Tag Archives: abuse

You Don’t Know How Strong You Are Til Being Strong Is The Only Choice You Have

“You never know how strong you are…until being strong is the only choice you have.” Over the course of my adult life I’ve gone through some really hard things that at times have been so painful I didn’t know how in the world I would ever be able to get through them. There’ve been days […]

We Must Make Peace With Our Past To Truly Grow

“You must make peace with your past at some point in your life to truly grow.”  – unknown Sometimes we go through things in life that are so traumatic emotionally that we bury them or file things away, we tell ourselves to forget about them, and we put all our focus on the future.  In […]

Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not […]

Greater Than Our Fears, Our Doubts, Our Anxieties

All of us have moments of fear, doubt, anxiety, and loneliness in our lives. Some battle it only occasionally while others may deal with it on an ongoing basis, but I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t dealt with those emotions in their life.  One of the most powerful talks on this subject was […]

Pornography Teaches That “No” Doesn’t Really Mean “No”

Today I had the privilege of meeting Terry Crews and hearing him share his story. I’m going to be totally upfront and tell you that when I was invited to come and hear him speak at UVU today I didn’t recognize the name, nor did I know anything about him…when you are working as much […]

There Is No Shame In Admitting You Need Help

There is no shame in admitting you need help. In fact, your life will get so much better when you do. Between 9am and 10am this morning I got a phone call from my daughter who was calling from her college campus where she had arrived to her class building to find emergency responders and […]

What We See On The Surface And What Lies Beneath. Everyone Needs Compassion.

It’s so easy for us to assume that because someone looks fine or appears to have a good life that they aren’t going through hard things. It’s also easy for us to assume that our own struggles are more difficult than someone else is since we are only capable of fully understanding the depths of […]

It’s Nothing To Be Ashamed Of

“Don’t be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.” –Unknown Every one has physical and/or emotional scars of some kind. Perhaps those scars resulted from an accident you were involved in, or perhaps they resulted from being the victim of some sort of abuse…whatever caused them, […]

Communicating Like That Isn’t Any More Effective In Getting What You Want As An Adult Then It Was When You Were A Child

“I’m gonna hold my breath until you give in and give me what I want!”  Now there’s a communication tactic we learned as children was never effective in getting us what we wanted. All it did was make our cheeks turn blue and give us a pounding headache. Never once did it actually get us […]

We Can’t Control The Filters That Others Choose When They Look At Us

“We can’t control the filters that others choose when they look at us.” –Rachel Wolchin In the teenage years we tend to put tremendous focus on what others think of us and we often allow our self-worth to become dictated by what others think of us. Whether it’s having the person you like like you […]

Be strong enough to let go

“Be strong enough to let go, and wise enough to wait for what you deserve.” – unknown Letting go of something you have cared about, but recognize is hurting you, is never easy.  Whether it’s a toxic relationship (or just a relationship that is keeping you from moving forward), or a bad habit (especially an […]

Sharing a little about one of my Heroes

21 years ago today I gave birth to the most amazing little girl in the world. Ashley made her entrance in the world in the same epic fashion as she has done everything else since she was born – she came out bottom first! That made for an amazingly difficult labor and delivery for me, […]

Love Them All The Way To The End

I love the holiday season – I love the decorations and the holiday goodies and that extra feeling of love in the air. And I especially love Hallmark Christmas Movies!!! For those who don’t know what I am talking about, the Hallmark channel on TV puts out a bunch of original Christmas movies every year […]

The Parable of the Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they […]

“If we aren´t laughing and having fun everyday…we´re doing it wrong!”

As those of you who follow my blog know, once a week I get an email from my daughter who is serving her mission.  This week she shared that her group set a goal this week to see if they could follow all the mission rules with “exact obedience”.   Now I don’t know about all […]

PUT ON YOUR CAPE!

“There is a superhero inside all of us. We just need the courage to put on a cape.” Today I saw a documentary at Sundance that showed the story of normal man who had the courage to put on his cape and become a superhero to many children who were being abused and taken advantage […]

In The Famous Words From Disney’s Frozen “Let it Go”

There are just three short days until we celebrate Christmas! This weekend was fantastic. Our kids came home from college and we went to an awesome Christmas concert by pianist Kurt Bestor. During the concert he brought out a children’s choir and one little girl sang the famous song “Let it Go” from the Disney […]

Throwback Thursday – Forgive and Let Go

For some reason this week I thought it would be fun to go back in time to this very day two years ago to see what was on my mind back then when I wrote my blog that day.   When I finished reading my post from that day it hit me how important the […]

Live your life, love your life, and leave this life with no regrets

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service […]

“If People Are Trying to Bring You Down…”

“If people are trying to bring you down it only means that you are above them.”  I spent time tonight talking to a close friend who has a teenager daughter who is being horribly bullied in school.  Her daughter, like many teenage girls, suffers from low self-esteem.  She thinks her body isn’t thin enough, she […]

Private Violence

“Every day in the US, at least four women are murdered by abusive (and often, ex) partners. Over 75% of the homicides occur when the woman attempts to leave or has left her abuser.” Today I attended the showing of the documentary Private Violence at Sundance Film Festival.  The documentary follows the story of Deanna […]

The Power of Words

Words are a powerful thing. Words can build and lift, comfort and calm, teach and inspire.  To the opposite, words can destroy and demolish, incite and enrage, berate and criticize, embarrass and demean.  It has been said that in an average day a person will speak somewhere between 10 and 20,000 words. Which means we […]

“Judging a Person Does Not Define Who They Are, It Defines Who You Are.”

Judging other people – Everyone is guilty of it as some point or another.  Many times it happens in small subconscious ways where we find ourselves judging someone without even realizing it.   Many times judgments are made based on a person’s appearance, an outfit, a car they drive, the job they do, or the house […]