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Day 24. Celebrating Beautiful Differences
People are beautiful in all their stark honesty. Some folks think that differences are bad. But all beautiful things in nature are one-of-a-kind. Think of snowflakes and fingerprints. No two are alike. The past few years have brought a lot of polarized thinking and dissent, particularly on social media. But are our differences from others real, or imagined? Perhaps we are all the same in our intrinsic goodness, but different in how that goodness manifests and is expressed. December brings a season to be grateful for people who are different from you. If we were all the same, we’d have nothing to learn from each other. Exercise: Celebrate People Who…
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Day 23. Happy About Your Life’s Work
Do you know what your life’s work is? Some people know exactly what they were born to do. But others never find out. Your life’s work doesn’t have to be a tremendous series of high achieving accomplishments. In fact, it could be something quite simple yet fulfilling because it’s what you know you’re good at. Your life’s work is your way of serving others and contributing to the world at large in your own small but significant way. Is your life’s work your profession? The thing that you graduated with a degree in? No, but it could be. If you love the work you do in your career and are…
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Day 22. Be Thankful for Friends Near and Far
There’s nothing quite like a good friend to bring a smile to your face and lighten your heart. Today we’re talking about the ways that friends enrich our lives and bring us joy. Friends are different from family because we actively choose to make them a part of our lives. Friends… Ones We Can Depend On* Today, spend some time reflecting on your relationships with friends. How often do you make time to be with friends? Are most of your friends on social media? Or do you also nurture friendships in the flesh and face to face? For many of us, Facebook is owed to the ease in which we…
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Day 21. Ode to the Bountiful Harvest
Here’s something to be grateful for at the end of another year – the bountiful harvest. If you always have food on your plate, plenty of choices in the fridge, and a full, satiated belly, don’t take it for granted. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 795 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, or one in nine, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016. It’s higher now with the pandemic! Hunger must surely have been a grave concern and possible fact of life for many of the early American settlers who expressed gratitude for their celebratory meal held with their Indian friends…
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Day 19. Honoring Your Mother and Father
On day 19 of the 30 Days Blessed Challenge, we’ll talk about honoring our parents. This can be a touchy subject for some. You may be spending your holiday without Mom or Dad, or both. If so, please feel free to skip this exercise if it’s too painful for you. Some people grew up without a mom or a dad. For them, maybe it’s a Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, or another stand-in parental figure who took on the job of raising them. In this rumination, you can spend time formulating good thoughts for the person or people who helped shape you. We’ll just call them Mom or Dad in this exercise,…
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Day 18. Grateful for Creature Comforts
For today’s 30 Days Blessed Exercise, we’ll be ruminating on creature comforts. That is, those things in life that we almost take for granted but yet they enhance our enjoyment greatly. If you’re too comfortable right now to participate in this activity, that’s okay. Come back to it when you’re in the mood. As stated before, gratitude cannot be faked. It’s your right and privilege to express yourself in your own way and in your own time. If you’re reading this, you probably live in a developed country. So, home heating and cooling, clean drinking water, indoor plumbing and cars that get us where we want to go are things…
