Count Your Blessings

Across the United States this weekend, people seemed to be getting an extra heaping helping of tragedy and loss. In Los Angeles we had a horrific Metrolink accident that claimed 25 lives. I ride the Metrolink trains regularly and I also edit an online news website, so it had an impact on my life -- but I am grateful that I didn't lose a loved one.

Hurricane Ike rolled through the Gulf coast like a freight train, and people in Galveston and Houston will be dealing with the consequences of Mother Nature's wrath for some time to come.

On Wall Street, the credit crisis has taken out two of the oldest and most storied financial institutions. It's impossible to imagine that the economy has taken such a plunge.

On a more personal note, I was shocked to read a post on a friend's Facebook page about the sudden death of her husband when I signed on Sunday. They have been together as a couple for twenty years although they married only recently. I remember every detail of their fairytale romance twenty years ago as if it was only yesterday. It was heartbreaking to read her note, written in a time of shock and grief, that her husband had died and she wasn't sure what she should do, but she couldn't sleep so she was online contacting friends and family. All day long, I kept shaking my head and thinking it just can't be true, maybe she should have his doctors check again. But then I realized that I too was just experiencing the denial phase of the grief process. My heart breaks for my dearest friend as she struggles through her grief. Her husband was a good man. I wish there were words that could comfort her, but I know that only time will heal her wounds.

I do think that all of this bad news is a good reminder to count your blessings. Seriously! Take the time to get a pen and paper today and write down ten blessings that you are grateful to have in your world today. Do it now!