COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS

We've all heard the old cliche "Count your blessings."  How often do any of us really stop to do just that?  It seems that we get so caught up in being bogged down with everything that is going wrong in our lives that we seldom stop to appreciate all the things that are right in our lives.  I am just as guilty of this as the next person.  It's easy to think that whatever crisis you are currently encountering is overwhelming and debilitating or that you are the only person on the planet that something bad is happening to.  Have you ever noticed that the more you concentrate on what you're unhappy about the more things you can find that make you unhappy?  It's a strange phenomenon.  We tend to focus on things that are usually beyond our control and allow our emotions to quickly spiral downward instead of opting for gratitude.

Worrying is a useless emotion and demonstrates a complete lack of faith.  Most of the time if we choose to approach a crisis with logic as opposed to panic we could foresee a better outcome.  If you put pen to paper and made a list of pros and cons you would probably learn that you have a lot more in the positive column. It is important to rid yourself of any unnecessary garbage in your life and that includes toxic people.  Don't surround yourself with people who don't positively impact your life.  Depression and negativity are contagious and spread like wildfire.  It is sad that so many people can only seem to find happiness in undermining the happiness of others.  Many times the only way miserable people can feel better about themselves is to destroy other people that they perceive as happy or people who are undeserving of happiness.

The world is in a sorry state of affairs these days with people lacking morals and ethics.  Give your children the gift of optimism.  Start your day with hope rather than with dread learn to be thankful at the end of the day for the gifts that you might be taking for granted.  I'm not talking about deep philosophical    soul searching but rather simple gratitude.  One way to do this is to make a list either every day or every week of at least five things that you are grateful for.  It will probably lead to many more than five.  Take the opportunity to tell the people in your life that they are loved and appreciated.  Imagine if everyone we came into contact with were doing that!  We would all probably interact differently with one another.

My 38th birthday is next week and I'm not one of those people to dread each passing year with the fear of aging.  My dad, sister and brother traveled from California to surprise me for my birthday with the help of my husband.  They took me to dinner at my favorite restaurant.  As I was listening to the waiters and my family sing "Happy Birthday" and looking at the faces of the people that I love,  I was overcome with gratitude.  I was thankful for the health of my children, my family, my home all the things in my life.  At that moment, I could wish for nothing more.  As I blew out my candle, I simply said, "Thank you."