How counting your blessings can change your life

How many days in your life have you woken up to thoughts like, “I just want to stay in bed”, “Ugh…I don’t want to go to work today”, “This day is going to be soooo stressful!” or any variety of not so great thoughts? Yep…me too. For years I started my days this way, far more often than I’d like to admit.

It never occurred to me that starting my day off with these types of thoughts was affecting me…in a big way. It was simply how I felt in the moment. The thoughts seemed true, so I went ahead and thought them. Day after day. Year after year. Down a pretty dark spiral, on many of those days.

There was so much in my life I was grateful for…I just didn’t spend a whole lot of time focusing on those things. I focused on the things I wanted to be different…the things that were hard…the things that I thought were making me unhappy.

And then, something changed. I started to practice gratitude. Instead of just letting it show up now and then, I consciously made it a part of my life. Every day.

I decided to try starting every morning off by thinking about 3 things that I was grateful for. The plan was to do this for a least a month…coming up with three new things every day, no repeats.

Every day I chose to wake up and think about those three things I was grateful for and really allow myself to feel how much joy and beauty they brought in to my life. Instead of my old grumpy gray thoughts, the thoughts I started my days off with turned into thoughts about what an incredible blessing my daughter is in my life; what an amazing and loving family I have; how incredible it is to wake up to soft, mushy, purring beings of pure love; the very fortunate blessing of having shelter, food, air to breathe; running water (this is crazy cool when you really think about it!); birds; trees; the sun; the moon; the sound of wind in the trees….I could list things all day long with joyful ease! It’s amazing how much there is to be grateful for!!

The energy behind these thoughts of gratitude is so bright and soul filling. It so completely changes the energy that I carry with me as I go into my day. Deep gratitude doesn’t leave a lot of room for useless doldrums.

I’ve learned that any time I’m feeling darkness creeping in, I can stop and think about something that I’m grateful for. Whatever it is that I was worried about or stressing over feels much smaller in comparison. It’s truly magic. Gratitude is such a powerful prayer.

I strongly encourage you to try incorporating this practice into your life. Start each day by giving thanks for 3 things you’re grateful for. Feel it. Let yourself sink into it. Do this every day…not just for 30 days (thought that’s a great place to start…) but for always! Recognizing and experiencing gratitude for all of our blessings…every single day…is simply life changing.

May you be richly blessed, my friends.

I am deeply passionate about helping women to live full, inspired, purposeful lives. I’ll work with you to transform the self-doubt, fears, old stories and limiting beliefs that are holding you back from living your most full life, and will help you to create a strategy to change it all up and live the life you’ve been dreaming of! (And hey…men…don’t worry! I’m happy to work with you, too!)

Contact me for a complimentary 1 hour coaching session! (It’s super fun!!)

Complimentary Session with Sarah