Gratitude is all about being thankful and showing appreciation for yourself, others, your experiences, life choices, hobbies, school achievements, personal goals, etc.
Having appreciation is the recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something. It helps you have a full understanding of the person, experience, goal, etc.
To help us recognize the good, rather than what we are lacking, it's important to ficus on gratitude and appreciation. We start to see the good things as gifts and we are less likely to take them for granted. The goal is to remember and notice a good event, experience, person or thing in your life and enjoy the good emotions that come from it.
One of the best ways to remind ourselves of the things and people we are grateful for is to make a Gratitude Jar!
Below are the steps to making your own Gratitude Jar:
- Find a jar or box that you can decorate (this can be a mason jar, old pasta sauce jar, etc)
- Decorate your jar with ribbons, paint, glitter glue, or anything that makes you happy
- Cut small slips of paper (we find 1.5"x4.25" work best)
- Everyday think about writing down at least one thing or person you feel grateful about
- Think about how your life would be without certain people or things. Think subtraction, not just addition.
Many people will review their Gratitude Notes at the end of the year. Some like to pull out a Gratitude Note when they are feeling sad or lonely to remind them of the good things. Tag us on Instagram to show us your gratitude jars!