Are you counting your blessings or your problems?

If we really sit and think about it, what we tend to focus on more as humans, it’s our problems. We can find ourselves always complaining, woe as me, life sucks, when will it get better! The car broke down, the bills are late, the house needs repairs, my dog chewed the couch AGAIN! There is no end to what human problems are, from minor to major and everything in between. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the oh shits and lose our ability to focus on or care about the many blessings we have, when deeply thought about, our blessings will almost always outweigh the problems.

Life is going to happen, no matter what we do. We can’t stop bad things from happening. We tend to focus more on the negative because we are always searching for a fix, a way out and past a problem, and how we can prevent things from becoming a problem. I’m super guilty of that myself. I’ve stressed over things that are out of my control, no matter how much effort and thought I put into it. Sometimes to the point I have made myself and those around me miserable. However, when we can manage to focus primarily on the blessings and good things we have, and have had throughout our lives, it somehow starts to calm us. It starts to starve our negativity and feed our positivity.

Think back to how many times you have risen from life’s ashes. Bounced back after a huge setback. Achieved something you thought was impossible. We obsess about the smallest of problems so why not think about even the smallest of blessings. Blessings like; I have healthy beautiful children, I made it through high school and graduated when my parents didn’t, I planted a successful garden and was able to share food with neighbors and friends. I have a roof over my head, food on the table and clothes on my back. I saw a field of beautiful flowers that made me smile and most importantly, I have friends and family that love and care about me. Or even how about be thankful for waking up this morning to fight another day! If we let them, problems can always seem bigger than blessings. But I truly believe we will be given beauty for our ashes.

Think of all the times you thought your life was burning down around you and perceived there was nothing good about life and it all seemed to be laying on the floor in ashes at your feet. Then all of the sudden, after losing your job, you got a better one. You lost a good friend for whatever reason, and you met a new wonderful friend at your new job. Your car wouldn’t start, someone helped you with the repair you thought would break the bank, but it cost you nothing. An illness you battled turned around and now you feel better than you have in a long time. You went through a breakup then met the love of your life. These are all examples of beauty for ashes. I used to always tell myself this; “Everything is ok, even if it’s not ok, it will STILL be ok”. I have gotten off track remembering that but I am claiming it once again. Everytime I have focused on, told myself and believed everything will be ok, I have come out better than I was before. I was given beauty for my ashes.

My point is that all throughout life there will be moments and seasons where we feel hopeless and want to give up. Where we just need or want someone to come in and fix it all for us. But the longer we dwell on our problems, the bigger they get. The sooner we train our minds and hearts on the positive things in our lives, even the smallest ones, and we allow ourselves to dream of a better future, the sooner our circumstances start to change. When we put more positive out into the world, more positive is returned to us and things start working in our favor. I’m not saying expect things to change overnight, but as you start collecting your positive thinking blessings, things will start working for you instead of against you and you will see a shift towards a brighter tomorrow. Hang in there, Beauty for your ashes is coming!

Copyright @2026