Count Your Blessings

Every once in a while it is a good idea to take stock of where we stand in life. Where we want to go, and perhaps most importantly, what we are focussing on. The situation we are living in on a global scale makes this an excellent time to do so.

I think I can safely say that for pretty much all of us this year is unfolding differently than we had envisioned at its start. We may have had ambitious New Year’s resolutions, only to find that we are held back from reaching them because of what is happening in the world — or at least we need to go about it in a totally different way…

Arguably, the most important question we are faced with as a result is where — or what — we are focusing on.

Are we continuing to focus on the things that are not possible, the things we cannot do, or the goals that we cannot accomplish?

Or do we shift our focus to all the things that we have in our lives that are good? Making the most of each day as it happens, and using the “extra” time for reflection? Taking better care of ourselves, and becoming more aware of what we truly need in life?

As long as we are putting our focus on what we cannot do / accomplish / make happen, chances are we will find ourselves in a situation where our world gets smaller and smaller, where we are getting more and more unhappy — even depressed.

On the other hand, if we purposely look for the good in this difficult situation that awe are finding ourselves in, we may find that new and innovative ways to cope with it are opening up for us. And perhaps we even find that our path takes a slightly different direction, which, when we truly look at it with an open mind, becomes so much more fulfilling than we ever thought it could be.

When we count our blessings and are open to the new ways the Universe provides for us, little — and sometimes not so little — miracles tend to happen. When you decide to start traveling in mind, making journeys in your imagination, suddenly that trip abroad may be possible after all. Or when you decide to at home, you may find the weather opens up providing for you the perfect environment for a wonderful vacation.

In other words, at the very least our perception of our lives gets better when we start counting our blessings. Yet with an open mind, we may find that our lives actually do get better when we — purposefully — start counting our blessings…