"Count Your Blessings"

By


 Hello!

One of my favorite holiday movies' is White Christmas  with Bing Crosby. Mostly, this is thanks to my mom. Her father loved Bing Crosby so she carried that love over and shared it with me. 
There are a lot of songs in that movie, but one of them has stuck with me. Or rather the refrain has:

"When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings"

Too often, I worry. It's a human thing. We all do it. But when I worry, I tend to tunnel inward. To bury myself. If it's strong enough, the worry turns into anxiety and if it's very bad, it turns into a full-blown panic attack.

 You see, if I worry, then I'm looking at myself to fix my problems, which I can't. When my focus isn't on God and is on myself, I spiral, and all I can think about are my misfortunes. Things look worse than they probably are. 

Instead of worrying, something that I can do is to count my blessings. To list things that I am thankful for. It balances my fears and anxieties out and shows me that not everything around me is terrible. There are good things too. 

And that's what we want when we're worried. Right? To know know that everything is alright. To feel safe. Maybe what we need to is a mind shift. To look at our blessings instead of the terrible things that could happen or even are happening. Not to be naive, but to balance things out. 

I'm going to pull another quote out. This time from The Lord of the Rings, but I feel that it's appropriate. A reminder to me, and perhaps to you, that even when things seem dark, there is still good if you look for it.

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
-The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

Even in our darkest times, there is still reasons to give thanks. They may be buried so deep that you cannot be sure they are there, but they are. During those times, you may need a friend to help you unearth those memories, but they are there and they are worth remembering.

Count your blessings. They deserve to be remembered more than your anxieties.

Until next time...

Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NaNoWriMo Know Your Novel Introduction

By
Image
This is my first time joining the wonderful  Christine Smith  and a bunch of other wonderful writers in her three-month Know the Novel link-up for writers in these final months of the year. I'm completely nervous, having never done anything like this before, but also very excited.  October's theme is  Introduction  which is the post featured today.  Earlier this month I announced that for the months of October and November I would be switching projects from Harbinger  to Tear   in honor of NaNoWriMo, using this month to prepare. So without further ado, let me introduce you to my novel. KNOW THE NOVEL: PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Q 1. What first sparked the idea for this novel? A 1. Well, most of my novel ideas, (no pun intended), come from questions. I had this question pop into my head, "Where does Writer's Block come from?" This story was born out of the quirky answer that I came up with. Q 2. Share a blurb! A 2. I warn you this is an ...
Read more

NaNoWriMo Know the Novel: Introduction

By
Image
I can't believe it's already this time of the year again. Last year I joined Christine Smith   in her three-month Know the Novel link-up. This link-up starts the month before NaNoWriMo and goes through December. If you've been following this blog for more than a year, you'll recognize this series from last year. If you just started following me or are visiting this blog: Welcome! I'm so glad you're here. This month's theme is Introduction  and sets up the groundwork for what I'm doing today.  I've mentioned Harbinger  before. It's a WIP I've been working on for almost six years now. Over the summer I've decided to split it in three books, so now it's the Harbinger Trilogy. The working title for book one is called Sirens of Fate,  and it's this book I will work on for NaNoWriMo. I'm rebelling NaNo, meaning instead of doing this writing challenge traditionally and starting a book from scratch on November 1st, I'm using the c...
Read more

NaNoWriMo: Know the Novel Link-Up: Introduction

By
Image
  *Happy squeak!* I am so excited to be joining  Christine Smith  in her Know the Novel link-up for writers in this festive season of the year. What festive season, you may ask? Why, NaNoWriMo season, of course! *Flings glitter.* Many years ago, I did my first NaNo and started my wild ride or writing and an intense commitment to the craft that has lasted until this very day. (Hopefully it doesn't end here. That would be tragic, and while I do love a good tragedy, I would like for my life not to be tragic. Thank you very much.) *Pull self out of hole she fell in.* Ahem.... Where were we? Oh yes. The link-up. Moving forward. October is the month where we introduce our NaNoWriMo projects to the world, so in the spirit of that, here is my introduction post. KNOW THE NOVEL PART ONE: INTRODUCTION: Introducing: Drop , book #2 of my Drops of Inspira trilogy. Q 1: What first sparked the idea for this novel? A: I actually featured the first book for this link-up series a few years...
Read more