Scripture Journal Tutorial

There is a quote by Susan W. Tanner, “When I know who I am, I can do anything He asks me to do.” I have been working really hard this year on learning more about who I am, where I came from, where I am going. This brings me peace. I used to not even be able to talk about death because it made me really uneasy. Knowing who I am is helping me to value myself more. I am feeling more at peace with my trials in this life, why I have them, and that I won't always have to go through them.

This is a post that I am sooo excited to share with you. I feel very passionate about it because it has CHANGED MY LIFE. I recently came across the idea of making scripture journals from Shannon at The Red Headed Hostess blog and I have spent the last few months creating my own through trial and error. I want to share with you what I've done in hopes of helping you feel enthusiastic and excited about studying scriptures. It's no longer a chore for me. It's my favorite part of my day and I want it to be yours too.
It doesn't matter what religion you are. If you study the Bible, Book of Mormon, or any scripture you can apply this idea to your studying. 


If you are not religious you can apply this same concept for anxiety related quotes, uplifting thoughts, positive affirmations, etc.


The best part about this is that you can be as simple, straightforward, and logical as you want, or you can get as artsy and creative as you want. Wherever you are in the crafty spectrum and have time and patience for YOU CAN DO THIS. The important thing to remember is to make this yours. Do what works for you.


Why keep a scripture journal? 
Here are a few reasons:

"We often leave the most precious personal direction of the spirit unheard because we do not record and respond to the first promptings that come to us when the Lord chooses to direct us." -Elder Richard G. Scott

"I've found, as I'm sure you have, that when you are trying to learn from the spirit, it's important to make a note so it will not be forgotten. The more you not only hear but abide by what you've been told, the more the Lord will give to you. It will come more and more rapidly and you will begin to hear and feel those impressions of the Spirit more quickly than you have previously done." -Elder Gene R. Cook

"The prompting that goes unresponded to may not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital. A special thought can lost later in the day through the rough and tumble of life. God should not, and may not, choose to repeat the prompting if we assign what is given such a low priority as to put it aside." -Elder Neal A. Maxwell

In the few short months that I have started my scripture journals, the knowledge that I have learned and retained is more than I have learned about in years of just reading a chapter a day (which is how I used to "study").


My main reason for doing scripture journals is to give them to my children as a family heirloom after I am gone or when they are old enough to appreciate them. As Shannon said (I'm paraphrasing)- it's a way to keep teaching my children after I am gone. 


I give full credit to Shannon at her blog for this idea and I thank her for all the work she put into sharing her journals. I want to help spread the word to more readers because its worth sharing if it helps people grow spiritually.


Materials Needed:

1. First you have to pick some journals. This is important. You want to find some that is the right size, enough to hold lots of information, will function the way you want it to, and look the way you want it to. If you plan to keep it simple, pick a lined journal that you can do lots of writing in that has thick pages so your ink won't bleed through. I planned to be more artsy and wanted to decorate my covers using scrapbooking supplies so I bought a coptic journal kit from Etsy. When it is all done I will bind it so that it will open and lay flat.This may be a little more extreme but for me this is my creative outlet so I needed a blank canvas. Any journal will work. The way I have mine set up is I have TWO journals. One that is for chapter by chapter study and another is for Topic based study. They can be referenced to each other.
2. Also get a good ballpoint pen that won't bleed through pages, or leave puddles of ink that will smudge and make a mess.
3. OPTIONAL: Colored pencils, glue stick, scissors, scrapbooking supplies (paper, stickers) art supplies

What do you put inside?


This depends on you and your style. This is not a daily record of your personal thoughts like a diary. This is a record of what you have been learning during your scripture study. This means a record of quotes you want to remember, promptings, stories, talks, word definitions, scriptures you looked up, etc. 

Some of my pages are purely artistic in nature. Others hold pictures that I love. Others are journal entries with my personal insights from a story, others are character analysis on the people I have been reading about.

I created a template in photoshop that I print out and glue in and write on. 

But getting it all organized is the tough part. Here is a post from Shannon that talks about how to set one up. 

I Have Been Born of Goodly Parents

If this is something you are interested in trying I highly recommend checking out the following sites for additional inspiration and tutorials:

• Here is my pinboard that I keep for my scripture journals if you want to follow that. It lists sites, talks, quotes, etc. that I plan to put in my journal somehow or art supplies I plan to use.
• The Red Headed Hostess- she even has some journals you can purchase that are already set up and ready to go (I bought a set and they are really great for outlining how to study). She is the main source for all my inspiration so you should really check her site out. I want to be her when I grow up.
• Here is a sheet you can download with some ideas from Dana Cockrum that was also taken from The Red Headed Hostess. 

