Dive

Here I am, in a blog. My intention in creating a blog is for myself- to be committed to writing consistently as it's a necessary aspect of my life that has helped me to stay on the right path, and it is healthier so as to be more clear of the important things going on in my head; and for the people who will be reading this- that I might better stay in touch with family and friends on a deeper level and share with them a more complete and self-expressive perspective of my life. I'm not always the best at communicating over the phone, and often in person as well for that matter, but I do feel rather confident that my ability to communicate through writing has always been one worth practicing.

I've almost completed 3 journals as of 2009, and I figured that it would be more exciting and maybe even beneficial if I try sharing with people what's been going on. I'M excited about my life- I hope to imbibe excitement or at least enjoyment for my readers as well...
So these are my intentions of beginning a blog. Since it is public, I probably will go back and edit things. But I will write as plainly and clearly as I can.

As for what's actually going on in my life, I'll share a few things:
1- I'm enrolled in a conservatory masters program while financially supporting myself 100% for the first time in my life. I'm doing this by taking 2 jobs (performance library helper and elementary school tutor), teaching and gigging as much as I can, and making my private viola lessons a priority over anything else next to my health. My classes fall rather low in priority, but I seem to be handling that well enough. I got an A on a theory midterm and a C on my history midterm- which I will be able to bring up because of a paper and a class performance. And of course I'll get an A on the final... It's extremely important to me right now that I develop my style as a violist and perform concerts where I will expose that style. I have two private teachers helping me with that- Larry Dutton and Karen Dreyfus.

2- I'm a recent convert in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as of September 2010. In the interest of time, I plan to write a separate blog about how that happened and how it's been going. It's important that I include spirituality in my 1st blog because it is an aspect of my life that I don't easily forget to include in my journaling. So I'm not going to concern myself with what people think about my religious choices or what people care about religion in general, because this blog is primarily for me to share who I am in the perspective of a journalist and I want to express whatever I need to express without feeling restrained by judgement. This, by the way, is something I sometimes struggle with, especially in situations where I'm surrounded by people who I know oppose my religious lifestyle, and the feeling is almost like I'm being discriminated against (this might be over-exaggerating slightly) while I know that the issue is simply one of communication. However, I suppose through writing this blog, I'm realizing that another good intention for the blog is to free myself of that restraint.
Spirituality is extremely important to me- it has influenced me in every aspect of my life, has given me strength through difficult times, and essentially gives me direction in my life.
The question is: what is spirituality?
This is different for everyone, even within a religious community. For me, spirituality is access to God. God is 3 beings: Our heavenly, spiritual Father; Jesus Christ, our Messiah who gave us the Atonement; and the Holy Spirit, who lives within each of us.
The next question is: how do we access God?
That's the part where it's different for everyone. I find it through good music, dance, dreams, walking (or biking) through parks or experiencing the beauty of the Earth, bonding with people, cooking, studying, writing, and various forms of prayer (personal, group, hymns, journaling, meditation, etc). This basically encompasses everything that I do. If anyone notices me not doing at least 5 of those things at any point down the road, I personlly and seriously request that you find a way to knock me back into shape. I will pay you back for it somehow!

I want to continue writing, but unfortunately I need to sleep. I've made a recent conviction to get into bed by 10 every night, and do whatever it takes to sleep at least 7.5 hours every night. Ideally, I want to get to the point where I will wake up without an alarm clock. I'll keep you updated on how that's going as well.

Isn't this exciting?