You can add up your blessings or add up your troubles. Either way, you'll find you have an abundance.

No one is without troubles, without personal hardships and genuine challenges.  That fact may not be obvious because most people don't advertise their woes and heartaches.  But nobody, not even the purest heart, escapes life without suffering battle scars.

There are in this world ample reasons to be sad and disheartened, discouraged and fearful. But there are as many reasons not to be.

Personal problems appear big because we press our nose to the glass to observe them. This only serves to magnify our troubles. The problems of others we tend to view at a reasonable distance from the window, making their woes and bothers appear ordinary. Too bad we don't naturally take a few steps back before considering our own plight.

Five truly effective prescriptions to remedy a bad day. (You can't overdose.)—Pray; discuss your troubles with God.—List your blessings. (The blue sky, soft cookies, warm socks, etc.)—Call your mom.—Visit an animal shelter and hug a lonely cat.—Visit a nursing home and hug a lonely grandparent.

Life is not about having perfect days. Life is not about handling days perfectly. Life is about perfecting one’s character through the having and handling of every given day.

What kind of person is void of compassion? A heartless one. But alas, compassion cannot exist without the endurance of afflictions.

A dragon grows in leaps and bounds,Like troubles mounting by the pound.Its stature heightens day to day,Imposing dread and deep dismay.A paralyzing roar it gainsWhile from its snout hot fire rains.It sees you shrink. Your fear it knows.And by the hour the nightmare grows.Unless you slay the dragon soon,Your troubles may become your doom.

Life is a test. Without problems to solve, it wouldn’t be much of a test.