I hope you find this as fun and uplifting as I do. Enjoy!
P.S. Don't forget to sign up for this month's support group call!

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January 31st- Support Group Call! Be there!!

I know I know, could it be any shorter notice? I have had a whirlwind month but I still want to get a call in if you are up for it. The date and time is January 31st at 6:30 p.m. MST. I've now made signing up even easier. Here's the scoop:

A Returning Member:

• If you have already signed up for a previous call and sent me your username for Skype, all you have to do is pay the $2.00 fee. To pay simply click on the paypal button on the right sidebar.

A New Member:

• Please download the instructions here that will explain more about the call (system requirements, how to sign up, what to expect, etc.) (Please note that the time is actually 6:30, not 7:00).
• Pay the $2.00 fee by clicking the "Pay Now" button on the sidebar to reserve your spot.
• Sign up for Skype (its free) and email me your username and I will add you to the group list.

The $2.00 fee is simply to pay for the premium membership at Skype to facilitate the calls. I have to make sure that if only 5 people show up for the call, costs will still be covered. Sign up for the October call is officially OPEN! Only 14 people can be on each call and it is first come first serve so sign up today :)

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Guatemala Trip Update

First, let me say thank you to everyone that sent me well wishes and good vibes for my trip to Guatemala. Overall I am really glad that I went. It was truly a trip of a lifetime that helped strengthen my marriage and my relationship with my kids.

The first three days were unbelievably PERFECT. I had no anxiety whatsoever. I enjoyed everything.
The land there is absolutely gorgeous

and the people are so humble, kind, and hard working.

The food was delicious and I was eating soooo much! I kept marveling at how well everything was going. It was too good to be true. It was awesome! I was actually starting to think I may gain weight on the trip.

We had to do a lot of driving and by a lot I mean aLOT! And the roads are constantly twisting and  turning around the mountainside and I am prone to getting carsick. Everywhere we were going was at least an hour and a half away from our hotel. So by day three I was so grateful that I was feeling so well and happy.

Then came day 4. I don't know if I talked myself into it because of how happy I was, but I woke up with anxiety. I was able to shake it off and still enjoy my day. But everyday after that I woke up with anxiety until I got back home. Also, by day 5 I started getting car sick (which for me is a headache right behind the eyes and feeling nauseous). So out the window went my appetite.

But I decided instead of letting it get the best of me I would just accept that this is my body doing its thing and I would just have to tough it out for a few days. Which I did.

I am glad the first few days were so amazing because I was able to experience what a vacation should be. And looking at the silver lining for the rest of the time- it's good to be reminded that I can do hard things. And that I can still enjoy life WITH anxiety.

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Look What I Got for Christmas!

I sent Santa Clause my wishlist in December and I must have been a good girl. In my stocking I found this:

 

Can you believe how expensive this is for one DVD? I couldn't justify buying it so that's why I asked Santa for it. I was tired of the same 4 episodes on my DVR and it wasn't playing any new ones. I also got this to help me drink more water and use it at the gym:

I recently hurt my tailbone by being my usual clumsy self, so I have been hesitant to try the yoga out. But my body stress levels have been getting higher and I knew I needed to do something to decompress. So today I braved through and just had to take it easier on some poses. So refreshing. I love it.

Did Santa bring you anything for Christmas to help you out with your anxiety related goals? Did you make any New Year's resolutions to better your current mental or physical health?

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Traveling with Anxiety: Trip #6- GUATEMALA!

This week I have a once in a lifetime opportunity. I surprised my husband with a week long trip to Guatemala and we leave on Friday. Ten years ago my husband served an LDS mission in Guatemala. This means when he was 19 years old he lived in Guatemala for two years teaching the gospel and baptizing the locals to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Ten years later the church has grown enough that a temple has been built in that area, and next week they dedicate the temple and open it up for patrons. Its such a rewarding feeling for him to know that he helped the church grow there so I thought it would be awesome for us to go celebrate the temple opening and revisit his mission stomping grounds. Especially since he hasn't been back since.

This trip is bringing up a lot of anticipatory anxiety, mainly because I will be leaving my 3 year old and 12 month old behind with family. I have never left either of them before. My baby boy has intense separation anxiety right now I can't even leave the room without him crying in protest. I know this trip will be good for both us and the kids, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier to leave them.

