Education Week (Thursday)!

Yesterday I was at work and all of these wonderful people kept coming in with "Education Week" name tags on and I kept asking them how it was going and they all replied with various assortments of praise. One lovely lady came in with her son and his wife and I talked to her for a bit (I admit I may have been a little over-enthusiastic in my quest to know more about Education Week so before she left (rather hurriedly)she handed me an extra booklet with all the classes and information in it and since I did not have to work today I decided to go! It was so much fun. There were a ton of classes to choose from  (unfortunately I couldn't attend all of them but the ones I did attend were really fun) Here is some of what I learned!

1. Changing Overwhelming Habits in Ourselves - Joseph Grenny (Alright, I am a huge fan of self-improovment)

• Agency is a gift and a skill we can work and improve on.
• We can act or be acted upon
• we choose how we act and can choose how we respond to being acted upon.
• "The Freedom to Choose" and not resisting things but changing our feelings about them
• Take control of things that "control" you
• OVERRULE them
• Tell yourself the truth in crucial moments
• Not entirely a matter of motivation it's about choosing good and feeling capable of doing so.
• Not a motivation problem but an ability problem
• Resistance can lead to depression
• Need Love, help, support, teaching to develop skills to overcome bad habits and addictions
• We can change relationships and don't always have to terminate them
• In order to change we need to develop positive skills
• Stop resisting start reshaping
• A funny example:
• U.K. Researchers put different signs above sinks in the bathrooms at a local store.
• "Soap it off or eat it later"
• "Wash and avoid 47% chance of disease"
• "Is the person next to you washing with soap?"
• 73% more people washed their hands when looking at the third sign than any other one.
• Another example:
• Heber J. Grant had a coffee problem. He tried to quit many times but he found thinking "I can't have coffee" only made it harder for him to stop so he reshaped his perspective and began thinking "I can have coffee if I want to but I choose not to drink it because I want a greater abundance of the spirit in my life." This way of thinking left him feeling in control and it helped him stop drinking coffee in a healthy way. 
• I really loved this lesson and it was empowering and really fun! 

Increasing Gospel Teaching and Learning- Teaching by the Spirit - David M. McConkie (I shook his hand! Hurray!) 

• We want to teach the Lord's lesson and not our own. 
• We want to teach for people and not recognition
• Teach people not lessons
• Study the Scriptures
• Ponder Pray
• Teach Gospel
• Teach by the Spirit
• Learn byt the Spirit
• Keep the Commandments 
• Love 
• Prepare 
• Minister to groups and Individuals
• Invite Spirit and live in a way that you are worthy to teach

Living a Balanced Life - Kevin R. Miller

• How the Spirit helps influence Body, Mind and Heart.
• The importance of balance
• How sin stems from deep unmet needs
• How satan wants to create conflict and separation
• Setting SMART Goals:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Ambitious
• Realistic
• Time-Bound
• Don't compare yourself to others
• Don't make major decisions and commitments at really high or low points
• Christ will not Protect you from what he can perfect us through
• Be active in Gospel and Church

Nutrition: Dispelling Myths and Teaching Correct Principles: Sugar: Is it Really that sweet?

• Structural make-up of sugars
• where they are found
• Majority found in beverages
• Next largest is Desserts
• Direct link to cavities
• indirect link to obesity

The Confident Woman - Outward Appearance: The Do's and Don'ts of Enhancing Your Appearance - Barbara Barrington Jones

• I LOVED this one. Sister Jones was incredibly funny and helpful!
• "Fashion comes and goes but style always remains" 
• Find what you like and what makes you feel good and flatters you and wear it
• What styles are in for fall and what cuts and make-up and hair is in
• Also one of my favorite quotes was "Make yourself like angels in goodness and beauty"
• language, manners, thoughts and appearance
• Stay current in the affairs of the world
• learn new things and have fun
• Be you.
• Have fun.
• Love life!

All in all I just listed what I learned just in case you wanted to know! I really enjoyed my Education Thursday and I hope to participate again next year! This was an uplifting experience and it made me happy. At first I was feeling a little overwhelmed because there is SO much I don't know but then I read a poem that helped me out. Also the teachers were awesome and friendly and reassuring. I am just sorry I cannot do these lessons justice with just bullet points but I really did learn a lot of things and it was totally worth going to. I was just excited about it and wanted to share it with the people I love! 

Here is the Poem

...
Urgent to Marilyn

Marilyn had a job-
Working out her salvation.
It wasn't nine to five.
It was nine to nine
In twenty-four-hour shifts.

And there was no vacation,
And in case she should get fired
Nobody else was hiring,
So Marilyn worked hard
And she worked fast
And she worked in fear.

The boss was away a lot
And Marilyn wondered
If he liked her work,
And not knowing, she worked harder.
She did everything on every list
Twice over to make sure.

She didn't have much fun
On the job.
It was more the retirement
Benenfits she was there for,
The mansion, the glory.

On a typical day
She ran frantically
From the visual aid department
To the wheat-grinding
And quilting department
To the grow your own
Vegetables department
And the sew your own
Children's clothing department
And the physical fitness
Department.

She even stopped running
Past the genealogy department
And locked herself in
Until she got something done.

And then she ran
To the food storage department,
Ran with scriptures
On casette (I-Pod) in hand,
Ran because there were Twenty-two minutes left to fill,
Ran past the boss's memo
On the bulletin board:
"Urgent to Marilyn:
Peace, be still."