Just a Motivating Monday – Kindness

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE grab the button and link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Next week I’m going to be talking more in depth on Kindness for Just a Motivating Monday. This week, I’m sharing a simple, powerful quote on kindness. Something that will get you thinking. I’d love to have other posts on kindness linked up next week!

“Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known. Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes.”
–Joseph B. Wirthlin

Just a Motivating Monday ~ Forgiveness

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Amanda

This week I’m stealing from myself. This post has a portion of an old post that was originally posted for Just a Motivating Monday back on November 16, 2009. I stole the main jist of it and am going to add a different, updated final thought at the end. With that said……..

Everybody has been hurt by someone they love. Or maybe you hurt someone you love. The point is… we have to be able to forgive in our heart.

President Hinckley of the LDS Church once said in an article:

“Somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.”

I know it is so hard at times to forgive people, but are you perfect? Have you gone through your whole life not doing a thing wrong to someone? Have you been forgiven? Forgiving somebody, especially yourself can be one of the hardest things in this world to do. But if you are virtuous and want to be forgiven, you yourself MUST do this.

Tips to Forgive~

Pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him for His help. He can soften your heart and help you to forgive.

Get rid of the bitterness. If you’re still plotting out ways to get even the forgiving process is no where near.

Once you have forgiven, let it go. Don’t hold on to it, because that’s holding a grudge… which does not mean you have forgiven.

Don’t focus so much on the negative things that have happened to you. If you are focusing on the positive things in your life, and the positive things people have done for you, you will be able to forgive the negative things easier. There’s no point in holding on to negativity when there’s so much positivity to welcome into your heart.

You need to remember that when you are forgiving, it’s for you. It’s not for the person that did you wrong, but it is for you and your exaltation. It’s a process you must go through, and you will be forgiving others for you.

A very good friend of mine… you can find her on twitter @jenhoehne contributed to this post by saying:

“I think that forgiveness is one of those words like “love” that people use loosley. To truly forgive someone means you have let go of any ill will and no longer harbor feelings of anger or angst toward another person.

Forgiving ourselves goes hand in hand with forgiving others. We are often times harder on ourselves than the person or people we have wronged. Forgiving others means letting go of hurt they have caused you and forgiving yourself is learning to love yourself after you have caused another person pain. Both are crutial in the eternal realm of this life and critical to our salvation and prosperity hereafter.”

My Final Thoughts ~

I have people, very close people, do me wrong. They’ve said things to me that stabbed me in the heart and at one point I thought I’d never want them back in my life again. Reading my final thoughts from this post back in 2009 made me smile at who I’ve become and grown into. I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart, because I know that I’m not perfect. I know that horrible things can be said and done ~ but today can also be the first day of the rest of your life. Today can be a fresh start with a clear heart. None of us are perfect. You are not perfect. I am not perfect. We can grow from our mistakes, and we can start fresh today.

That is the beauty of forgiveness.

I’m traveling down a road of forgiveness and it feels so good. I’m even letting go of hurt feelings that I’ve clung onto for many years towards my dad. I’m forgiving and growing my relationship with him with a fresh slate. It feels amazingly wonderful.

I hope that this post in some way will inspire you to start on the road of forgiveness ~ most importantly for yourself.

Just a Motivating Monday ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Sorry I’m late here, but last night and today were so difficult with little Aliyah so I’m just now getting to posting something inspiring for your Monday. Aliyah’s doing okay, she just decided to boycott eating throughout the night and a majority of the morning. It was unenjoyable for the both of us.

My cousin Angel has been posting some great quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and I thought I’d steal them and use them today.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.~

Trust me, faith is a hard one. It’s not something that’s an easy thing to pick up, but it’s something that is an absolute blessing to have in your life.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

I hope these quotes inspire you in some wonderful way. Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing man and his words are so powerful.

Don’t forget that if you have written an inspiring post, PLEASE grab button, spread the word that Motivating Monday does go on and link up!!

Just a Motivating Monday ~ Attitude

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us, or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control. ~ Jim Rohn

I think my favorite part of the about quote is No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. Our attitudes are the one thing that we have COMPLETE control over. When our attitudes turn sour, there is no one to blame but ourselves. We are so fortunate to be able to rise above the norm and compose ourselves with an good attitude even towards the crappiest things, because it’s our choice….. that’s it! We can choose to have a good attitude or a bad attitude. Choosing bad only hurts us, so why not choose a good attitude and thrive?