In a way its nice to look back at my previous trips that I have blogged about and see the same pattern of anticipatory anxiety and the same concerns arising. At least I'm consistent :) It gives me hope that maybe the anticipatory anxiety will be the worst and when I am actually on the trip I will be ok.

I know that I need to prepare, prepare, prepare if I want to feel better and have a successful trip. So I have been putting some time aside to do my ten step mental exercise so I can start reprogramming the negative thoughts with positive ones. The idea is to print this out and bring it in my pocket so I can take it out and read it whenever I need to. Feel free to read the ramblings of my worried head.

What am I telling myself to make me feel this way?

    This is stressful. I should feel stressed. I am going to freak out any minute. This is too much for me. I’ve been worrying about this for months and its now right around the corner. This is going to be soooo hard. I don’t want to feel this way. I don’t want to ruin the trip. I don’t want to feel stressed. I am going to worry so much about the kids. My baby is going to have such a hard time. What if he cries and is fussy the whole time and is too much for my sister? What if I am too sick to do anything? If I am stressing this much already how bad is it going to be when its time to go?

What if the worst case scenario happened? What would I do?

   

    Worst case scenarios are:

1. I am so sick that we have to come home. Or I am so sick that I am no fun on the trip and its a bad experience.
2. The kids are so miserable and upset that we have to come home. 

After writing this, I took my kids to visit my sister where they will be staying. Watching her interact with my kids has made me feel SO much better. I know they will be fine. So this helps with number 2. I know they won't need us to come home. The anxiety isn't as intense, but it's still there.

If I am as sick as I am worried about, I will have mt Clonazepam with me which should be enough to handle any anxiety I may have. If not, my husband has ALWAYS been super supportive of me when I am sick and he won't think I am ruining it for him.

Alright, now here are some positive affirmations I can use to help me with my other worries:

• What if I am anxious the whole time? I will ruin the trip for my husband. I don't want to feel this way.

Circumstances are what they are but I can choose my attitude toward them. I can be anxious and still have fun on this trip. I've done it before and I can do it again. I can handle this. He loves me more than this trip. I love and accept myself the way I am. I respect and believe in myself apart from other's opinions.

• Trips make me anxious. I should be nervous about this trip.

This is overgeneralizing. Just because I have been anxious on trips in the past that doesn't set in stone that I will be anxious on this trip. I am learning to be calm. I'm responsible and in control of my life.

• This is too much for me. This is going to be soooo hard. 

This may be hard but I CAN handle it. I CAN!
Alright, hopefully this will help me a bit. I will make sure to report on how it goes. Wish me luck!

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An Unlikely Sufferer: A Guest Shares Her Story

One quick reminder to sign up for November's support group call if you haven't already. There are still some spots open.

I am very hesitant to allow guest posts because I get requests almost daily and usually it is for someone trying to sell their product or get exposure. But this story was really interesting to me because of her extreme lack of compassion for anyone suffering with anxiety and how she has made a 180 degree change. So today's post is from a guest author named Mags Yip. Enjoy.

"Before I begin my story, let me just paint a picture for you. Before this, I openly insinuated that Anorexics should be force-fed at gunpoint.  Before this, I claimed that anxiety was just an excuse for people who were too afraid to face life. Before this, I had no sympathy for friends who told me they had just suffered a panic attack.   Before this, it just didn’t make sense to me.  I didn’t have any tolerance for mental illnesses because I was strong and healthy minded, and I simply did not believe that the mind could administer so much control.
 
It turns out that I was very wrong.  On 4th August 2011, I had a very traumatic experience which left me with temporary psychosis.  The psychosis lasted about 14 days, and during this period, I was afraid of my own car, my own house, my own reflection, and most of all, my own company.

Being alone instilled fear into me; I was afraid that I was dead.  When I reassured myself that I was still breathing, I started to panic that something or someone was going to get me.  And as much as you could start to believe that these were the ramblings of a crazy person, I assure you, I had never suffered from so much as pre-interview nerves in my life.  I was the most unlikely sufferer.  Nothing is impossible when it comes to the power of the mind. 

Coming to Terms with Anxiety and Panic Disorder

The psychosis soon passed, but the truth is that the anxiety and panic never did – and probably never will completely.  The anxiety and panic is now a part of my everyday life and even months after the trauma, there are still unwavering remnants of my most irrational fears.

