At some point in my life I stumbled into the practice of counting my blessings before tucking myself into bed at night. I don't remember if my first experience doing this came at the end of a day that had been particularly pleasurable and so I wanted to recount the events, or if it was one of those deplorable, awful days when you just want to pull the covers over your head and make it all go away. Either way, I recall casually going over the day's events, looking for life's little pleasures. Without expectation, what ensued was a feeling which is normally experienced during precious rare times in life: the welcoming of a new soul at birth, hearing "he's going to make it", being granted unconditional forgiveness from someone you dearly love but have sorrowfully wounded. The emotion was so intense it was physical and spiritual. I knew I needed to make this experience a night time ritual.
Finding that which we can be thankful for comes easier with daily practice. Granted, there will be those days when there are more obvious treasures, but like playing Scrabble or doing crosswords, we get better with practice. We find that which we may have missed or overlooked with simple, casual or careless observation.
Practicing gratitude will ease us nicely into sleep and I believe it will bring about truly spiritual blessings. Research shows it to lower blood pressure, reduce stress, lower the risk of depression and other mood disorders, bulimia and alcoholism.
In this evenings gratitude ritual I know I shall include thankfulness and rich appreciation for the thoughtful feedback I have received for the writings on this blog and my website. You inspire me!
Until next time,
Dr. DyAnn
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