Last week was not a good week for me. Actually, I think the past few weeks have been rather difficult. Saturday I woke up and here’s a snippet from my personal facebook page:

Amanda Reese Garibay
Raspberry hot chocolate, a better attitude than I had yesterday {by choice 😉 or maybe an effect of the hot chocolate} Today IS going to be a good day.
Yesterday at 10:27 · · Like · Comment

I made the conscious decision that my attitude was going to change and my day was going to be much better than the prior days were, and you know what ~ it worked. Saturday was a fantastic day! The main thing that I focused on all day was how I was feeling, the minute I started feeling annoyed or upset or anything along those line I checked my attitude. Our feelings are an amazing hint to our attitude.

With the right attitude we can conquer just about anything.

And as Andy Andrews said:

A positive attitude will make you feel better. And it will annoy enough people to really make it worth the effort!

Just a Motivating Monday

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Your future is not determined by the conditions around you. It is determined by your faith, your choices, and your efforts. ~ Elder Paul V. Johnson

The turn of a new year is so fresh, so flawless and it’s the PERFECT opportunity to start working on the power of your choices. You’re choosing to have a fresh start New Years, right? So why not choose to start living your life the way you dream to? Why not choose to happiness? Why not choose to be the person that you want to be.

These things are so easily in our grasp, but we fail to choose them. We spend most of our lives choosing to be everything that we don’t want to be. Don’t forget, when you’re living your life the way that you don’t want to be living it – it’s a choice.

Living our dream life takes effort, you can’t expect different results by doing the same thing you’re doing now…… right? I believe that would be the definition of insanity.

You have to have faith in yourself. You have to believe that you can achieve whatever it is that you are setting your mind out to accomplish. Having faith is so important in the realm of life. Whether you believe in God or not, without faith you aren’t believing in anything ~ including yourself. You have to have faith in order to choose happiness, you have to have faith in order to choose your dream life.

Don’t let the negativity that surrounds you shape you. Don’t let the mess of our government affect you. Make your life YOUR life and CHOOSE to live it to its fullest potential.

The bad news is the past was in your hands, but the good news is that the future, my friend, is also in your hands.. ~ Andy Andrews

Just a Motivating Monday

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

It’s been so long since I’ve done Motivating Monday, but it’s back! One of my favorite books that I think every single person alive should read is called {The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews}. Today for Just a Motivating Monday I wanted to share a quote out of it that sang to my heart when I read it.

“Circumstances do not push or pull. They are daily lessons to be studied and gleaned for new knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom that is applied will bring about a brighter tomorrow. A person who is depressed is spending too much time thinking about the way things are now and not enough time thinking about how he wants things to be.”

I know that when we go through a hard time in our lives it’s hard to not dwell and focus on just that. Changing our focus to how we would rather things be going turns a negative situation into a positive one. Focusing on what lesson we can learn from our hard times only betters our lives in the future.

I’m hoping that this quote inspires you in some way in your life. And I hope if you have some inspiring words or posts that you’ll link them up! I love to read inspiring things.

Motivating Monday ~ Gratitude

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Amanda

**SORRY ABOUT THE SMALL FONT… HAVING ISSUES W/IT TONIGHT ~ WILL TRY TO FIX TOMORROW**

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Every 6 months in our church we are so blessed to hear from the leaders in our church along with hearing beautiful, inspiring words from our living prophet. If you are curious as to what Mormons do believe in you can go HERE.

I didn’t get to watch all of the sessions of conference, but lucky for me I have them all recorded on my DVR, so throughout this next week I’ll be soaking up the words and be INSPIRED! Which, as most people know is my all time favorite thing.

For today I wanted to share a quote with you that touched my heart ~

“If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues” ~ President Thomas S Monson

I have lots to say about a lot of the things that inspired me this weekend, but another quote that inspired me this weekend was this…..

“Love in home and family is spelled t-i-m-e” – President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

and this beautiful Sunday evening is about to be spent with my family so I hope these words touch your heart like they did me… I can’t wait to share more with everyone.

Motivating Monday with Tylaine from Just Me!

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

This week we have a treat!!! The wonderful and beautiful Tylaine from {Just Me} has come over to Guest Post for not only the Friends You Love bloghop, but for my Motivating Monday!! I love the subject that she touches on! I hope you enjoy her as much as I do 🙂 Make sure you head over to her blog as well and give her a visit!! There’s a linkup at the end if you have any Inspiring/Motivating posts for this Monday 🙂

Thanks so much to the lovely and wonderful Amanda for asking me to guest post. I chose to talk on something I am trying to make an effort to become: Being a Virtuous Women

Several months ago I had a lesson in church on being a virtuous women. That lesson really touched me because it got me thinking how it applies to me and I came to the unattractive conclusion that I’m really not in many ways. I know so many wonderful, amazing women that I would consider virtuous. I want people to think of me that way too. I mean not to be vain or anything but when people think of me it would be nice if they had good thoughts about me, ya know?

