Count your blessings

The one thing for which most of us are grateful in 2024 is that it’s almost over. Soon, we will flip the page on the calendar, leave this difficult year behind and start anew. Or so we like to tell ourselves.

The question then is how do we count our blessings while we also acknowledge that the current year, like every preceding year, had its share of disappointments and struggles?

For Clinical Professional Counselor Corinne Webster of Frederick, the answer is simpler than most people realize:

• Name friends/family who bring you joy and how they do that.

• Name events/things in your life that have been awe inspiring.

• Name one person who has betrayed you and how. Name their three good qualities. Decide to forgive them and let it go.

• Name kind acts you have witnessed. Which ones blessed you the most and why.

• Name what makes your temper flare. Decide to breathe, count to 10 and make a space before you react.

• For each decade of your life, name the best person, place, thing, animal and/or joy and tell why.

• Who do you miss the most? What do you miss about them?

• Who has been most influential in your life? How? Why?

• Who has been most memorable to you? Details!

• Name your most prized possessions and what makes them so (even if you do not have them anymore). Remember, we do not possess people.

• Name experiences you would like to re-live and why.

• Remember the kindness of a stranger or acquaintance. Tell the story, lift them in prayer and think of them with joy.

• Make a list of the happy moments this year. As many as you can! As fast as you can! Keep this close to your heart to review often and add more.

• On Thanksgiving Day (and repeat as needed) think of everyone, known or unknown, who has worked hard to keep this country moving and on its feet.

Be grateful for everyone.