CREATE Gratitude
A place for busy people to find inspiration, nurture their creative spirit, & CREATE the life they want to live. Make a date to CREATE today!
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A place for busy people to find inspiration, nurture their creative spirit, & CREATE the life they want to live. Make a date to CREATE today!
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Showing posts with label Gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gratitude. Show all posts
11.06.2011
8.01.2011
A captured moment - gratitude in a snapshot
7.26.2011
Loving-Kindness Jar
So those of you who know anything about children know that the early years can pose their own challenges, specifically naughty behavior. Time-outs sometimes feel like they are eating up the days!
So, to help all of us recognize, acknowledge, & really appreciate each other's positive behaviors we started the "Loving-Kindness Jar".
It's easy & can be used by even the busiest of families!
This jar is almost full to the top! |
How it works:
Specifically at dinner (especially during the work week) but it can be at any point during the day, we catch each other showing loving-kindness.
First, keep all the marbles in a separate container.
While the jar is empty, decide, as a family, on a special treat for the family (i.e. family movie night, trip to the beach, game night, hike, pool party, etc.). We try to make it something that we can do together as a family as opposed to a material item. Write this on a small piece of paper & place on the bottom of the jar.
Next, whenever we (kids & adults) see someone from our little family unit showing loving-kindness we put a marble in the jar.
{The rule is that you can't ask someone to put a marble in for you.}
Each night at dinner (at least) when you're chatting about your day ask if anyone saw someone in the family showing loving-kindness. We started by really modeling the recognition, making sure to say something about each other as well as the kids (i.e. "I love how Dad made such a delicious dinner," "It was so nice how (child's name) helped you pick up your toys even though she didn't play with them." "(child's name) used such nice manners when she needed another drink.", etc). Try to recognize anything & everything, especially in the beginning. You're really teaching them how to notice positive behavior as well as what you expect & recognize as positive behavior.
Be prepared for smiles & lots of recognition as the kiddos learn to love giving compliments to others. They also love hearing how others have noticed them throughout the day! When it really takes off you'll have children who are noticing positive behavior all around them throughout the day!
(Get your tissue ready b/c it's really sweet & you'll have tears of joy in your eyes)
Here comes the additional fun part, once the jar is filled up (after a few days, or weeks depending on how things are going & how big your jar is) empty all the marbles back out. The little note you placed at the bottom will fall out & you'll be reminded of the family treat you have earned together!
Put it on the calendar right away (so it doesn't slip away from you - not that you would forget or anything) & write a new treat on a piece of paper to place at the bottom of the newly empty jar & the positive fun starts all over again!
Examples of behavior to recognize:
* cooking dinner
* using kind words
* helping around the house
* sharing
* taking care of the Earth
* helping without being asked
* helping someone feel better when they are sad
* ... endless possibilities! Just think about what is positive to you & what kind of behavior you wish to see more of in your own children.
7.11.2011
Gratitude - New Page
In an effort to teach gratitude, & become more grateful, I am trying to create rituals of gratitude in our home. Here I plan to share some of these ideas, & simply share what I/we are grateful for in our lives. Please feel free to share your own thoughts & ideas!
7.11.11
One idea we came up with was to chat about what we were grateful for each day at dinner (not a new idea) & then we would use a dry-erase marker, meant for white boards, to write our thoughts on a large window in our living area. We started by writing We are grateful for: in the middle of the window & then just added to it each day. What we noticed (probably no surprise to you all) is how much our "luck", opportunities, and overall well-being drastically improved! We found ourselves improving our abilities to notice, with even more focus, all of the great things happening around us, no matter how small.
Being that the window is in our living room, it became a constant reminder of how fortunate we are in our lives, and we would re-read it over & over. What's nice, too, is that it is translucent enough not to block out the light or sights outside of the window.
(As you can see from the pics)
The window is now completely full & I am thinking about writing them all down in a journal, wiping the window clean & starting fresh again. :) |
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