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'Tis The Season To Count Blessings

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: There are two types of person out there (actually, within each of us) - the Entrepreneur, who's a glass-is-half-full optimist, and the Victim, for whom life is always bad and getting worse. The holidays seem to amplify these types: during the holiday season, you see these two characters almost overplay their parts. The happy are happier... the sad are downright miserable....

'Tis The Season To Count Blessings

Here Are The Big Three To Keep Foremost In Your Mind There are two types of person out there (actually, within each of us) - the Entrepreneur, who's a glass-is-half-full optimist, and the Victim, for whom life is always bad and getting worse. The holidays seem to amplify these types: during the holiday season, you see these two characters almost overplay their parts. The happy are happier... the sad are downright miserable.

Some of my clients seem to teeter on the brink between these two characteristics, and these days, societal pressure is brought solidly to bear in an effort to push a person off the fence and into the abyss of victimhood. From schools to labor unions to the media to TV and Hollywood, opinion-generating institutions seem to want you feeling bad about yourself, your country, and the world in which you live. (Perhaps the prevailing reasoning is that love, joy, and peace don't compel votes as well as do jealousy, envy, and anger.)

You must resist this! When it comes to victimhood, it's a lot easier to fall in than to crawl out... and you don't want to spend your life in uninspired misery. If you're like my clients, most of whom seek to be more inspirational leaders, you absolutely must avoid the slightest whiff of victimhood in your mind, your heart, and the attitude that drives your everyday action.

If you're struggling to keep hold of your daring Entrepreneurial spirit, reflect on these three things today... and see if that reflection doesn't remind you of other blessings for which you can be grateful:

Important (but least important of these three) is that you live in a nation where even the poor are not really poor. There are a very few exceptions, but most "poor" households in America and The West have a microwave oven, at least one television, multiple radios, indoor plumbing, and cell phones. However bad off you feel you are during this season of giving, remember that there are millions of people out there who're worse off than you are!

Second, you are enabled. You're fit enough to read this, and you're fit enough to work... and, as long as that's true, you have a deep reservoir of hope, and the power to make your life better. Even if you're "disabled," again, there are masses of people out there who can't do what you can do. Bemoaning your limits won't help you reach the better life beyond them!

Most important, you are loved. Even if you don't love anybody, somebody loves you, if only your Maker by Whom you've been provided a wonderful life. But if you do love someone, your life is blessed with a tremendous bounty; the more you love, the more you're loved. Talk about renewable resources... the greatest of these is love!

To get your vote, the institutions of misery will try to take away your optimism, and your pursuit of happiness. Don't let them. It's really hard to push you into victimhood while you're counting your real, important, amazing blessings. Counting your blessings feeds your best self, and leaves the moaning victim inside you hungry, wanting, and very quiet.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility



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