Self-esteem is a myth

22 November 2013, 10:44 am by Giggles
Categories: Books, Gospel, Musings

For one of my college classes I was assigned to read “Confronting The Myth of Self-Esteem” (my review of it several years later). Sitting in education classes where the focus was often on how to help children feel good about themselves, it was interesting to start to read this book. But by the end I understood. Self-esteem and confidence are not the same thing. Self-esteem focuses on what others think of you while confidence is focused on what you think of you, and more importantly, what God thinks of you. With a correct focus our confidence can wax strong in the presence of God.

This summer I found it interesting to see articles in Scientific American about how self-esteem really isn’t this great thing that it’s been touted to be for years – Self-Esteem Can Be an Ego Trap, How to Avoid the Self-Esteem Trap and How to Stop Chasing Self-Esteem. I remembered the book, which is decidedly religious in nature, and thought it interesting that main stream science is now saying the same thing.

Chasing self-esteem makes us afraid to fail, which makes us afraid to try. We are too focused on what others think of us, of looking good for others, that we do not notice where we can improve, or we are afraid to notice where we can improve. Self-esteem is an illusive mirage in front of us we will never arrive at. It is a bubble that will burst at the slightest disturbance.

But when we focus outwards, when we focus on helping others, or on what a loving Heavenly Father thinks of us and our short comings, we are standing on a more sure foundation. Empathy, service, divine love, those are not illusive mirages that will disappear when we reach out for them.

Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
Doctrine & Covenants 121:45

Serve others and your confidence will wax strong, the heavens will make up for your short comings. That is true strength.

5 Shared thoughts

November means…

21 November 2013, 4:12 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Quilting/Sewing/Knitting/Crafting

Novembers mean holidays and plotting.

Our family was way ahead of the curve. We’ve been doing homemade presents at Christmas long before it was the hipster or hip or whatever the thing is to do. And LONG before Pinterest. Which meant we had to figure it all out on our own.

I love the memories of figuring out exactly what to make and then working out how to do it. Bedroom doors that were open the rest of the year would start closing in November as we disappeared behind them with the glue gun or hid away with my mom’s sewing machine. It was an unspoken ruke that around this time of year you didn’t ask what someone was up to. I still love figuring out what to get for someone and how to make it happen (like the photo cube I wrote about yesterday).

I am grateful for parents who nurtured, encouraged, and celebrated our imagination and creativity. And I’m grateful that Brett, while he rarely knows exactly what it is I’m talking about or how something will turn out, gives me free reign to try it anyway. Things like monkeys and binary on our wedding invitations, making stockings, and turtle costumes among the things that I’ve finished, and the soda can caroler wreath I’m going to finish this year that I “made” him drink a whole lot of Mt. Dew for so I’d have supplies.

We all need more pompoms, wiggly eyes, and pipe cleaners in our lives.

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Four year photos and a magic cube

20 November 2013, 12:27 pm by Giggles
Categories: How To

We have at least one photo of us for every month we’ve been married. I’ve been adding them to the wall paper on my computer each month and we’ve enjoyed watching the screen fill in until last month when we added the 48th photo. We both agreed we should do something with all of them and both considered simply printing them and putting them on the wall.

A week before our anniversary an idea struck while I was up at 4am nursing Iddo. Could I make it work? It took a few more 4ams but I figured it out.

A few years ago I bought a Harry Potter calendar in the shape of a cube. The cube is made of 8 smaller cubes and unfolds in such a way that all 48 faces of the 8 cubes are visible at one point. For the calendar this means that the first six months are visible when it is folded one way and when you open it up and fold it the other way the other six months are visible. They sell these cubes for brand recognition and advertising and call them “magic cubes” and tout their “fiddle factor” (customers are constantly fiddling with the object and your brand becomes ingrained in their minds). The important thing for me was the 48 small cube faces that were available.

I bought a package of 8 1.25″ wooden blocks at Hobby Lobby, printed up our monthly photos at 1.25″ square, got out my mod podge and some clear enamel spray, pulled out an egg carton, and got to work.

The first thing I did was use masking tape to put together the larger cube so it would fold right and wrote on each of the 48 faces which month went where and in what direction. My first thought had been to put all the Novembers together and so forth but I decided to do them chronologically instead. Because you can at most see three sides of a cube at a time I arranged it so you could see one whole year worth at a time.

