Finding Forgotten Joys

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People think time travel can only be found in Science-Fiction, but it’s a lie. Sitting in my room playing that clarinet transported me back over a decade. It felt like I was having a conversation with myself at sixteen. And I asked myself what in the heck took so long to come back to something I love.

Embracing Minimalism

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Over the last several months, I’ve been re-evaluating my relationship with stuff. I’ve been incredibly blessed in my life to have the things that I need and more. I thank my Heavenly Father for those gifts daily.  But I’ve realized that letting go of some materialistic things can enable me to live life more freely than ever. I watched a great documentary on Netflix called Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things and it really made me think about the kind of possessions I want in my life.  I’m a sentimental person and I love for the things around me to have meaning. By decluttering my life of things that don’t have much value, I am truly a happier person. That being said, I’m not an extremist. I stand by the philosophy of a happy medium.  Common sense is the most valuable commodity in the world these days. You need to do what works for you in your own life, and I believe it’s important to be thoughtful when making these kind of decisions. I’d like to encourage all of us to think about all the stuff in our lives and seriously think about eliminating what isn’t working. Perhaps the…

Episode 5: Kindred Spirits

Yo Peeps! Welcome to The Vibrant Life Podcast where each week we take a look at ways to live life out loud, in color, and on purpose. My name is Emily Romrell and this is Episode 5: Kindred Spirits.  This week I want to focus on the people in our lives, the difference they make, and how to seek out and find more and more wonderful relationships along the way. C. S. Lewis is a hero of mine, and in my opinion he was one of the greatest thinkers and writers of the twentieth century. The Chronicles of Narnia was probably the first book series that I fell heart and soul in love with as a child. And as and adult, I’ve become attached to his other writings almost as much. He was a true academic and I am fascinated by the way he reaches profound conclusions about God, Love, and Relationships through reasoning things out logically in his mind. In his very short book called “The Four Loves”, Lewis uses this process of thought experiments to discover the nature of Love. Like I said before Lewis is an academic, so the book is deep and can be difficult to…

Episode 4: The Happy Medium

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Welcome to the Vibrant Life! My name is Emily Romrell. Today is February  15, 2016, and this is Episode 4: The Happy Medium.  This week the focus is all about finding balance. It can be pretty tricky at times, but it’s possible. Finding the Happy Medium is a fundamental part of living a vibrant life. I love Science Fiction, and I love Children’s books. So you might be able to guess that one of my all-time favorite writers is Madeleine L’Engle author of the fabulous book “A Wrinkle in Time.” I love that she uses real science in her writing, and she doesn’t dumb things down for her young readers. I love how she creates endearing characters that stay with you for a long time. One character that I’ve become obsessed with is her Happy Medium. In “A Wrinkle in Time” the Happy Medium is a psychic woman who lives on a medium gray world. She prefers to only look at the happy things of life and pretends that negativity doesn’t exist. So in the book, she is living in a self-induced false happiness, and the point to be made in the story is that there are times when you…

Episode 3: The First Wealth Is Health

Hello again and welcome to the Vibrant Life! My name is Emily Romrell. Today is Monday, February 8th and this is Episode 3: The First Wealth is Health. On this episode,  I’ll talk about the importance of working for and living a healthy lifestyle in all areas of our lives. We’ll go over some tips to becoming healthier physically, mentally, and emotionally. And we’ll talk about how becoming a healthier person is a process that takes time. Thank goodness for that! Do you have a list of dead heroes? I sort of think we all do even if it’s slightly weird or morbid. When you read or learn about historical figures, there’s something that sparks the imagination and ignites imaginary yet meaningful albeit one-sided friendships. And I think these fanciful friendships are healthy and important because they help us to recognize the positive traits of others and develop them in our own lives. One such friend of mine is the late great Ralph Waldo Emerson. I love his writing and his optimistic outlook on life. He had a wonderful way of picking out the simple truths and joys of life like fruit from a tree and then offering it to…

Episode 2: Be Not Weary In Well Doing

Hello Friends, and happy Monday! My name is Emily Romrell. Welcome to The Vibrant Life. This is Episode 2: Be Not Weary in Well Doing. On this episode,  I’ll be discussing the origins of this saying, how it became my personal mantra, and how it has become a true source of strength and help for me to keep fighting the good fight. Do you have a favorite movie line? My family loves to watch movies and sometimes we can have whole conversations made up from movie quotes. After Batman Begins came out in 2005 my brother, Dallin, couldn’t go a whole day without saying, “Stay calm, you’ve been poisoned.”  And my sister, Kimberly, and I have watched Steel Magnolias so many times that the phrase, “You know I love ya more than my luggage.” has become sort of a secret code between us. Why is it do you think, that quotes from our favorite movies or books affect us so much? Words are powerful. They stay with us. And when words hit us in the right combination and at the right time, they become part of the story we tell ourselves, to remind us who we are. To help me…

Episode 1: Welcome to the Vibrant Life

Welcome to The Vibrant Life! My name is Emily Romrell and I’ll be hosting this podcast every week. This project is dear to my heart and it’s been in the works for a long time. On this episode, I’ll be laying down the broad strokes of what it actually means to “Live the Vibrant Life”, some personal background that led me to take the leap into the podcasting universe, and what you can expect to find here in the future. First off, I want you to know that this is a special day for me. Not only is it the day I chose to launch the podcast, it’s also my 30th birthday. That’s right folks, the big 3-0.  As this milestone has been approaching, I’ve been doing a lot of meditating about my life. I’m the kind of person that goes to bed at night and a million thoughts immediately start zooming around in my brain. One thought has been shouting a lot louder than the others, and that thought is: If Not Now, When? Let’s rewind a few years. One of the most magical memories I have is the first time my Mom showed me how to write my…

Spread the Love

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Now more than ever is the time for people to come together and respect each other. We can always be kind, even if we can’t always agree.