How To Count Your Blessings During The Most Terrible of Times

We live in a time of economical turmoil, a shaky job market and share a dying planet with packs of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Prime-time TV is plagued with pharmaceutical commercials for drugs to mask depression, anxiety and sleeplessness. It seems as though we have forgotten to stop to catch our breath. We are caught in a cycle of perpetual chaos, perhaps stuck in a state of shock. Looking to prayers and priests to guide the way. We all have our own mountains to climb and obstacles in our way. It’s impossible to compare your troubles to those of another because everyone’s obstacles are relative to their lives, experiences, skills and such. As always, indeed, things can always be worse. Just remember it is in the worst of storms that we realize just how strong we are and the things that are truly most important to us. Many people ponder ‘what is the meaning of life’ , yet, if you look around you during the hardest times in your life you will be blessed with learning the answer to that question.

With that said….

Your Assignment for Today:

(Too busy? ~no excuses, .. we are always able to make time for something that is important to us. If you had a winning lottery ticket you sure as shit would find a few minutes in your day to go cash it in, yes? Well my friend, here is your lottery ticket… it’s up to you to cash it in! No dilly dallying! Hop to it!)

**• Designate 5 to 20 minutes of “me time” in which you can slip away to somewhere that makes you feel good. Perhaps it’s on your porch, a garden bench, or perhaps even just in your car or the bathroom (indeed for many that maybe the only alone time you may have, but it will work)

**• Unplug & disconnect: There is nothing so important that it can’t wait 20 minutes (indeed there are exceptions to every rule but for most, I’m sorry to say, the world will not crumble and society fall to it’s knees if you don’t answer a call, respond to a text or check email, facebook and the like. Perhaps it’s those things at the root cause of people’s difficulty to be able to pause, breath, step back and analyze with fresh eyes and a clear perspective. A constant bombardment of irrelevant data clouding solutions that maybe right before you… but that’s a topic for another post-another day)

** Just start writing: Getting started is the most difficult step in the process. Simply make a list of all the blessings in your life. Everything tender and priceless in your life. Don’t think too hard. Just let it come to you. One thing after another you’ll feel it start to flow. The people, places, experiences. As the list gets longer and longer you can’t help but to gain a positive perspective on whatever the terrible trauma you maybe experiencing or have experienced. Thinking about all your blessings all at once will make you feel strong and empowered.

** Make The End The Beginning: The blessings which top your list will come epily. People can rattle off feeling blessed for their kids, spouse, parents, siblings, friends, pet, job, food on the table/basic needs etc. and then they’re stuck. Often ending the list there. However, it is at the end of the list that your eyes start to open. Try to atleast double the number of blessings you were able to think of easily. Perhaps at the end you’ll be grasping at straws … “well, didn’t have a flat tire today, that’s a blessing”, “the line was short at the store and was in and out”, “made someone smile”.. so on and so forth, you get the idea.

**Repeat the process on a daily basis using the events of the day. Perhaps it was pausing to take notice of a sunset or sunrise. You noticed the stars which perhaps you have been too busy to notice lately. .. maybe the kids didn’t tear apart the house as bad as usual or you had an actual conversation with your spouse. Often it’s not until you sit down and think of all the good things that have happened today and put them all together that you realize how truly blessed you are. The abundance of goodness in your life with light up the darkness. (it is always darkest before the dawn, eh?)

This simple, quick little process is well worth the time investment and as with anything else practice makes perfect. After awhile the process becomes automatic where as every moment of your life is lived with gratitude. During the most traumatic of storms to weather the mind will still automatically look for the blessings that surround you. In such things is the personal power to part the storm clouds. Your eyes will be open to seeing the reasons for the seemingly negative events in our lives and be able to feel gratitude towards them.

As always a song to tie in with the theme of the post.. indeed Rush is an acquired taste but I think you'll enjoy.. Take Care & Always Be True To Yourself...Do Something Good Today... Everyday! Enjoy! (with all your senses, enjoy...)

Ok, Ok, that songs a bit to slow to start your Monday morning with... so here ya go... something to get your motor revving.. Enjoy!