{"id":198,"date":"2008-08-22T14:07:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T14:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html"},"modified":"2008-08-22T14:07:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-22T14:07:00","slug":"finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Finding Blessings on a Bad Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s1600-h\/DSC_0721_p.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;float: left;cursor: pointer\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s320\/DSC_0721_p.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>The last 2 weeks have been stressful, with my internet service down on several days and my computer in the shop for 9 days. I also had the edits for both my new books given to me on the same day last week and undoing some of the editor\u2019s damage for one of them increased my agita. My deadline for it was yesterday. I worked long days on it and did little else. Right after I finished it last night, my computer went off for no reason. Grrr\u2026. I was at the Apple store for hours and must bring it in tonight to leave it for at least a day as they replace another part. It&#8217;s still shutting off randomly still so my nerves are shot as I work and save every few words. That\u2019s why I haven\u2019t posted on this blog all week.<\/p>\n<p>Because of all of the above, I felt out of line with my flow. <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Life didn\u2019t seem so good\u2014until I posted at least one blessing each day <\/span>on my <a href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/consciousgratitude\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Conscious Gratitude<\/span><\/a> list on Yahoo.<\/p>\n<p>Each day as I was frustrated by a tech problem or editor, <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">I looked for blessings and found them.<\/span> Posting them made me feel blessed, despite the glitches going on. It kept my spirits up. I began my <a href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/consciousgratitude\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Conscious Gratitude<\/span><\/a> list last year. Anyone can join and post their blessings. I read everyone else\u2019s and it revs me, also reminding me of things I might not have thought to feel gratitude about. <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Small things that are a blessing to someone else remind me that I have that blessing too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Finding your blessings when things are going right is easy and fun. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>   * I got a raise\u2014Yeah!<br \/>   * My romantic partner did something special for me\u2014Yummy!<br \/>   * The weather is glorious and I have time off\u2014Fun!<\/p>\n<p>And so on. It truly is good to count those blessings and show appreciation for what you have. As I\u2019ve said in other posts, <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">expressing gratitude attracts more things to be grateful for<\/span>, and it feels good.  So enjoy the days when blessings are easy to count.<\/p>\n<p>The trouble is, we often neglect counting our blessings when they\u2019re not obvious. Finding them when things aren\u2019t going right can seem impossible, especially if you focus on the negatives. But that\u2019s when you need to find them the most! <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">When things aren&#8217;t going so well, finding blessings can pick up your mood. <\/span>  <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">There\u2019s always a blessing if you look! Often many if you don\u2019t stop looking. So look!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve gone hiking high in mountains with little growing. It\u2019s windy and dry. But every once in a while, there\u2019s a little flowering plant in the midst of flat dry ground. Now that\u2019s a blessing to appreciate! <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Often you need to stop and think about what you have to be grateful for or find the blessing in a situation that doesn\u2019t seem like one. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>   * You may feel overworked but someone smiled at you.<br \/>   * It may be a freezing cold day, but that burns more calories!<br \/>   * You learned a valuable lesson from making a bad mistake.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">There\u2019s always a blessing in the darkness if you grope around for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This week I found my blessings, despite my frustration about working without my laptop and a days without emails. I had the blessing of being able to borrow a laptop to work on. And the blessing of getting more work done without emails. <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">I might not have thought of them had I not consciously looked for blessings to post.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s part of why I love my <a href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/consciousgratitude\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Conscious Gratitude<\/span><\/a> list. Being able to post blessings every day keeps me more conscious of the ones I have. My desire to post forces me to look for them, which is a blessing in itself! It really helps to keep me positive when circumstances may not seem that way. I also like getting ideas from what others post and read every one because of it. <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Often I see what someone else considers a blessing and think \u201cI have that too!\u201d So my list can also serve as a consciousness-raising. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to join the list and experience a consciousness-raising for your own blessings, please join. It\u2019s free, there\u2019s no obligation to post, and nobody comments on what you write. You can read more about it at <a href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/consciousgratitude\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Conscious Gratitude<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed my post, please leave a comment and\/or click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon and Digg. Thanks!<br \/><!-- AddThis Bookmark Button BEGIN --><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.addthis.com\/bookmark.php\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s9.addthis.com\/button1-bm.gif\" alt=\"AddThis Social Bookmark Button\" border=\"0\" height=\"16\" width=\"125\" \/><\/a> var addthis_pub = &#8216;wryter&#8217;;<br \/><!-- AddThis Bookmark Button END --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last 2 weeks have been stressful, with my internet service down on several days and my computer in the shop for 9 days. I also had the edits for both my new books given to me on the same day last week and undoing some of the editor\u2019s damage for one of them increased&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nice-people-can-finish-first"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Finding Blessings on a Bad Day - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Blessings on a Bad Day - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The last 2 weeks have been stressful, with my internet service down on several days and my computer in the shop for 9 days. I also had the edits for both my new books given to me on the same day last week and undoing some of the editor\u2019s damage for one of them increased&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-22T14:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s320\/DSC_0721_p.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daylle Deanna Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finding Blessings on a Bad Day - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finding Blessings on a Bad Day - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","og_description":"The last 2 weeks have been stressful, with my internet service down on several days and my computer in the shop for 9 days. I also had the edits for both my new books given to me on the same day last week and undoing some of the editor\u2019s damage for one of them increased&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html","og_site_name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","article_published_time":"2008-08-22T14:07:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s320\/DSC_0721_p.jpg"}],"author":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html","name":"Finding Blessings on a Bad Day - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s320\/DSC_0721_p.jpg","datePublished":"2008-08-22T14:07:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-08-22T14:07:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s320\/DSC_0721_p.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/SK8DV0CHaUI\/AAAAAAAAAak\/I5rNx92jKtM\/s320\/DSC_0721_p.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2008\/08\/finding-blessings-on-a-bad-day.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finding Blessings on a Bad Day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/","name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Daylle Deanna Schwartz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35","name":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","caption":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz"},"description":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz is a speaker, self-empowerment counselor, best-selling author of 15 books, including Nice Girls Can Finish First (McGraw-Hill), All Men Are Jerks Until Proven Otherwise and founder of The Self-Love Movement\u2122 where she's giving away her 13th book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, a She's appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Howard Stern, and Good Morning America and has been quoted in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire, and Men\u00b9s Health. After being a consummate People Pleaser who felt unworthy of getting her own needs met for many years, Daylle found a path of self-love that enabled her to build her self-esteem and reinvent herself into a dual career. She learned to get taken seriously without being overtly assertive when she became one of the first women to start an independent record label (on a dare!) and learned to play ball nicely and successfully in an industry dominated by men. To help independent musicians empower themselves, Daylle writes music business books for Billboard\/Random House, including the very popular Start &amp; Run Your Own Record Labe and I Don't Need a Record Deal! Daylle's books have been translated into over 10 languages and are popular around the world. She speaks for colleges, organizations and corporations. Through her company, Project Self-Empowerment, Daylle creates programs and materials to help people empower themselves. One goal is to raise the money to self-publish her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways and give it away for free in colleges and through organizations, to give thanks for all her blessings. Daylle uses her writing and speaking to help others find the kind of contentment and empowerment that she has.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/author\/dschwartz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}