gratitude journal

Did you know that being grateful can actually make you healthier? Yep! It’s true.  Recently I’ve been on a quest to get healthy and it’s been an amazingly crazy journey that has taught me so much more than just how to lose weight or feel better.  This is one of those little nuggets of health that I think we can all benefit from no matter where we are in life! We all want our kids to learn to be thankful and have an attitude of gratitude, but sometimes it seems we just can’t get the message across.  The world is full of selfishness, entitlement, and bad attitudes!! How can we instill a sense of gratitude and thankfulness in our children?

Well, I wish I knew the magic cure, but what I can offer are some ideas and encouragement. 

First of all, you’re not a failure if your kids don’t seem thankful or have bad attitudes.  You aren’t ruining them if they don’t seem to have manners no matter how many times you tell them.  And you are perfectly capable of raising amazing children that will turn into amazing adults. Sometimes we just don’t see the results yet.  But that’s okay.  Hang in there mama!

So now that we have that out of the way….

What can we do right now to help the process? Start a gratitude journal! It seems simple, but it seriously has so many positive benefits.  Getting into a habit of looking on the bright side, finding the good, and recognizing the positive, will set the course for a much happier future for all of us.

I recently read about a study on gratitude.  It had the typical outcomes….being thankful or having gratitude will help you be a happier person. But I was surprised to also find out that their research also found out that gratefulness actually lead to healthier bodies! YEP! Need higher immune systems? (of course you do, it’s 2020!)  Just be grateful!

“One recent study from the University of California San Diego’s School of Medicine found that people who were more grateful actually had better heart health, specifically less inflammation and healthier heart rhythms” (read full article here)

Oh and for us moms….Did you know that when you’re stressed you can actually totally mess up your cortisol levels? (Just ask me and I’ll tell you all about it).  Well, gratitude helps our cortisol levels which helps our stress.  Oh, and it gets better, gratitude can also help us eat less fat and help reverse aging!  Read about it here:

“People who keep a gratitude journal have a reduced dietary fat intake — as much as 25 percent lower. Stress hormones like cortisol are 23 percent lower in grateful people. And having a daily gratitude practice could actually reduce the effects of aging to the brain” (read full article here)

Recently, I have been encouraging my college-age son to write down 3 things he’s thankful for each day.  He’s been stressed at school on and off and with all this COVID stuff, college just isn’t the same.  It’s so important to really focus on what you can control and what you can be thankful for!

 

At home, I recently made these Gratitude Journals for my kids.  My first baby-step goal is to do this for November as part of our Thanksgiving celebrations.  Each day, we will write down ONE THING.  That’s it.

So want to join me?

Let’s see how many things we can be thankful for this month.

Just use a piece of paper, a post-it, a spiral, or print of these FREE pages.  Doesn’t have to be fancy!

Take pictures and let’s share!

#myhomeschoolgratitudejournal

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