Dear Friend,
Count your blessings instead of your crosses; Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes; Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears; Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean; Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth; Love your neighbor as much as yourself.
Author Unknown
Recently my mentor and friend Valorie Burton wrote an article on blessings that touched me. After reading this article I started thinking about my own blessings and how easy it is to allow them to drift from my focus. Especially this time of year it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day busyness of life and forget how important our blessings really are.
Do you remember Bing Crosby in White Christmas singing - Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep? What if we did just that and counted our blessings each day as we go to sleep? We might sleep pretty well! This is a takeoff of a suggestion that I offered several weeks ago (Caring For Yourself, part two) where I suggested that you begin a gratitude journal. In this journal you are to write down your blessings - or that which you are grateful for every day. This ritual and process helps us to realize the multitude and the magnitude of the blessings surrounding us.
This week I am going to ask you to make a list of the top 10 blessings in your life. As we are in the middle of the hectic and fun Holiday Season I ask that you refer to this list at least daily.
Use this list as a reminder of what and who really matters in your life. Use this list to focus your attention on the blessings rather than on the annoyances in your life.
Make It Happen
Right now find a pen and paper. Go to a quite place, sit down, close your eyes, and take several deep breaths. Then begin thinking about the blessings in your life. Just scroll through your life and create a mental image for each blessing. Do you have a huge smile emerging? Once you think you are finished - push yourself - keep going - find a few more things. Then open your eyes, take your pen and paper and write down everything that came to mind. (Don't stop yourself at 10 blessings...write down everything that comes to mind.)
Think about where you can keep this list so that you can refer to it daily. Perhaps you can put it in your purse, your wallet, your bathroom mirror, your nightstand, or on the visor in your car. Find a place that works well for you and refer to this list at least daily. What I've done for this exercise is type up my list of blessings up on the computer and print several copies of this list and place them in my car and purse and in a couple of rooms in my home. Counting your blessings is a beautiful way to acknowledge and appreciate all that is excellent in your life right now.
May you be blessed for you are a blessing!
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