< PreviousWhat gratitude can you gift to you, that would expand your world beyond being mediocre?What gratitude can you embrace in you, that would nurture and nourish you beyond your wildest dreams?Gratitude doesn’t need permission to be. It is a choice to have your own back. No matter what.EXPLORE ... (and you can make up your own explorations too!) 1. What is fabulous about you? 2. What is magical about you? 3. What is brilliant about you? 4. What is kind and caring about you? 5. What is creative about you? 6. What is inspiring about you? 7. What is wondrous about you? 8. What is unpredictable or unexpected about you? 9. What is funny about you?10. What is phenomenal about you?Dive in deep. Inspire yourself to come up with different elements that you are grateful to you for every day… for at least three months. And don’t just write your list in an offhand, ‘get it done’ kind of way. Write it as if it is a love letter to everything you are. Allow yourself to wallow in how outrageously amazing you are. Be fully present with each energy as it shows you the magic of you. Feel the grat-itude in your heart… and your entire body. Ask every single molecule in your body to vibrate with this gratitude. Want to turn it up a few decibels? Say these things out loud. Notice where your voice trembles or goes soft. And commit to being even more grateful for those elements. They are in an emergent state, allow them to unfold in the soft, strong cocoon of your adoration. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ―GRATITUDE FOR KIDSby Dr Lilian NejadIt happens every year, you say you are not going to get caught up in the com-mercialism of Christmas, but you end up spending loads of money on presents to make sure your kids have ‘the best Christmas ever’. They open their gifts in a manic frenzy and then, the next thing you know, it’s all over. Are they grateful, yes, but not for long! How do we get our kids to stay grateful? Or better yet, how do we cul-tivate a grateful mindset in our children without having to give them something first?Why is this an important question? Well, it turns out, gratitude is an important component to a physically, emotionally and socially healthy and satisfying life! More specifically, research has shown that a grateful mindset in both adults and children increases happiness, life satisfaction, and resilience, improves sleep and overall health, and reduces anxiety and depression. So this holiday season, give your kids the gift of gratitude with these sim-ple but effective strategies:1—Teach Them Different Ways to Express ThanksThe tradition of the thank you note is practically extinct; you’re lucky to get a thank you text these days. But the practice of thanking people is an essential component of gratitude. You don’t have to go down the Martha Stewart pathway, there are all kinds of ways to give thanks: saying ‘thank you’, thank you stickers, thank you hugs, thank you phonecalls, thank you gifts, thank you help—see if your kids can come up with some new and creative ways to thank others. 2—Have Daily Gratitude ConversationsWhen you talk to your kids, ask questions that lead to a grateful perspec-tive. You can do this by making it part of a daily ritual, for example, during a family meal to ask everyone to name one thing that they were grateful for that day. Or try a more subtle approach by asking your kids what the best part of their day was in casual conversation. You can also model a grateful mindset by telling them what you were thankful for that day. Whichever methods you choose, here are some tips to make it most effective: make sure you and your children choose some-thing different every day, remember the simple things (a song, the weather, a smile), and use humour in your story-telling to make it more memorable.3—Be Secret Santa All Year Round!Random acts of kindness boost your mood, make you feel more connected to others, and can be really fun! Challenge your kids to do one nice thing for someone everyday. They can be as simple or creative as they want: give a compliment, write a nice note, donate a book, comfort someone, give up your place in line for someone, offer to help someone at school or at home, give someone a flower. Keep it fresh by encouraging them to do something different everyday. Remember to model kindness for your kids—not only is observing one of the most powerful ways that children learn, research has also shown that observing kindness has the same benefits as giving and receiving kindness on physical and emotional health! 4—Create a Family Gratitude ArchiveThe New Year is a great time to start new traditions—especially one that will improve the health and well-being for the whole family! First, find a nice container, like a gift box, and buy different color notecards for each family member. Anytime someone feels grateful for something or someone, they write it down on their notecard and put in the box. After a period of time, the family reads all the notecards together. You can decide whether you want to do this weekly, monthly, or it can be a special New Year’s Eve family ritual. 5—Give back It’s easy to get frustrated by your children’s demands and lack of appre-ciation. You might find yourself saying things like: “You should be more grateful!” “You don’t know how lucky you are!” “Other kids don’t have anything”… But comparisons can leave kids feeling guilty or anxious rather than fos-tering appreciation and altruism. Instead, show them how they can make a difference in others’ lives through thoughtful and generous acts like actively participating in fundraising op-portunities aimed at children, wrapping presents to put under giving trees at school, or by having a special piggy bank that is donated to a charity of your children’s choosing. It is through giving back that they will truly understand how fortunate they are.DAY TO DAY GRATITUDEby Hayley RoperWe all have something to be grate-ful for, no matter what cards we are dealt. Often, it can be difficult to change a negative mindset into an attitude of gratitude – something that is neces-sary for a happy and positive life.1. Start each day by be-ing thankful for the small things.Express gratitude! Have a think about all the things, big or small, that you have to be grateful for. Give these reasons lots of energy and watch them grow!2. Live with compassion - be forgiving of yourself and others.The antidote to negative emotion is forgiveness. Allow yourself to make mistakes and if they turn into something you regret – let it go! Learn from it, accept you did some-thing that didn’t sit right with you. Everyone makes mistakes – they are a part of life. Each individual has their own way of doing things and you don’t know everyone’s story. If they have hurt you or done some-thing differently to the way you ex-pect, then accept that they are dif-ferent, forgive them and let it go. Live with compassion and forgive-ness for others and yourself is easy. The more love and forgiveness you give to people, the more happiness you wish for other people, the more you will get back.Next >