Starting a new day counting gifts is the most effective way to stay focused.

Before my husband and my baby wake up, I try to do at least one thing and that is tuning my mind by reading a few verses and drinking my daily dose of weak coffee.

However, there are days I can’t have this five minute of peace, and I am thrown into a cruel daily life with hundred things to do-making bed, planning a meal, mopping, picking up toys, clothes, and books, emails to respond to, phone calls to make, things to search on Google. Those are the days when I feel my life is my own enemy.

Reading Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gift” has shown me a way to overcome my pessimism. She simply started naming daily blessings by making a list as this:

1. Morning shadows across old floors
2. Jam piled high on toast
3. Cry of a blue jay high in the spruce

Image Source:
http://onethousandgifts.com/

By trying to catch the fleeting moments to write down in her list, she comes to a realization that she does not have to be somewhere else to be a happier person. She dares me “to live fully where I am” (the subtitle of the book) I decided to take this challenge a month ago when I finished the book, but my list stopped growing after a week. It takes a discipline to live a life a thankfulness.

Today, reading Ann’s Blog, A Holy Experience, (www.aholyexperience.com)  I learned that resisting distraction to stay focused is how we stay disciplined.  I would like to post Ann’s tips on staying focused here. You can see the original source on her blog entry for June 16,2014.