As the holidays season continues, one of the greatest gifts you can give your family is to strategically develop their sense of gratitude. Rather than having the focus be on presents or parties, you have an opportunity to help them turn their attention to others and to cultivate a sense of gratitude.
Exploring Gratitude
I was doing some nerdy reading recently and stumbled on a scholarly publication called “The Journal of Happiness Studies.” Yes, please! Basically these scholars review and approve articles all related to Happiness. Turns out study after study has been done to try to break the code on how to make us happier.
Gratitude and Dissatisfaction
It can be difficult to listen to someone express dissatisfaction with an open mind.
Instead of receiving the comments as a reflection of someone else’s feelings, we insert ourselves into the mix, imbuing their comments with accusation and expectation and responding with defensiveness.
Gratitude is Good for Your Health
This always makes me think about how gratitude shows up in my everyday life. When I am really serious about being grateful the things that come up are my family, my health, and the connections I have. So, why do I spend so much of my time focused on other things?
The Definition of Gratitude
We often interchange the words “thankfulness” and “gratitude”. And while they are related in definition, if we look closer, we can see a few differences.
Cultivating Gratitude in Your Kids
Many parents today face a struggle in how to help their children develop a true sense of gratitude. Not just around the holidays, but throughout the rest of the year as well. One of the biggest ways to help your kids be grateful is to model gratitude yourself in your everyday life.
Choosing Gratitude
While there is significant value in an intentional apology when we have wronged someone, these passing apologies often come from our own feelings of discomfort. What would happen if we began replacing our everyday apologies with gratitude?
The Power of Gratitude
Gratitude and appreciation can be healing and increase your overall happiness. Research by psychologists recently has found that intentionally incorporating thankfulness into your life causes an improvement in mood and well-being. It’s a shift in the way you see things, and changes you from a glass half empty to a glass half full person. It sounds overly simplistic, but it really works.
Foundations for Friendship
Life is filled with ups and downs. The more emotional a situation is, the more complicated and thorny can be the decision process one engages to rightly decide which avenue to venture. A strong foundation of friendship is imperative before offering advice or asking for it.
Five Ways to Maintain Trust in Your Significant Relationships
Because trust is a cornerstone element, it’s important to evaluate and know where you stand with your partner with regard to trust and to intentionally work to strengthen trust.
