Want to cheer yourself up? Find energy on even the darkest days? Count your blessings! Enumerate all the things you have to be thankful for, all the people you have to be grateful for.

Think your life is the pits? Don’t think you have any blessings to count? I understand. Believe it or not, I’ve been there, too. BUT, there is a solution. No matter what calamities have befallen you, you still have something to be grateful for. To start, you are alive to read this, right? You either have eyesight to read it or hearing to have it read to you. There, you have something to be thankful for!

Seriously, if you are ever so down in the dumps that you think you have no blessings to count, start thinking of all the things you still have that you don’t want to give up. You are alive, you still live in the land of the free, you know how to read (hey, some don’t!), you still have a friend or two or the ability to make friends. The list quickly grows and with it your attitude of gratitude.

Want to be happy? Want to boost your mood? Start by putting a smile on your face. Emotions often follow actions and if nothing else, you get some smiles back. Try reaching back and reliving memories of happy times. I keep a memory bank of favorite golden oldies to remind me of the goodness of life and people.

It is all about appreciation. What you focus on expands. People tend to gravitate to happy people. Not plastic, fake happy but deep, attitude-of-gratitude people who have a bountiful wellspring of appreciation, enthusiasm, and smiles galore to share. Smile and the whole world smiles with you.

It is a wonderful virtuous upward cycle. I assure you it is true. The more energy you put into counting and appreciating your blessings, the more you will have to count.

Closing Quotes:

“The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.”

“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”  — Oscar Wilde; 1854–1900, Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, and critic

“A good memory is one that can remember the day’s blessings and forget the day’s troubles.”