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Warning: This is my first post in a long time... It might be a little rough. Bear with me.
A few weeks ago, in my New Testament class, we talked commandments. When I think of commandments, I often think of not killing people, not stealing, not stealing other people's people, etc. We learned that these are all commandments, but that they were already established before Jesus was born. When our Savior walked the Earth, the only commandment he added to the existing commandments was...
to love one another.
Um. I'm sorry, but am I the only one that finds this little itty bitty commandment extremely difficult? Like it's way harder for me to love the guy that almost hit me with his car (when I totally had the right of way) than it is for me to restrain my murderous tendencies. Right? Okay. Maybe just me.
These past couple of months have been super rough. I've been in full-time school, full-time work, and full-time stress. My dating life is non-existent. I'm eating more Nutella than is culturally acceptable... The end of the semester seriously can't come fast enough. It's been hard. Really hard.
Last week, I began to think... what could I personally be doing to make all of this easier? It's a scary thought to think that I have no power in my situation. I have no choice in being happy, I'm just doomed to stress and obesity (seriously... I've been eating way too much Nutella.)
That's where this lesson comes into play.
L O V E * O N E * A N O T H E R .
I can choose to be happier, less stressed, and it might make me even a little prettier (hopefully)... if I just choose to love others. And, guess what? This little trick works for everyone, even you.
Isn't "it won't be easy, but it will be worth it," a Pinterest quote or something? Because it totally is applicable here. This is not going to be easy. Obvi. Being nice isn't always fun. But, as I've seen in my own life... It really will be worth it. By learning to love my brothers and sisters (and arch-enemies) I will learn to love myself. That will make me (and you) happier.
So here's some steps that I've found to be helpful in this little "love one another" ordeal:
1) Don't gossip. I have yet to find an instance that has hurt my self-esteem as much as the one time I walked into a room and could tell that everyone had just been talking about me. It is without a doubt one of the hardest things to feel. With that being said... why do I find myself talking about others? It's human. I'm sure back in the day, all of the pilgrims sat at the imaginary Thanksgiving dinner table and talked about how Mary-Beth was showing a little too much ankle lately. It's natural to talk about our peers, but that doesn't make it right. Let's try and make a conscious decision to not gossip. If it doesn't involve you, don't talk about it. (This is going to be almost impossible... Just try.)
2) Always smile. ALWAYS. I have self-diagnosed myself with Walking B Face (WBF). The B stands for a 5-letter word that isn't nice and I can't write it on this blog (I think you all know what I'm talking about.) Whenever and wherever I'm walking, my face is just blank, ergo WBF. I'm always daydreaming or thinking about what I want to eat next. How does that transfer to my outward appearance? I have no emotion, I look angry, etc. So just smile. Smile so much that it becomes something you do without thinking. Make yourself have Walking Smiley Face (equally as weird as WBF but a lot more friendly.) It's very cliche, but you never know who your smile could help.
3) Stop talking about yourself. You are super cool and super interesting. But... so is everyone else. Take a second to get to know whoever you are talking to. Most of the time when I'm listening to someone talk about themselves, I often think, "Wow. This person talks about themself a lot. I wonder if they know how obnoxious they sound..." (I also know everyone thinks this while I talk... I know it.) Well here I am telling you just how obnoxious we all sound when we talk about ourselves. When you find yourself talking about yourself (which happens all too often for me) just STOP IT. Ask the other person a question and let them have their own solioquoy. It's nice to feel like someone wants to listen to you. 
4) Be genuine. This goes a lot with the stop talking about yourself thing. I also feel like this is one of the hardest traits to develop. Make it a goal to know something about everyone that you bump into regularly. That way when you bump into them you can ask them about that one thing. "How's your humanities class going?" or "What about *insert man's name here*? Anything going on there?" Make some effort to know something about them, and then give advice or just be a friend. Being genuine goes hand in hand with loving someone. It's very easy to seem "nice" but it's 100 times better to be genuine.
and last but not least...
5) Pray. You and I both know that loving everyone is going to be difficult. I know that I cannot do it on my own. So I (in the most non-judgmental and loving way) am going to go ahead and say that you probably won't be able to take this feat on by yourself either. Pray for a little Heavenly help. Pray for the person that makes you want to hit your head against a brick wall over and over again. Pray for yourself so that you might be able to keep those little sarcastic comments to yourself. Pray for love.
I am not a life guru, my major isn't in psychology, and I most certainly do not know everything. What do I know? I know that Our Savior gave us one commandment that can make all of the difference. We must love one another.
I love all of you and I want to thank y'all one more time for reading my little ramblings and my thoughts.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you.
John 13:34
(P.s. if I'm mean to you, I'll try to stop and I'll try to love you. Please make it easier for me.)
-Kristen
