Latest / Your Enriched Self / 90. Count Your Blessings

Transcript

90. Count Your Blessings · Your Enriched Self

0:00
So which strategy do you think helps to win games? There are those who
0:05
lean on the side of the offense and others who lean on the side of
0:11
defense. And if you look through NFL history and statistics, you might see
0:18
and hear that defense often wins games. But I would argue that the offense
0:26
is what helps to create and maintain the momentum that you need, not just
0:32
in the sport, but in this game of life. And there is a
0:37
book called The Game of Life and How to Play It, And there's a
0:40
couple of quotes from that book that I think work really well with this idea
0:45
of offense and defense. One such quote and our paraphrase is you must prepare
0:52
for what you ask for, even when there isn't the slightest sign of it
0:58
in sight. Another quote from that book is you can only receive what you
1:06
see yourself receiving. I think those are really important as you think about what
1:14
strategy you need to take into your day, your week, your month,
1:21
your year, your life. Hello, my friends from all across the globe,
1:37
and welcome to the Your in Rich Self Podcast. I am your host,
1:41
Smiley Near. I am a mindset coach and your mindset advocate. And
1:46
what that means in your world. I'm sure there are so many things mounting,
1:52
so many things that require your attention. I say this because I have
1:56
this in my world too, so I get it. I see you,
2:00
we see each other, and in the world that we live in, it
2:04
is always there are always things busy and buzzing and moving in your life.
2:10
And so each week I create this safe space, this warm embrace, this
2:15
great space for you to become more of your in rid self. And we
2:19
do so by exploring a plethora of mindset fusion topics, self care topics,
2:25
soul care topics, and all of the things that help you show up as
2:30
your best self in this world. Your job, each and every day is
2:35
to become the best version of who you are intended to be while you are
2:40
here on this earth, taking up the time and the space in the place
2:46
that you are in right now. And I'm here to help you get there.
2:50
And so on this podcast, we walk it out, we talk it
2:52
out, we do all the things that we need to get to that destination,
2:55
which is becoming the best version of you. If you are new to
3:00
this podcast, I want to welcome you and thank you for joining us this
3:05
week. I hope that you find that this is truly your safe space and
3:08
come back for more. And if you are a repeat listener, listen.
3:14
We are at episode ninety. That's right, ninety episodes, ninety weeks and
3:20
you have tuned in, tapped in, turned on this podcast and I'm so
3:24
grateful for you. Please continue to share this podcast with your friends and family,
3:30
and let's keep building a legacy of your in rid self. And if
3:35
you know, you know that each week what I do is I make a
3:39
deposit in the bank of you, and I do so by way of affirmations.
3:46
Affirmations are a great way to start your day and command your morning.
3:53
And this week's affirmation is I am grateful for my beautiful life that's filled with
4:02
many blessings. I am grateful for my beautiful life that's filled with many blessings.
4:11
I am grateful for my beautiful life that's filled with many blessings. Now
4:18
let's get ready for this week's episode of the Your Enriched Self Podcast. I
4:29
don't know about you, but this time of year, especially for me a
4:34
senior mom. Yes, I have a senior in high school, so this
4:39
is a very busy season and there are so many things that need to be
4:43
done. And as much as I would like to outsource a lot of these
4:46
things, several of these things are my responsibility and things that I need to
4:50
do. And as I'm looking across at all the things I'm writing down that
4:55
need to be done, I recognize that in life, as I'm sure you
5:00
have, there are many lists of things that we have to create. And
5:03
we create these lists because we want to dampen the anxiety, and that's something
5:10
I want to do right now. I want to lower the anxiety because there
5:15
are mounting dates and schedules and timelines that I have to manage and maintain.
5:23
Your lists also help you get structure to what it is that you're doing from
5:28
day to day. It helps you manage your time in that task. And
5:31
ultimately, one of my favorite thing about lists I remember doing this as a
5:35
trainer is walking my training class through all of the activities that we have planned
5:42
for the day in my agenda, and as we completed each activity, I
5:47
can cross off the things on that list, So it gives us a mental
5:55
charge and a momentum that we had complete work and that we were moving ahead
6:01
and moving forward. That's a great feeling and it's great to take a group
6:05
of people along that way with you. But I know if you are out
6:11
there listening, I know that you have a list of things that you need
6:15
to do, along with many other things that you're managing in your life.
6:19
And when you think about it in life, I don't know if you have,
6:23
but we are managing all kinds of lists, whether it be a bucket
6:28
list, right, that's the fun things that we want to make sure we
6:30
do. Maybe there is a places to eat list I know, or have
6:35
a place a list like that. I'm sure you do too, so let
6:39
it not just be me. Okay, you have an appointment list, especially
6:44
if you have children, you're managing all their well care appointments. You might
6:48
be traveling coming up soon, and so you have a travel list because you
6:53
don't want to forget the things that you need on that trip. It can
6:56
be pricey out there when you have to go pick it up on a win.
