Opening our 2013 GRATITUDE jar.

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It is FINALLY time to *open* our 2013 jar & re-visit the many things for which we were grateful. If you didn’t join us last year–consider this your invitation to find a jar, snip some papers, and git ready for 2014!

 

We have lots of GRATITUDE-space to fill.

We have lots of GRATITUDE-space to fill.

From the time the Tornado was TINY we’ve focused on gratitude with her.

Each night we pray for others, ourselves, and add a snippet of what we’re grateful for that day.

This has definitely been a process.

Before she was in our lives GRATITUDE seemed such a *simple* concept to explain: a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation.

This has definitely been a process.

When she was littler and it was her turn to say what she was grateful for we’d frequently get responses like:

Thank you G-d for Mama got a flat tire today.

OR

Thank you G-d for I fell and got a boo boo on my knee today.

Or the even more cringe-worthy:

Thank you G-d for I got in trouble and Mama took away ______ today.

As with seemingly everything in parenting-life she eventually learned by example and as she’s grown her moments of gratitude are really those.

Now that she’s older her thoughts of thankfulness provide amazing insight into what’s important to her.

As anyone who works with/knows a child has realized so often what we’d imagine they are thankful for (amazing Hanukkah gifts. over-the-top birthday parties.) turns out to be not at all what they focus upon (thank you G-d for mama read me an extra long story tonight).

As a result I jumped upon the idea of a gratitude jar as soon as I spied it on the Book of the Face.

I have a gratitude journal and, in a way, this felt like a FAMILY gratitude journal with one big, important (whether youre single, have a partner, married sans kids or married with a gaggle of kids) perfect addition:

VOLUME

Our gratitude jar allows us at a glance to see all we have to feel thankful for & all that’s gone RIGHT for us over the past howevermanylongweeks.

Some days I need this.

I like to think some days ALL OF US NEED THIS.

We started our jar in the waning days of 2012 & plan to spend New Years Eve 2013 pulling out papers, reading and reflecting on all we have been given & all we are thankful for.

Join us?

Need an extra FITNESS & HEALTHY LIVING push?

Studies show people who operate from a place of gratitude feel 25% HAPPIER than their peers, are more optimistic about the future, feel better about their lives *and* exercise 1.5 more hours per week.

Go forth.

Snag those extra ninety minutes.

Get yourself a JAR and some GRATITUDE.

2014 awaits.

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Comments

    • I actually say that after every run-especially the bad ones-because there are lots of people who would run if they could. I think of times I’ve been injured and am grateful for every run.

      • I agree. My husband hurt his knee and can’t run. So I’m grateful for the fact that I can. I used to hate running, but all this has made me appreciate it and the fact that I can do it.

  3. I love the idea of volume and seeing what’s gone well.
    I tend to focus on what I need or want and this would be good for me.

    I planned to do it last year and never started.
    :/

  5. I don’t always like my life the way it is now, but after thinking about this for a while a couple of things popped into my mind.

    I started two new hobbies – singing in a choir and salsa. I love them both to death. 🙂

    The second thing was that I enjoyed coauthoring a fairy tale with my niece Siiri. I hope it won’t be the last one we write together.

    I need to get a glass jar and start filling it…

  7. We push gratitude as well but haven’t been writing them down… I really like that it allows you to look back over everything from the year. My daughter is getting old enough that we could do this!

  9. Over New Year’s Eve dinner last night, a friend was telling me of a yoga teacher that said something along the lines of “if you have gratitude in your life, then all your worries will disappear”. I LOVED that concept, and love the concept of this jar. Off to find one for the PIP household. xoxo

  12. HAPPY NEW YEAR Miz!

    I’m grateful to have met such fine friends in the blogosphere, and grateful for so many other things as well. I am a ridiculously fortunate person and try not to ever forget that, even if I do find myself cranky about trivial matters at times. Or ok, at a LOT of times. Still a work in progress! 🙂

    Love the jar idea!

  13. I like the idea of the gratitude jar okay, but what I REALLY like is the idea of spending New Year’s Eve reviewing what I was thankful for during the year. I’m going to try to put this into practice this year!

  15. We have a gratitude list on a favorite website, and i try to list something daily. Each morning, i try to put at least 3 things i’m thankful for in my morning pages.

    Yet, i need to do this, too. Those lists are buried among other posts or writings, and don’t stand out the way this will.

  17. I really love this idea, especially with kids. More than anything I want to raise children who are NOT entitled and this is a great step toward that.

    Happy new year!

  18. I really love this idea. I have this mug on the counter that Tara got me for our first anniversary. It’s handle was broken off a few months back. It’s really exciting for me to think about filling that mug up with love notes of gratitude and giving a new purpose that’s so much bigger.

    Happy 2014! Sending love (and gratitude) to you and the whole family for the New Year from Halifax.

  20. It is a wonderful idea & I loved some of the shares thru the year of the child gratitude from you. 🙂 I do my Monday post which helps me at least start the week out that way. 🙂

    Happy New YOU this 2014 Carla!

  23. We do gratitude things for the month of December but I love the idea of carrying it through the entire year (especially the looming winter months!).

  24. Sweet! We usually talk about what we are thankful for, every day or so, to each other, but so fun to look back over the year.

  26. I need to do this. I focus way too much on the negative, when I have so much to be grateful for.

    The fact that I’m not hungry, I have shelter and access to clean water is amazing. I need to remember to be grateful for the everything I have good that goes above and beyond those basic needs.

    Also, I am TERRIBLY grateful that my youngest child has made it to nearly 16 years old and is STILL pleasant almost always.

  28. Love it. This was the first year that we did this in our house. We dumped out our jar this afternoon and the boys got a kick out of reading everything. Toys showed up on many slips of paper as did some other silly things. But there were also some really great and simple things too. We’re continuing to do it again this year and I have a feeling that it will bring on a different meaning each year.

  30. I wish I had seen this site a year earlier. Now I have to start my gratitude-jar today! At the start of 2015, I’ll see what the volume of jar is like! =)

  31. Isn’t it wonderful how children surprise us with their insights sometimes? We can learn so much about living life to the fullest simply by seeing it through their eyes – and being grateful for that extra long story as well.

  32. What an awesome idea! 2013 was rough for me health-wise (2014 has started off much better, as I am sick *again*). This is something I am definitely going to start. I need it. Instead of dwelling on illness, I can focus on all the positive things in my life. Happy New Year!

  35. Every day I say “Thank you for the gifts I have been given!”

    Gratitude is the best answer I have ever found for the ultimate question.

  36. Black-eyed peas is the good luck dish in the South, but I think it’s the thought of the tradition that really matters!

  38. I need to do this. Such a cool idea for the young and “the older”. Here’s to a happy, healthy, and positive New Year both personally and professionally. XOXO

  39. I remember when you first wrote that you were doing it and it really doesn’t seem like a year ago. I think it’s a lovely idea to focus more on our blessings and something I definitely need to do more of!

  40. I love the idea of seeing your gratitude grow throughout the year and revisiting it on NYE! My husband and I have grateful journals, each page having a a day and month on it, which allows us to add a new grateful for the current year. I’m starting my 5th year in the same book, so each night, I get to revisit what I was grateful for that particular day through the last 4 years. Not as visually impactive as a jar, but still fun to reflect daily.

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