have noticed that if someone explains something back to me, they interpret it differently than I intended. It makes things more difficult, so how can we make things less confusing and interpret them correctly?

Also, I tried some advice that was given in a power point this week. The professor said when someone is telling you about something in your life, you repeat what they said back to them. It seems counter intuitive, but they think that you have solved their problem even though you haven't even given your opinion. I tried this with a roommate and her boy problems. Just like the professor said, she was satisfied with our conversation and felt better about a difficult situation. Sometimes we should stop trying to solve problems, but just listen. 

Family Relations Week 8

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to listen to a CES devotional address given by President David A Bednar.  The main thing he said multiple times was, "It is better to not shrink than survive." Often when there is a crisis in the family, we think, "I just have to get through this." How much better would life be if we identified a crisis and became determined to see it as an opportunity. If we decide to just survive a crisis, we don't learn as much and we may even harbor bitter feelings about it. If we choose to change our attitudes, we can look back and see how much we learned and how we grew. I often look back on different times of crisis in my life and I can't help but thank my Heavenly Father for the things I learned, the ways I bonded and the new people I met. 

I have been thinking about periods of crisis, but I don't know if there is a time where there is no crisis in our lives. Some trials make seem bigger than other and require us to work harder, but I feel we always have some crisis to deal with. As we talked about in class, as we identify our thoughts, test if they are true and then change false thinking, we can be happier in "not shrinking." As always, this process is not natural, it is divine. If we deal with crisis in a divine way, we can only get divine results. 

Family Relations Week 7

We talked about sexual intimacy this week. For someone unmarried, it has been awkward, uncomfortable, enlightening, enriching and a little terrifying. But most of all I have gained an understand and respect for the sanctity of marriage and intimacy. I have always though about intimacy as a physical desire, but that is only part of it. If only we were taught and in turn taught our children that intimacy is sacred and brings people closer together not only physically, but emotionally and most importantly spiritually. Saving yourself to experience the sacred act of intimacy with one person for eternity is so essential. You can't give yourself so completely to multiple people. As Brother Williams said, it hurts your spirit. Intimacy draws people together and links them so infinitely that it completes a marriage. I have come to know and understand more fully recently that it is not something that should be taken lightly, but it is something we should hold in the highest regard. After all, its divine.