Gratitude Journals

With the year quickly coming to a close, this marks the last Gratitude Friday of 2013. This is the second year I’ve kept an online weekly gratitude journal, and I honestly enjoyed sitting down each week to reflect on the good things that had happened during the previous week.

But while the exercise has helped me accomplish my personal goal of living a more grateful life, sadly I fell quite short in my professional goal of creating an engaged community of like-minded people sharing what they’re grateful for. (“Hello? Is this thing on?”) Although I obviously need to adjust my tactic for engaging people more effectively, I am resolute in not abandoning my mission and vision of…

Category: Gratitude Journals

Sometimes an attitude of gratitude can carry you through the oddest, most aggravating stuff. This was one of those weeks.

The problem

The parking garage we always use in midtown Manhattan lost the key to our car. We had just finished an afternoon of meetings and appointments and were rushing to pick up the car (whom we’ve named Lady Victoria, by the way), so we could move her uptown before meeting friends for a celebratory holiday dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. The key was nowhere to be found. They turned the place upside down. They looked in the key box. In the garbage can under the key box. In the dumpster. In every crevice of Lady Vic. In…

Category: Gratitude Journals

The year is winding down and it’s a wonderful time to stop and appreciate the specialness of December and the holiday season. That’s what this week’s gratitude list is all about:

♥ We’ve enjoyed cozy fires in our family room fireplace. It’s so much fun to curl up on our big L-shaped couch with a blanket and a few other members of the family and watch a movie by the fire. Last weekend we saw The History of the Eagles which was fascinating and entertaining, as well as The Heat. Melissa McCarthy is laugh-out-loud funny in it!

♥ Unlike the rest of the year, there are hand-addressed cards in the mail every day instead of just bills, catalogs and junk. We…

Category: Gratitude Journals

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” 

― Marcel Proust

I lost a sweet friend last week. We weren’t childhood friends, or college friends, or couples friends or even “meet for coffee” friends. Some might consider us mere acquaintances. But I thought of her as my friend. My happenstance friend. Our oldest kids are the same age, so over the years we’d find ourselves at the same school events and community activities. From time to time we’d run into each other at the grocery store. She was caring enough to introduce herself when she recognized I was new to the area six years ago, and…

Category: Gratitude Journals

Instead of a list this Thanksgiving week, I decided to make a word cloud out of all the things I’ve been grateful for so far this year. (A word cloud is a visual representation of text you provide, giving greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in your text). I copied and popped all my Gratitude Friday 2013 posts into a word cloud generator called Tagxedo.com and this is what I ended up with:

For a cool piece of personalized artwork, try it yourself with some words you love. You can play around with different shapes, colors, fonts and other variables—and it’s all free to download, print and share.

And based on my word cloud, it’s no surprise…

Category: Gratitude Journals

Having gratitude is awesome when things are going well in your life, but did you know it’s even more powerful when life isn’t exactly hunky-dory? This interesting piece by gratitude expert Dr. Robert Emmons explains how recognizing and expressing gratitude can help give perspective during bad times. I’ve used this strategy with great success in my own household when someone has fallen pray to chronic complaining. Having them list a few things they’re grateful for has an almost instantaneous positive effect. Try it some time.

What’s on my gratitude list this week?

♥ Time with some of my best and favorite friends. True friends are those who are eager to meet you halfway for a fabulous evening…

Category: Gratitude Journals

I just finished watching a live webcast from Georgetown University about the future of Afghan women and girls, where speakers Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Laura Bush talked about the importance of women in establishing a secure and prosperous Afghanistan once U.S. troops leave. My son, a freshman at Georgetown, got in line at 3:30 this morning to get a seat in the hall and watch this important discussion live. I’m truly filled with gratitude by this morning’s program:

♥ First, I’m so grateful to live in a country where women have equal rights and opportunities as citizens. One of the most moving quotes was attributed to a member of an Afghan women’s group: “Society is…

Category: Gratitude Journals

What would you say if I told you that by making one little change, you could be happier? Well it’s true…and all it involves is incorporating a little gratitude into your life. According to Psychology Today, a study of gratitude journaling showed that people who tracked their gratitude once a week were happier after six weeks. Yup, just by writing down a few things you’re grateful for on a weekly basis, you can increase your happiness. In fact, if you started today, you’d be happier by the end of the year. You don’t have to share what you write with anyone, just do it. I can almost guarantee it’ll be a positive change. 

This year, I’ve chosen to keep a public…

Category: Gratitude Journals

Great news about learning to live a grateful life: researchers at the University of Minnesota found that only about 40 percent of a grateful disposition is inherited from our genes. That means that we can have an effect on the other 60 percent of our personal gratitude!

One of the most popular and effective way to cultivate gratitude is by keeping a gratitude journal. It’s an opportunity to focus on the abundant gifts we are fortunate to have, as opposed to harping on what’s lacking in our lives. Here’s my gratitude journal for this week:

♥ So grateful to have electricity and heat this week. Thinking back to a year ago and the devastation and destruction Hurricane Sandy brought…

Category: Gratitude Journals

While I’m so grateful for a fun-filled family weekend in Washington, DC last weekend, this week I am exceedingly grateful—and beyond relieved—for a good health report, and for the care and diligent precaution of my doctor and a few other diagnosticians.

Without getting into the gory details, we are particularly vigilant about certain aspects of my health because of a genetic predisposition. A routine screening last month turned up a slight irregularity, and although it didn’t overly alarm my doctor and the specialist he consulted, knowing my family history he wanted to be abundantly cautious and he ordered a follow-up in six weeks.

I probably don’t need to tell you that your mind wanders to pretty dire,…

Category: Gratitude Journals