You're listening to a bonus episode of the Daily Article podcast, presented by the Denison

Forum and featuring Dr. Jim Denison.

Hi, I'm Jim Denison, the Denison Forum, and this is the Daily Article Special Edition

for April 22nd, 2020. Have you heard of the three blessings exercise? Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos

teaches an online course on happiness that has reached more than a million people. She recommends

this exercise to us. Here's her explanation, quote. Research shows that we really can benefit

from counting our blessings even when it feels like there aren't that many blessings

to be counted. The simple act of scribbling down three things you're grateful for can significantly

bump your mood in some studies as quickly as within a couple of weeks. It's completely free. It takes

five to ten minutes a day. At the end of your day, just scribble down a few things that you're

grateful for right now.

Dr. Santos was asked for final words of wisdom and shared this.

If I had a last word to share, it would be self-compassion.

It really is an awful time.

There's a reason we're calling this crisis unprecedented.

We're dealing with a deadly virus that's incredibly scary and uncertain. Give yourself

and your family members more compassion and more of a benefit of the doubt than you usually would.

Counting our blessings even in hard times is a biblical exercise. First Thessalonians 518 says,

Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you.

No matter how the world changes, God's love does not. Psalm 106, verse 1 says,

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

However, there's a way to experience our Father's presence that transcends an occasional

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