A George Bailey Meditation Moment

When it comes to counting your blessings, just about everyone recommends the practice of keeping a gratitude list. After all, adding up all of the blessings in our life surely leads to happiness, right?

Well, it turns out it may be a bit more complicated than that.

Recent research suggests that a contrarian approach to the blessings in our lives is even more impactful. Instead of reflecting on the presence of a positive event (“I’m grateful I met my spouse”), these researchers recommend that we reflect on its absence (“What if I had never met my wife?”).

It’s a counterfactual meditation on our lives, inviting us to imagine a world where our most treasured blessings never occurred. It’s basically what the angel in It’s a Wonderful Life famously asked George Bailey to do.

So give it a try. You could do it each day for a week, but it’s also impactful to just set aside one morning for it.

• Pick a blessing or two from your life
• Meditate on and imagine what your life would be like without that blessing in it
• Also reflect on how other aspects of your life would have played out differently if that blessing wouldn’t have occurred.
• Then capture your thoughts. Journal. Jot some notes. Maybe even write a poem or draw a picture.

Here’s an article about the “George Bailey effect” to help you along your way:

“Don’t count your blessings. Do this instead.”

https://ozanvarol.com/dont-count-your-blessings-do-this-instead/