Counting My Blessings
When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” —Willie Nelson
I am reading a new book which I am currently loving so much that I want to share some of what I am learning with you. It is a book about gratitude and thinking that we use this word so much these days I love the simplicity of the exercises and how fun they are too.
One of my favourites is Counting my Blessings. Gratituding as I call it has been a part of my morning routine for over a decade now and so I have tried so many ways of doing this practice. Practices like the Gratitude Jar, The Feel Good Box, Gratitude notes and Gratitude symbols and not forgetting journaling are among those I have dabbled in so far. For me it’s not just the act of saying thank you or writing in a journal it is the thought behind finding things to be grateful for even in challenging times.
This exercise of counting my blessings is one that takes you to the basics but also really powerful to help you dig deep for things to be grateful for. The exercise is listing 10 things you are grateful for every day and it’s not supposed to be only the big things but the little things or even the things we might see as mundane. As I write 10 things I am grateful for - my blessings every morning there are 3 things I always have on this list because I am eternally grateful for these and then I add on to them. The exercise calls for also adding why you are grateful for so I have been doing this together with my usual gratituding. For today these are some but not all the blessings I counted and if you are thinking where to start read on for some inspiration.
I am truly blessed and grateful for the gift of life and the gift of today because I am here and I still get to work on the things I want.
I am truly blessed and grateful for the gift of family and relationships because these people are my support system and they keep me sane.
I am truly blessed and grateful for my health because I get to enjoy the day and everything I am doing without thinking of an ache or discomfort
I am truly blessed and grateful for the beautiful weather today as the sun is out and I can hear the birds sing or go out for a nice refreshing walk.
I am truly blessed and grateful for the electricity in my house because it does help power my appliances that keep my food fresh, light up a dark room among other things.
I am truly blessed and grateful for my job because this affords me the opportunity to develop myself and also provides the security for my upkeep.
I am truly blessed and grateful for my car because it helps me to get from one place to the other when I want and not be reliant on any other means.
I am truly blessed and grateful for the skills I have because I am able to use them in my job, work and other aspects of my life.
I am truly blessed and grateful for poor service from the lady at the till today because without overreacting to her made me realise how much I have grown as a person in relation to others.
I am truly blessed and grateful for you reading this because without you writing these will be pointless so thank you.
Here we are 10 things that I looked for to be grateful for and as simple as some are I am still very grateful and count myself blessed to have experienced and be experiencing them. Now let me ask you to stop everything now and count 3 blessings that immediately come to mind and say THANK YOU for as the quote above goes, when I started counting my blessing my whole life changed.