7:00
Of course, you have your grossery lists and all the things and many
7:03
many lists that you have, and then talk about the many ways to capture
7:08
the lists. I use my phone. I don't know what you use to
7:12
maintain your list, but there's so many different things. I have a friend
7:15
that is a planner extraordinary, I mean down to stickers and all these different
7:21
frilly, beautiful things, and her planner is absolutely gorgeous. And so she
7:28
was using a manual tracker, manual planner and recently updated to an online planner,
7:35
right so she can manage it from her iPad. There's so many different
7:40
ways to track all these lists and all these activities and all these things that
7:45
we're doing so that we can dampen the anxiety, right and maintain all the
7:50
things that are part of the structure of our day and our lives. But
7:56
if we take a minute to pause, because it's a lot to take it
8:00
in, it seems that at every direction there is a list for us to
8:07
manage. And there's so many lists that we talked about that I'm sure you're
8:11
thinking about that you also have to manage. But today I want you to
8:22
put your attention on a list that you probably haven't looked at, You probably
8:28
haven't thought about it, completed said list, maybe not in some time,
8:33
or maybe not ever reminded yourself through this list, and that is your list
8:41
of blessings. When was the last time you counted your blessings? There was
8:50
a song in church when I was growing up, and it sang about us
8:54
counting our blessings, naming them one by one, count your many blessings to
9:01
see what God has done. Are you counting your blessings? I wanted to
9:09
make time on this episode on purpose to remind you to count your blessings.
9:16
We need to make moments and take moments in our life of gratitude, but
9:22
we often miss the opportunity to find the areas in our life where we've been
9:28
blessed. And there's so many of those things, so many blessings that you
9:35
have received that you haven't accounted for. And I bet you if you started
9:41
a list right after this episode, or anytime after listening to this episode,
9:48
that your list of blessings would be ongoing and growing and growing and growing.
10:00
Fortunately, it is the list that we often neglect. We count all the
10:03
things in life, don't we. I'm counting my steps on my tracker.
10:09
I am counting the pounds on the scale, and I recently stepped on that
10:13
scale and I wasn't really liking them pounds too much. We're counting our money,
10:18
checking your bank account, pulling off that app to see how much funds
10:24
you have so you can have some fun out there in these streets, But
10:28
when are you taking time to count your blessings? So we're gonna make time
10:33
to acknowledge those blessings, although we're not going to count them on this episode.
10:39
I'm going to challenge you, as I do each and every week,
10:41
to count your blessings. You know how you can do that. Go ahead
10:46
and give yourself a five minute timer. You can even start with a one
10:50
minute timer and just write down everything that you have been blessed with in this
10:56
last few months. We are four months into the year, and I'm sure
11:03
there are things you are blessed to have happened to you in this life.
11:07
And oftentimes I think we miss the opportunity to see the blessing because we are
11:13
looking for a gift. We are looking for a plus one or a plus
11:18
twenty or whatever it is that we are told the more you get, the
11:22
more you count. Sometimes the blessing comes from a redirection, meaning an opportunity
11:31
that did not materialize that could have been a blessing, but we don't want
11:35
to count that because it's not a plus twenty or a plus two. In
11:39
on the debit side, but I want you to think about the things you
11:43
were blessed to learn. Oftentimes we look for tangible blessings. We want to
11:48
look for things that are physical. I bought a car. I was able
11:52
to be blessed with this bonus money. What did you learn in four months?
11:58
You have learned some new lessons. These are your blessings. I want
12:03
you to rethink, possible about how you see your blessings. Think about the
12:09
people you have around you. I lost a family member this year, So
12:16
to know that I have certain people in my life still despite their challenges,
12:22
their financial, mental, physical health, that they're still here, I am
12:28
blessed to have them. Are we thinking about it that way? The fact
12:33
that my family is around me, that is enough. That is enough to
12:39
count as a blessing. Just the other night, my family and I we
12:43
had a chance to do something we haven't done in a long time, and
12:48
we look forward to it. And it's just sitting around a fire pit in
12:52
the backyard and just enjoying each other's company, talking throughout the night, listening
13:00
to the coyotes. How yeah, I live out there in the wilderness,
13:03
so every once and again we'll hear some interesting night creatures out there, but
13:11
we don't want to count those things because those aren't social media worthy moments,
13:16
right, they don't look glamorous. We don't count the blessings because they don't
13:20
look big enough for what the world wants to see. I want to challenge
13:22
you to count the blessings for what they are and what they're worth, and
13:26
how they add value to your life. That is what a blessing is.
