Choose to Set Your Blessings in Stone

“Write your hurts in sand, your blessings in stone.”
Anonymous
 
Throughout my life I have tended to write my blessings in sand and my hurts in stone. I clung desperately to all of my wounds, and as a result, all of my blessings were easily washed away with each coming tide of doom. And the tide of doom usually washed over me several times a day. It was as natural for me to be stuck in my gloom and doom as it was to breathe. It was effortless.

Negative tape after negative tape played and replayed throughout my subconscious mind 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks every year. It was like a twisted Hit Parade that I never got tired of hearing; a dirge I never got tired of dancing to. Every negative thought made me more neurotic, constantly on guard for the next wave of doom to hit me at any second. And it guaranteed that I would be an easy object of abuse for others. Perpetrators of all sorts could easily read the signs of my body language that said “I’m worthless. Abuse me. I won’t fight back. I’ll run.” And so quite unwittingly I perpetuated the cycle of abuse that I received.

But no more. I no longer run and I no longer have a desire to hold on to my hurts. I write them in the sand and allow the tide of gratitude to wash them away with compassion and forgiveness. How do I do this? I do it by facing my hurts, grieving them with the help of God and letting them go while retaining the wisdom I’ve gained from them. I do so by journaling about what I have learned and by sharing these experiences with others so that I verbally release the emotional poison that they contain. Removing that poison from my emotional system sets me free and allows God’s healing love to make me whole again. Sharing my disappointments and hurts with others also helps me. It takes the poison out of my system and helps me to know that I am not alone in suffering. Everyone suffers.

Writing my blessings in stone helps me to be grateful and gratitude gently leads me to a place of contentment and warmth within my heart—and allows my soul to shine!

Comments

  1. E.S. KraayJanuary 2, 2011 at 2:33 PM

    Wow! I’ve been waiting for weeks to disagree. Am I just being contrary or following George Patton’s advice: if we all think the same thing, then no one is thinking? Regardless … while I do believe that writing my blessings in stone and proclaiming them is a healing, healthy and essential practice, and I do believe that personal suffering is less painful when shared, I also believe that I do not want to burden others with my personal suffering. I try – though frequently fail – to bear my burdens in silence with the conviction that God listens, knows that I suffer and commiserates with me. He is not obligated to relieve my suffering. His gift of free will continues to bless me, and I continue to face choices that will either exacerbate the situation or minimize it. My personal choices and the results of my choices are mine to bear, and I know I have the ability to do it by reaching for God’s hand.

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