Women inherently have so many wonderful, beautiful, charitable qualities. I believe that it should be our goal to nurture these qualities and our potential. I’m definately not saying we need to be perfect (cause that’s impossible) and ofcourse we’ll continuously make mistakes but that’s ok. All I’m saying is that if it is not our desire to be more virtuous and loving and charitable then we are not being true to ourselves. We are not living up to our potential or our God given gifts.

Sometimes I think though “ya sure it’s all easy and wonderful to be a virtuous women when things are going your way and life is rosy” but what about when it’s not? What about when it downright sucks? Maybe this is the time when it’s most important; when it’s the hardest. I just read an amazing book called The Traveler’s Gift (recommended by none other than Amanda) which I would highly recommend if you want to better your life. Anyway one of the steps in improving our lives it talks about is choosing to be happy….each day making the conscious choice to be happy. I never really thought much on how it is a choice. I mean ofcourse you hear that and stuff but I never REALLY thought about it. I’d say things like I just wanna be happy. Well noone’s stopping me but me are they? The book talks about the example of Anne Frank and how she would do this and how she always had a wonderful attitude and outlook on things even despite her dire circumstances. She would look at her situation as not being nearly as destitute as those being shipped off (that sound awful but for lack of a better word). Now if she could do it in her circumstances I sure as heck can. I can compare myself and my situation to those around me and look at how much better off and happier other people are but it’s only gonna make me more depressed! It would do a lot of people including myself a lot of good to count our blessings daily. I need to change me! I am the only one that can! I need to make the decision to be happy. Cause if I don’t…I’m missing out on something really beautiful.

Dear Self,

It’s time you made a change in your outlook on life and therefore your relationships and your happiness. It’s time you stopped letting yourself down. It’s time you started living up to your potential. It’s time for no more regret.

Motivating Monday ~ More than I can handle

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Amanda

I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

I was going back and looking at old posts this past week for the Back to Blogging event over at the SITS girls and I saw this from an old Just a Motivating post I did back on August 31, 2009. I really enjoyed reading it and thought it would be a good one to bring back and post for this week’s Motivating Monday. Enjoy!!

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” ~Mother Teresa

I don’t think that this life was ever intended to be easy. I know that we are here to learn and to grow, and a free, easy ride is definitely not going to help us out there. Why does it sometimes have to get downright dirty then?

There is a lot of tragedy in this world, and unimaginable things actually happen to people…. people who you wonder how in the world they do it. They do though. They get through those unimaginable life events, they move on, they grow, they learn, and sometimes they have enough strength to hug someone who is going through what they once endured and give the exact support they need.

I do tell myself often, we will get through this. We always get through everything, and we have experienced some not so fun circumstances. I think back on one of the most heart wrenching things I’ve ever had to go through and that was losing our baby girl, {Mya}. You hear of 2nd and 3rd trimester losses, but never think it will happen to you. Although it was heart wrenching, I got through it. Although I miss her, I’m still here, and have found happiness in my life regardless of the traumatic even I had to endure. I have found reason as to why it happened…. because I really, truly believe that everything happens for a reason…. and sometimes we just have to search for that reason. I found a rainbow at the end of my storm and that rainbow is a beautiful, precious little girl that I can’t get enough of. If there was a Mya, there’d be no Ella.

I wish God didn’t trust me as much as he does sometimes, but the thing is he does trust me. He knows that I will find a way to learn and grow from the experiences that I have to go through, but I still sometimes wonder why. I do have enough faith, however, to know there definitely is some reason. If I stick around and try to figure it out I usually find the answer, and then try to accept it, learn from it and more importantly grow from it.

We might not like that God trusts us as much as he does, but the thing is he does trust us, and that in itself is an honor.

Blog Hoppin over to The Winey Mommy!

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Amanda

Today I’m posting over at

If you haven’t checked out Chelle ~ you MUST! She is one of my absolute favorite bloggers! Head over and check her out, read my words and offer her some MAJOR LOVE because her wonderful husband just left yesterday for the next 6 months to risk his life for our freedom. I’m so thankful for soldiers like her Leo that are out there for our country and freedom. I hope that you enjoy Chelle’s blog!!

If you’re coming over here from Chelle’s welcome to Enchanting Havoc!! I hope you enjoy your look around and leave a comment so I can come and check your blog out…. maybe we can find a beautiful friendship like I’ve found with Chelle and so many other wonderful bloggers!!

I’m skipping out on Just a Motivating Monday this week since I’m over at Chelle’s with some heart felt words 🙂 But if you have some motivating/inspiring post that you’d like to link up this week please do!!