13:31
It's adding value to your life. And as we are thinking about your blessings
13:37
and counting them and thinking about and rethinking how to do so, and how
13:41
to be a little bit more gracious about what you have in front of you.
13:48
For some of you, the life you're living now, although it doesn't
13:50
look as glamorous as you want it to be, as not as fairytale or
13:56
social media worthy to talk about and brag about. You prayed about it,
14:01
You pray to be in a position that you're now in, and you're not
14:03
even recognizing it as your blessing. You're so busy looking for how it can
14:09
be bigger, better, stronger, and how it can give the optics to
14:15
the world around you. And so I want to talk to you about the
14:22
habits of people who are blessed the way they act and what they look at
14:28
in life. For one, if you're counting your blessings, you got a
14:35
journal. And if you got a journal, you're writing those things down.
14:37
So that's one of the habits is start to capture, document your blessings,
14:45
count your blessings, write it down in your journal. Another habit of people
14:52
who can see their blessings and acknowledge is that they volunteer. You know why,
14:58
because you see that you have been blessed and you want to be a
15:03
blessing to someone else. That's how we keep this thing going. That's how
15:07
we keep this thing growing, this thing called blessings, because each one reach
15:13
one, and that's what you're doing as a volunteer. Another habit is to
15:20
appreciate the little things, the little things that are often overlooked as truly a
15:28
blessing. Getting up in the morning and having breath in your lungs, you
15:35
are blessed. Somebody did not make it to get that breath of life.
15:43
There is a gospel artist that I was watching an unsung or one of those
15:48
behind the scenes, behind the music type documentaries about him. He had lost
15:56
his wife to cancer and at the time, he had three young children,
16:00
so imagine this guy two daughters and a son. He is a renowned gospel
16:07
artist. When he went back into the studio, which is where he was
16:11
able to pour all that pain out into multiple platinum hits, he had a
16:18
few lyrics that fit right into this conversation about recognizing your blessing even in moments
16:26
of pain, and one of the lyrics talk about even when I cry,
16:33
I can recognize that through that cry, I'm still alive. With his loss,
16:40
he was able to birth lyrics that say I got storms, but I'm
16:45
still alive. I'm crying, but that shows that I still can feel,
16:49
and if I'm feeling, I'm still here. He saw that as a blessing,
16:56
and so many of us we would never think or believe that inside of
17:02
that pain, we are still blessed because he was blessed to be here,
17:06
to be here for his kids, with his kids, to raise his kids,
17:10
and that is a blessing that they still have a parent. Maybe not
17:15
both, but they have a parent. So he was able to take that
17:18
and turn that into something beautiful, something that resonates, something that lives on
17:27
all because he was able to recognize and appreciate the little thing. There were
17:34
signs that he was still alife. And finally, when you are a person
17:45
that can recognize your blessings, you can also recognize that not everything in life
17:52
is a bed of roses. They're going to be thorns, they're going to
17:59
be scarred, They're going to be pains along with the joys, along with
18:04
the accolades, along with the success. It comes with everything. And if
18:10
you can recognize that, you can look within all of that, just like
18:14
this gospel artist, and you can find that there's still a blessing within all
18:18
of that. And so I just want you to understand that you get to
18:26
choose each and every day. You get to choose how you experience your life.
18:34
And for some of you, that's going to mean how you speak about
18:37
your life. Getting into a habit of acknowledging that you are blessed and you
18:44
are living a blessed life may also look like this, spending less time talking
18:52
about your problems and spending more time talking about your blessings. I hope you
19:02
enjoyed this week's episode of the Your and rid Self podcast. And the only
19:07
way I'm gonna know this is if you leave some feedback. Listen feedback as
19:11
a gift. It's free to give. I am accepting free gifts all of
19:15
twenty twenty three. So all you need to do is leave a rating the
19:21
very platform that you listen to this podcast, Follow the Stars. There's stars
19:26
everywhere today, from shopping to dining, while there are stars in these podcast
19:30
streets, So follow the stars. Leave a five star rating or whatever rating
19:36
you see that's appropriate based on what value this podcast has added into your life
19:41
made deposits into your bank. I also want you to share this podcast with
19:47
your friends and family. If you know that this podcast, this episode can
19:52
add value, go ahead and share this right in the podcast streets so you
19:56
can hit the share button and send it to your people. You can also
20:00
share this in the social streets. Let people know what you're listening to,
20:03
what's inspiring you. You never know who you're going to reach by sending and
20:08
sharing what you have and how it has inspired you. I also want to
20:14
encourage you. I also want to encourage you to go and check out the
20:18
show notes. I leave a lot of good information in there along with the
20:22
affirmation of the week and ways that you can contact me. Finally, I
20:27
want you to take what you can from this episode and do what you wants
20:33
in the next one hundred and sixty eight hours to become more of your afforage
20:41
until we meet again.