What Do You Count As a Blessing?

I thought before the season of holidays, and the busyness of the upcoming month approaches, that I would take a minute to say thank you. If you are reading this, our paths have crossed.

Perhaps you ordered a bracelet with us, purchased a shirt or other jewelry item, or we have met at an event. You may find it hard to believe, as I often do, how a simple gift has multiplied from a few friends to almost a million. And no matter how our paths have crossed, I count you as a blessing.

What has become so very clear for me to see is how every thought and action does, in fact, affect the world as a whole. Even if what you do does not travel further than the kitchen table, and even if your words and actions affect no more than a cat, it has no less of an impact. We are creating the world we live in. One can only hope it is a world that considers all we have to be grateful for.

The reason for my email today is to give you something to think about with me as we approach the holidays and, really, beyond. It is something that keeps coming back to me in various way, and I feel that means it needs to be put out there for others to take time to consider as well.

It is not what we have, but who we truly are that counts

As I was driving home this evening I passed the house of a woman who wears a blessing bracelet daily. This woman was given the bracelet several years ago, and I have never seen her without it. I know her, although I admit not well. What makes this so profound? The woman suffered a very tragic loss three years ago, the death of a 7-year-old child. A tragedy most of us would have a hard time reconciling. The truth is, she lost her child, and her husband the same day. Her husband went to jail for the rest of his life. I will not go into more detail because it really does not matter at this time. What did seem important was seeing her face, and hearing my own thought, “I wonder what she counts as blessings?”

Honestly, that was my thought. Is it hard for her to find something to be grateful for? Then I remembered, as I often do, my greatest blessings and what they are.
The things that have given me the greatest gifts in my life are the challenges that I have survived. They have taught me the most, and given me the greatest gift of all: Me, as I am, now.

This is such an important realization that giving it words does not even begin to do it justice. The truth of this statement can be glanced over, so I thought I would explain a bit more.

”The blessings in life are not what we have; the blessing is who we are.”

Let me explain from my own life. Every single tragedy I have survived, from the loss of my parents, living with alcoholism, a divorce, an eating disorder, and even my own struggle to find purpose and passion in this world, has become my biggest blessings.

It is not my car or house, the size of my bank account, or even the vacations I have taken that have added up to making me the person I am. It is actually the empathy and understanding I have developed from looking within myself, the wisdom that I have gained from my most challenging life situations, and seeing just how amazing it is to have such a “rich” life filled with both the happy and sad that makes me a whole and complete person. That is what allows me to say, “I am blessed.”

What does my neighbor count? I don’t know. Part of me wishes I did. Maybe I will know her well enough to ask one day. I would like to think she is like me, aware that just because the world does not see our blessings does not mean we are un-blessed. In fact, quite the opposite could be true. We might be very blessed, as you might be, too. It is all a perspective that we should pass along. It is not what you have to impress others that makes you blessed. It is what life has given you, and the perspective you have gained, that truly counts as your blessings.

My hope for all of us is to have the time to honestly seek and know our greatest blessings and to celebrate them with friends and family; to remember that “who we are” does matter, even if no one else knows what our blessings truly are.

Much love and light,
Dawn