Remember this meme that was going around Facebook and various other places towards the end of December?
It is a Blessings Jar. The idea is to, every day, take a little slip of colored paper and write down a blessing that happened on that day. Then fold the little colored slip of paper and put it in the jar. Do this every day and the jar becomes full of colorful blessing notes as the year progresses. Then, on New Years Eve, as you ring out the old and ring in the new, you read all the little blessing notes and remind yourself that a lot of good stuff happened throughout that year.
I thought that was a great idea. Did you think so, too? Most likely you did.
Did you actually make a Blessings Jar and start putting little notes in it on January 1st? Yeah, I didn’t either.
But you know what? It doesn’t matter! YOU CAN START NOW! Or tomorrow! Or next week! Or whenever you want to.
You don’t even have to have a jar.
I find it’s easier for me to write down my blessings in my calendar/planner as they happen throughout the day than it is to carry around a jar and write on cute little pieces of paper, even though I LOVE how cute that jar is.
So, what I’m gonna do is jot down the good things that happen to me and the positive things I notice as often as I can in my planner. Hopefully every day. As soon as they happen, or as soon as I notice something positive, I’m gonna write it down. I have to do it right away because I won’t remember all the stuff that happened all day long.
The point of a Blessing Jar isn’t REALLY to have this cutesy little jar with hundreds of colored pieces of awesomeness in it at the end of the year. Although I think I’d like to have such a jar…
The point is to learn to notice your blessings more than the yucky stuff that happens every day.
The point is to remind yourself, as often as you need to, that good stuff happens too; the bad stuff just takes more of our attention most of the time.
The point is to train yourself to look for the good instead of the bad. Because you can learn to notice the good stuff. The bad will still be there, and it will find a way to grab your attention regardless. But you can train yourself to focus more on the good than the bad.
Since you have a choice in the matter, why WOULDN’T you focus on the positives? You’ll feel better, you’ll be a more pleasant person to be around, you’ll stop complaining and criticizing so much, and you’ll most likely live longer (or at least live healthier).
I keep a picture of the blessings jar with the colored paper because it is really crafty and cool and a good idea. It’s a “happy picture” for me.
But I write my blessings down in my planner because that’s what works for me.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
“Be thankful in all circumstances…” 1 Thessalonians 5:18:
Peripheral Wisdom 