Life is full of blessings

Life is full of blessings. Some are clearly blessings from the moment they show up. Some are hidden deep in the story of struggles or challenges we are facing or have faced in the past.

It’s much easier to recognize the blessings in the things that feel good to us. When I look back on my life, I realize that my greatest challenges have become some of my most treasured blessings. I for sure didn’t see them that way at first.

It has taken a lot of awareness and being open to a different perspective than I had when I was younger to accept the challenging people and stories in my life as blessings.

When I looked back at the stories in my life that were challenging, I began to accept that I was the common denominator in all the stories. I didn’t like that too much at first. Gradually I acknowledged that if I was in every situation that I had the power to change my part or my perspective in them. There was something that I needed to change the stories I was telling myself; it was forgiveness.

I needed to forgive so I could change my perspective and find the hidden blessings. Forgive others, yes; but mostly I needed to forgive myself. We have all done and said things we wished we hadn’t. We unknowingly at the time do or say things that hurt others, as a parent I did this a lot. I have had to forgive myself for a lot of things I would love to be able to change. Taking responsibility by making changes in myself is what I’ve learned to do. That way I can look at myself with compassion for not knowing what I was doing and do better now.

Carrying resentment, anger, bitterness, hate, or any other emotion that causes us pain is a heavy burden.

We give those emotions energy that we could be using for what we wanted to create in our lives. Forgiveness is the key. I didn’t say it was easy, just that it is necessary to unburden ourselves. That’s right, we do it for us, we forgive others and ourselves to release the pain we’re holding on to. Forgiveness does not erase the past. Forgiveness helps us to come to a place where we can look at the person or situation through the eyes of compassion instead of blame; ourselves included.

When we change the world changes.