The phobias are here to stay and it affects pretty much everything that I do, from the way I perform at work to my relationships with friends and family.  On bad days, I would be too scared to get into a toilet cubicle because I feel trapped, I would stay up all night scared of the deadly silence of night and miss work the next day due to tiredness, or I would almost crash my car because of my fear of the dark causing a panic attack. 

People who care about me don’t understand why I’m scared to be on my own, as much as they tell me that they do.  People who don’t know me that well may find me rude or dismissive when I’m having a particularly bad day.  But it’s my closest friends and family members who see the brunt of my problems, my boyfriend in particular.

He’s no angel, but I expect him to know exactly how to act when I have a wave of anxiety or experience the beginnings of a panic attack – it’s just not that simple.  The truth is, he has his own life and his own problems and doesn’t always say or do the right thing to help me.  But we’ve come to terms with my anxiety, and even through the skin of our teeth, we get through the worst arguments. 

Dealing with My Phobias and Fears

I’d be lying if I said that anxiety hadn’t changed my quality of life.  Of course it has.  The simplest things such as driving in the dark or being inside a building on my own require meticulous planning on my part.  Everything needs to be thought out because travelling in a car for 3 hours on the motorway or staying in my house on my own for more than a day still seem impossible at the moment.  But I try my best to manage it, and I believe that it’s something that will improve over time.
I look back on a more independent period in my life where I used to enjoy ‘me days’ watching films and pampering myself with treatments.  I miss the independence and the peace of being in my own company, and even amongst the other fears which have developed through my anxiety such as claustrophobia, thanatophobia, fear of the dark and fear of losing control, it’s the fear of being alone which I most despise.
 
Managing My Anxiety and Panic Disorder

Everyone’s experience with anxiety and panic is different, so there’s no exact formula on how to deal with it.  But I do recommend reaching out to others and seeking professional help.  I know that not everyone benefits from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) or psychotherapy, and if you don’t, it’s always helpful to talk to someone you can trust.  I promise.  Talking openly about it to my friends, to panic and anxiety charities, and to other sufferers has changed the way I look at the disorder.
For me, I try to diffuse my nervous energy by focusing on creative things.  Singing when I’m alone helps me feel more alive, I love to travel so I keep a travel blog which takes up most of my time, and I paint to occupy my mind. 

I also believe in taking things one step at a time because throwing yourself into a threatening position doesn’t help you overcome your fears.  There will be days when you feel like you’ve taken a step back but it’s important to accept the swings and roundabouts of anxiety. 

There’s never been any history of mental illness in my family, I’ve always been a very strong and healthy person and people have known me to be fearless and to possess a try-everything-once mentality.  So it really can happen to anyone, and the mind is so much stronger than you could ever believe.   People can tell me to “Snap out of it!” but it’s just not that easy. 

To this day, I still think twice about getting into my car when it’s dark outside, I still leave the TV on when I go to sleep at night because other people’s voices comfort me, I still struggle to close my eyes in the shower, and I still feel a little frightened when I’m not surrounded by friends and laughter.  But I do deal with it.  And there is every reward in being optimistic.

Stay positive and just remember, you’re not crazy.  I know it feels that way sometimes." 

Author:
Mags Yip is the author of The Smart Girl’s Budget Travel Guide, and as an anxiety and panic disorder sufferer, she’d like to welcome you to join her on her travels around the world as she battles her biggest fears.  Follow her on Facebook and never be afraid to contact her with your stories of anxiety. 

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November Support Call Sign Up is Open!

The next call will be November 17th at 6:30 pm MST. If this is something you want to do again or try out, please sign up. Here is how:

A Returning Member:

• If you have already signed up for a previous call and sent me your username for Skype and profile card, all you have to do is pay the $2.00 fee. To pay simply click on the paypal button on the right sidebar. *Note* This fee is nonrefundable, even if you miss the call.

A New Member:

• Please download the instructions here that will explain more about the call (system requirements, how to sign up, what to expect, etc.)
• Also download, fill out, and email me back the Profile Card here that will help me keep track of who is who.
• Pay the $2.00 fee by clicking the "Pay Now" button on the sidebar to reserve your spot. *Note* This fee is nonrefundable, even if you miss the call.
• Sign up for Skype (its free) and email me your username and I will add you to the group list.

The $2.00 fee is simply to pay for the premium membership at Skype to facilitate the calls. I have to make sure that if only 5 people show up for the call, costs will still be covered. Sign up for the November call is officially OPEN! Only 14 people can be on each call and it is first come first serve so sign up today :)

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