A daily gratitude journal

How can we make the gratitude of Thanksgiving last all year long?  How about a gratitude journal?  

• Get a journal. Any journal will do, as long as it is dedicated for this purpose.
• Pick a consistent time of day.
• Pick a length of time that you want to focus on gratitude each day.  It can be as little as 2-3 minutes, or as long as you would like.
• Write as many things as you can be grateful for in that time.  If you miss a day, start again tomorrow.  

Sharing gratitude at mealtimes

At Thanksgiving, many families take time to express gratitude during the meal.  How about making this a daily ritual?  How would your life change if gratitude were a part of family mealtimes?  

Expressing appreciation with the Gottman Card Decks app

This week, your mission if you choose to accept it is to use the Gottman Card Decks app to express appreciation for one another.  

Instructions: "Build fondness and admiration by using these simple phrases as examples of things to thank your partner for. Or just scroll through and show your partner the screen if it's hard for you to express yourself out loud!" 

"You Rock"

I just can't enter the month of Thanksgiving without thinking about appreciation and gratitude.  Your mission this week, if you choose to accept it, is to write someone a note of fondness, admiration, appreciation, and/or gratitude.  For inspiration, consider this exercise.  

The November "Expressing Appreciation" Challenge

Join us on Mondays in November for specific strategies to increase our gratitude practice.

Our family's rituals of connection

Hellos and goodbyes are part of our family's rituals of connection.  They say "You are important to me." Each family has their own unique rituals that are important to them.  If we are unsure of what rituals we want for our family, we can make some up!  Here's a great resource to help us to do that: the rituals of connection card deck in the Gottman Card Decks app.  

Instructions (from the app): "Select a card and discuss whether you would like to incorporate the ritual in your relationship, and if so, exactly how it should go, who should do what and when, and how it should end. Be sure to talk about if and why this is important to you, and how this ritual was handled (or mishandled) in your family or in previous relationships."