After marking all the sides I pulled off the tape, cut out the pictures, and started attaching them to the blocks. I did one layer of mod podge underneath each photo to hold it on and two on top to protect it. I then sprayed all the sides to seal them even further. The egg carton came in very handy for holding everything while it dried.

MissGiggles.com: Four year photos and a magic cube - making the parts

I used small strips of clear packing tape for the hinges and the whole thing turned out great. We’ve definitely enjoyed fiddling with it and seeing the photos somewhere other than just on my computer screen.

MissGiggles.com: Four year photos and a magic cube - closed cube MissGiggles.com: Four year photos and a magic cube - open cube

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Colors!

19 November 2013, 1:42 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things

There are certain items I believe are worth spending the money on for a name brand and that I am very particular about. Toilet paper is definitely worth it. That is not something you should skimp on.

I’m very particular about my art supplies. My crayons, markers, water colors, colored pencils, are all Crayola. The quality is so much better than other crayons. I love the variety of colors. I love the smell. I love how they look all arranged with their fresh tips in the box.

Back in May, to celebrate their 110th anniversary, Crayola offered a commemorative box of 8 crayons with the original box design. I, of course, bought one. I used the excuse that it was Iddo’s first box of crayons. Of course I admitted I’d need to get her another box she could actually use as well since this box is a collectable.

Last week a box arrived for me in the mail. It had Crayola as the return address. It smelled like new crayons. I couldn’t remember ordering anything from Crayola so I was a little confused as to why I was getting a box from them. My parents had indicated that they’d ordered some Christmas presents for Iddo and they would be arriving soon, but said they hadn’t ordered her anything from Crayola (yet).

I opened the package and inside was a brand new box of 64 crayons. Free! Just for me. The enclosed letter indicated it was a thank you for making the commemorative box earlier this year such a success. The excitement I felt at a new box of crayons was immense.

So many beautiful colors!

What should we color first?

What is your favorite Crayola color?

5 Shared thoughts

X marks the spot

18 November 2013, 3:34 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family

In November 2010 I wrote a post for each letter of the alphabet, except the letter X. I let Brett write that post (the only guest post ever on this blog). Here’s what I would’ve written then. And it’s still true now.

When I first thought of a post for X I was thinking about how they put a big X on pirate treasure maps to mark where the treasure is. If I were to put a big X on a map to mark where my treasure is, it would be an X over our house.

X marks the spot.

Home is where you hang your hat.

I have several hats and they all “hang” (or sit on a table or chair) at our home. And that is my treasure (the people in the home, not the hats). My X has moved every so often as I’ve moved. I’d even say there would be several Xs on the map now as I treasure all of my family and we’re a bit scattered abroad. I tend to think that my treasure is more valuable than any treasure a pirate ever buried. And I’m not going to bury my family either.

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Well said

17 November 2013, 7:24 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel

This video was released in April of this year. While these women are describing their experiences on a global scale, they are also describe my experiences at my small, local level. I appreciate what they say and certainly appreciate the opportunities I have for growth, leadership, and blessings as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

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Time Capsule

16 November 2013, 6:39 pm by Giggles
Categories: Random

I love the idea of a time capsule. I’d always just had a hard time figuring out what to put in one and why that stuff would matter in the future since I keep a journal that I don’t put in sealed boxes. I’d also struggled with what I’d use for the container. I liked the idea of burying it, but I move too much to guarantee I’d be in that spot to open it. I’ve written letters to my future self though. Reading them usually makes me roll my eyes at how sappy my past self was.

Three years ago we made a time capsule for our first anniversary that we are going to open on our tenth anniversary. The whole thing was put into a manila envelope and put in our filing cabinet. I finally found a container I could get behind. I’m sure when we open it I’ll still think I was real sappy (we wrote letters to each other). But at the same time I’m glad we did it. And I’m excited to see how much things have changed and how much they’ve stayed the same when we do open it.

Maybe my problem has always been that I’ve over thought the whole time capsule thing, trying to make it super significant. Really you’re just capturing one moment in time, not necessarily a significant one. And maybe some day I’ll get over my sappiness. In our world of digital everything, a time capsule of physical objects might be even more meaningful in the future.

Have you ever made a time capsule? What did you put in it? What would you put in one if you made one now?

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