Doing My Daily Fives

Is this about exercises? Sort of. But it’s not about physical exercises. It’s about
mental exercises. It’s about being intentionally thankful for all the
blessings around me. My daily fives involve mentally listing five thankful-for items from five different categories. It is adapted from a book by Tommy Newberry entitled The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life. (Note: 4:8 refers to Philippians 4:8).
Here are the categories I use, along with some explanations and examples.

1.  Five things that I am thankful for that I am experiencing right now: These can be small and simple. For example, right now I am thankful for my
computer to type this article on, my glasses that help me see, a house with a
comfortable temperature, the mental ability to think and write, and feeling
satisfied from a delicious breakfast. If I do my daily fives in the evening before
falling asleep, the list often includes my pillow!

2.  Five things from the last 24 hours that I am thankful for: The 24 hours isn’t an exact requirement. The point is simply the recent past. Often basic functions like sleeping, eating, and breathing come to my mind when thinking about the past day (my illness greatly limited those basic pleasures at times, so I find it much easier to be thankful for them now). I also often list things that I’m thankful that my close family has been able to experience, such as when my children have had good learning experiences or positive connections with
others.

3. Five things that I am looking forward to in the next day: Again, simple things and a general time frame of the near future is the key. I started doing daily fives sometime after 2020, and I found that this category made a huge difference in my attitude. For the past years, over and over again, events I was looking forward to had been canceled due to changes in my health and/or COVID restrictions. Without realizing it, in order to not be disappointed over and over again, I had started to train myself to just not look forward to anything. That seemed to be the best option. I hadn’t considered the simple things in the very near future that were most likely still going to happen. Being thankful for the little things in the near future gave me a better attitude. Right now, I am looking forward to my Bible reading time, organizing a bookshelf if I have time, having fresh peaches at supper, finishing the dishes (at least until the next batch . . . yes, it’s ok to be thankful for even jobs like dishes, especially sinceat one point I was physically unable to do those things), and hearing from my children about their day in the evening. 
4.    Five people I love: Five seems to be limiting. Obviously, this listing could be extensive. The point is not to list everyone, but to focus on just a few people to pray for and to appreciate the ways that they have blessed me. With five each day, it eventually rotates through quite a few people. I don’t necessarily make sure it is different people every day, but I do tend to focus on different groups of people. For example, it’s nice to include extended family not just immediate family, and include friends from long ago not just current close friends. I also often think of the ministers and others who have church responsibilities that have benefited me and my family in so many ways.
5.    Five ways that I can bless others today: Again, the focus is on the small and the simple. Almost every day, the top of the list is the basic daily tasks of homemaking that blesses my family and then perhaps one more specific area of homemaking. Sometimes there is something I can physically do that blesses those outside of my home, but that is rare because of my health limitations, so the other most common item on this list is to pray for others. Praying for others could include people I do not know well, such as government officials who need prayers. Sometimes instead of only praying, this list can include calling, texting, or writing someone I know to share a verse or some encouragement. Ending with this category helps give me purpose and focus.

When do I find time to do my daily fives? Some find it helpful during their
morning devotions. I’m more of an evening person than a morning person, so I
often do it at night before falling asleep. But I don’t limit it to once a day. I’ve found the exercise to be an excellent “converter” of time . . . it changes wasted or frustrating time into productive and blessed time. Doing my daily fives is convenient when in the waiting room, when awake at night, when doing mundane tasks, when the food is ready and the family is late coming home to eat, or any other time of day that could easily become frustrating.

I’ve also found that the exercise can be a fairly accurate measuring stick of my overall mental wellbeing. For example, one time I was really struggling to come up with five things in most of the categories and I realized that there were some
other underlying issues that I needed to give attention to!

Like any exercise, doing my daily fives does take some discipline. However, it’s not about “doing it exactly right.” Doing it daily is a goal, but I don’t worry about it if I
end up missing a day. Five things in five categories has a nice ring to it and keeps my mind organized, but it’s not about an exact number. Sometimes my mind
rambles to a lot more than five. Sometimes I fall asleep before getting to all five
categories. For the sake of this article, I wanted to give examples to make it
realistic, but my examples might not be at all what comes to your mind if you try
the exercise. That’s perfectly fine. In fact, your lists will most likely be very
different from mine. It’s not about exact things, but it’s about training the mind to
appreciate the many blessings that are right around us all the time.
God is faithful in providing the blessings. It’s up to me whether or not I look
around and notice them!

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

- Kendra is usually at home, living the kaleidoscope of joys and challenges found in a farming household. Her love for writing and brainstorming ideas is vibrant, even though health issues have brought physical limitations. Kendra recently authored a book about her illness, called To God Be the Glory, available here.