04 Sep Taking on the Gratitude Challenge

Have you ever done a gratitude challenge?  My friend, Doreen recently wrote a thought-provoking article on her blog, Nocturnal Nonsense (no longer published), called The Gratitude Challenge.  Now, I’m going to be honest – I’ve seen these types of challenges before and have never gotten involved because I really regarded them mostly as fluff.  I never really believed in success psychology, and a Gratitude Challenge reeked of that to me.

A Negative Mind will Never Leave to a Positive Life

Thank-goodness I’ve learned a few things in my lifetime.  One thing I learned is that one of the reasons that I “never really believed in success psychology” was because it was like a foreign language to me.  I am naturally hardwired to be completely negative.  My first natural thought is always a negative one.  But as we all know, a negative mind will lead to nothing positive, so I set out to change my thinking.

Gratitude requires practice, but the benefits are huge.  Gratitude helps bring things into perspective.  It helps us recognize what we have so that we appreciate it AND it’s been proven to reduce stress, improve health, happiness and relationships!

Taking on the Gratitude Challenge with my Family

So I FINALLY decided to take the suggestion and get my family on board with the Gratitude Challenge.  I took Clark and Luci to the store and we bought some gratitude journals.

Together, as a family, we sat down and started our gratitude journals.  Clark was not too happy about it, but as he sat there, thinking he came up with several things he was thankful for.  Luci, not to be left out, insisted on writing her own journal (by dictating to me and then copying the sentence which I wrote).  Not too bad for a little 3 year old!

Translation:  “September 2, 2015  Today I am thankful for my beek (that’s her blanket) and stickers and kisses.”  UGH!  Why didn’t I go along with this sooner?!  I can use more of this in my life!

Here are the children’s journals from yesterday.  So sweet!  As for mine?  “I am so thankful that I started doing this with the children!”  I am loving the effects of it so far – it literally puts the children in a different frame of mind.  They sit around the table, writing and giggling about hugs and kisses and tickles.  Seriously, what could be better?

So who is ready to work on living in a state of gratitude and appreciation?  Maybe there is something to success psychology… there is no denying that there is just little more happiness, joy and energy in this house!