Instead of Sheep
Posted on 18. Feb, 2009 by Deb in A Little More Focused, On Writing, The Girl
If you are a lover of old movies, you may recall this from White Christmas….
If you’re worried and you can’t sleep
just count your blessings instead of sheep
and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings..
It’s good advice, even if it came from the mind of Irving Berlin and the lips of Bing Crosby. Over a year ago, I began making a shift to living a little more focused. I wrote about it at All Things Girl, when I created a vision board and the choosing of three little words to live by for the year. One of the things I blogged about was the fact that I had begun keeping a “gratitude journal”. The physical journal has gone by the wayside, but the concept is still one of those full present pieces in my life. The consciousness of being grateful.
Today, I played golf. We were on the 4th hole and I was waiting to take my second shot. It’s February, yet it was 77 degrees and there was a light wind. And I was outside enjoying the golf course in the sunshine. In my silence and waiting, I sent out a silent prayer of thankfulness for the glorious day that I was able to simply be a part of. And that is when it hit me. Being thankful for the blessings in my life has become part of my subconscious existence.
Last week, as is evidenced by my lack of writing, was one of those weeks. But each night, when I put my head on the pillow, I still do nightly prayers. They are not complex, but simple. I am simple in many ways and this is one of those ways. I pray for peace and forgiveness, and I pull out at least two things from my day that I am thankful for. Some days, finding two things in a particular day to be thankful for is a stretch, but those are the rare days. Most days, I am able to pull together a longer list to go through my head. They are fleeting, though, in that by not writing them down on paper, I am not able to look back and remind myself what was especially good about February 18th, for example.
Tonight, when I go to bed, my “sheep” will include:
- The beautiful weather and the ability to be a part of it…
- My improving golf game, including an 8-foot putt and a nice t-shot on the 7th hole…
- The ability to laugh at myself and still enjoy golf on the not so great shots…
- The sense of humor of my children…
- Inspirational and Creative People in my life…
- The lessons of learning patience and trust…
- The fact that my youngest is with me all week…
- That my oldest had a decent day and wasn’t cranky…
- That all my laundry is caught up…
- That I came home to a clean house and there are clean sheets on my bed…
And on that note, I do believe it is time to climb into bed, lay my head on my pillow, and get some sleep. I hope that in your life, you are able to find things to be grateful for from your day. Sweet Dreams.