Motivational Monday – Grateful Hearts Gather Here

Motivational Monday – Grateful Hearts Gather Here

It’s Thanksgiving week, so it seems fitting that we’d kick it off with a Motivational Monday quote all about gratitude and being grateful.

Gratitude and Being Grateful

As soon as November rolls around, you begin to see all the posts about gratitude and being grateful. But we really should begin and end each day with a grateful heart.

I take 5 minutes every morning to start my day with gratitude. That typically beings with me opening up my First5 app, taking some time to acknowledge all that I have to be grateful for, and diving into my daily devotion. It helps put me in the right frame of mind for whatever the day may throw at me. I’ve also noticed that on the days I don’t prioritize gratitude, I get frustrated and stressed a bit more easily.

Then, each night before I go to bed, I do the same, always expressing how thankful I am to have another day with family and friends.

Do you practice gratitude daily? Do you find it makes a difference in how you face the day? Have you noticed any difference in the days you don’t?

If you aren’t currently practicing an attitude of gratitude, try it for 30 days. You can use an app of your choice as I do, speak your gratitude out loud, or keep a journal. Do whatever works best for you, but do give it a try!

 

Thanksgiving Traditions – Grateful Hearts

One of my favorite Thanksgiving and November traditions as a family is to gather together each day and write one thing for which we’re thankful. Then, we fold our slips of paper and drop them into a jar. As the days go by, the jar fills up with all these sweet, little-folded notes. On Thanksgiving day, after dinner, we open the jar and go around the table reading the notes of gratitude. It’s a great reminder of all the things we have to be thankful for and quite a wonderful way to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday.

What We’re Doing This Year

This year, we decided to expand the tradition. We picked up a wooden wreath at Target that we found in the dollar bin. It came with paper leaves of various colors that we could write on. We split the leaves among us equally, and each wrote everything we’re thankful for on the leaves. This evening, we’ll put all the leaves on the wreath and attach the ribbon to the banner that came with it that reads “Grateful Hearts Gather Here.”

I can’t wait to see what it looks like once it’s put together. It will be a great reminder of everything we had to be thankful for in 2017, and we can bring it out year after year or create a new one each year.

Previously, we’ve decorated old mayonnaise, mason, and pickle jars, but you can use whatever vessel you like for your notes.

Go ahead and steal my ideas, make them your own, and put your family twist on them. I’d love to see your photos and read your blog posts, so please share them and tag me on social media.

If you enjoyed this blog post, you might also enjoy some of my other Motivational Monday posts.