The Power of Counting Your Blessings

 ‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done’- A hymn that I love!

Here I am with my parents!

This is exactly what I decided to do this Thanksgiving 2011 and with a flourish I started penning down the countless blessings I have been showered upon!

First and foremost, I thanked God for my life, my parents and my childhood.

I thanked God for my five younger siblings who have been a huge moral support and a lifeline for me all along!

With my 4 younger siblings

My beautiful grand mom-the sweetest, gentlest, soft spoken and the kindest of all grand moms- I love you so with all my heart!

My husband of 40 years and my in laws, especially my brother in law, who we lost a year back. It was wonderful knowing him.

I thanked God for blessing me with 3 beautiful children. The happiest days of my life belonged to the time when they were at home and I was the center of their lives!

I’m grateful for my beautiful home and garden, my computer and the game Farmville (my companions in my empty nest)!

The youngest spoilt brat!:)

Above all, I thanked God for health. Health is wealth indeed. What is wealth without health?Nothing!

As I was half way through writing out my blessings, I realized that I could hardly remember my troubles (of course, there are many!) and it dawned on me that the power of counting blessings is unmistakably real ! I was absolutely soaked in positive energy, positive emotions, vitality, and optimism. Counting my blessings and reliving happy memories made me happier, grateful and above all put a smile on  my face. It is indeed an effective mood booster! Maybe we should call ‘counting blessings’ a ‘gratitude exercise’? I am regretting for not doing  this ‘gratitude exercise’ more often! It would have done me a world of good by annulling my negative thoughts when I've been in dumps.

This gratitude exercise also made me to reflect how I had always reacted when I had been under the spell of either positive or negative thoughts. When in a positive frame of mind, I’d be bubblier, laugh out louder and my eyes would shine brighter. But then, when in a negative mindset, I don’t think I had ever been pleasant- always grumbling, moody, stressed out and whatever! Yes, this is an eye opener for ME !

Our positive thoughts do reflect in our body language and we attract more people around us with our warmth, friendliness and exuberance. To have a positive thinking mindset we  need to have positive thoughts constantly on our minds. It may not be easy but we can try and question ourselves frequently what we are thinking about? Is this thought positive or negative? Would it help us improve our lives or whether it is pointless? Over a period of time thinking positive will become a habit!

The following verses ‘season for everything’, from the Bible, Ecclesiastes,Chap3, have always been very powerful for me.

‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted….

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance…..

A time to get, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to cast away..
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;

 A time of war, and a time of peace.’

These verses have always been a perfect antidote for my negative thoughts and depression.When things go wrong, I always think that it is a season and I feel the positive energy flowing back into me. Yes, there is an appropriate time for everything. Surely rainbow will follow each rain!

 

Finally, I thanked God for showing me the power of counting blessings and to have a positive attitude and a positive mind set in whatever situation.  
Happy Thanksgiving 2011!  :)
 

My 3 babies-a son and 2 daughters

My beautiful grandmother-I dedicate this Thanksgiving 2011 to my grand mom

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