Wisdom Wednesdays: "Being Thankful"

Be warned, I went a little “quote-crazy” today. You’re welcome.

This is on my facebook page and one of my most favorite quotes:
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.” -Meister Eckhart

The other day I was pinteresting (verb?) and I noticed several people pinning articles about how to raise grateful children. I clicked through some of these articles and they were really, really good. Now, of COURSE I want Cooper to be a child that is thankful for what he has, but don’t kids learn these traits from their parents behavior? While searching creative ideas on how to raise our kids online, how are we doing in the general “living our lives as good people” arena? Many of us thank God in prayers for what we have, but what about perpetually living grateful? It seems a bit ironic to try to instill character-traits into our child, when we may not necessarily have them ourselves.

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul." -Rabbi Harold Kushner

So back to Pinterest. It was at this point in pinteresting when I did a gut-check. No matter how many “gratitude boards” I make Cooper fill out, being grateful won’t be a trait that my child learns unless we as parents are living it. I read this article about how we can learn to make counting our blessings a part of life: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_ways_to_become_more_grateful1

I listed the main points but I encourage you to click on the link for more detail.

1. Keep a Gratitude Journal.
2. Remember the Bad.
3. Ask Yourself Three Questions.
4. Learn Prayers of Gratitude.
5. Come to Your Senses.
6. Use Visual Reminders.
7. Make a Vow to Practice Gratitude.
8. Watch your Language.
9. Go Through the Motions. (ie "fake-it-til-you-make-it", says Lauren)
10. Think Outside the Box.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

To me this was not only interesting but an important read, and like any habit we form or characteristic that we acquire reminds me that living gratefully starts with committing to make it a priority and continues with a plan. And like they always tell you: it takes repeating 20 times to become a habit. As for me, this is one habit that I intend to work on.

Gratefully,
Lauren