Nov 6, 2020
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In Episode 164, I’m chatting with my friend Sara Kuljis of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp. We talk about family gratitude practices and lessons from camp for having more grateful families. At Thanksgiving, it's easy to remember to be grateful, but the habit of gratitude -- practiced at camp, at home, and in the world -- helps us to be happier all year long.
Audrey: "We cannot raise grateful kids if we are not promoting our own gratitude."
Audrey: "It's important to remember that it's not just about completing a task, like sending a text or writing in your journal. It's about taking the moment to feel thankful. We need to take the task out of it and feel the gratitude."
Sara: "At the end of the day being grateful makes me kinder and softer to those around me."
Sara: "There's a lot of not-feeling-good-enough in the world. I enjoy helping people identify their natural talents and the natural goodness that is built in them and being intentional about building those into strengths for making a positive impact in the world."
My Pinterest "Gratitude Board"
5 Ways to Avert Thanksgiving Disappointment
Raising Grateful, Not Entitled Kids
A Grateful Family is a Happy Family
3 Reasons to Give Your Kid a WOW Today
Grateful Campers are Happy Campers
Learning to Enjoy the Little Things
Teaching Kids Gratitude Rather
than Entitlement: Berkeley News/Christine Carter
Giving Thanks can Make
you Happy, Harvard Health
The Science of Gratitude: More Benefits Than Expected; 26 Studies and Counting, Happier Human.com
7 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Gratitude That Will Motivate You To Give Thanks Year-Round, Forbes
30 Days of Gratitude, Writeshop.com
TAKE A THANK YOU WALK (Jon Gordon)
"It’s simple. It’s
powerful and it’s a great way to start feeding the positive dog.
How does it work? You simply take a walk... outside, in a mall, at
your office, on a treadmill, etc and while walking you think about
all the things, big and small, that you are grateful for. The
research shows you can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time
so when you combine gratitude with physical exercise, you give
yourself a double boost of positive energy. You flood your brain
and body with positive emotions and natural anti-depressants that
uplift you rather than the stress hormones that drain and slowly
kill you."
-Jon Gordon
One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life
at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he
was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown
distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose
contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment
where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40
pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and
overall, his dearest life dreams--including hopes of upholding
idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge--seemed to have
slipped beyond his reach.
Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year's Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had.
Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal--come what may--of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year.
One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous--for gifts or kindnesses he'd received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who'd done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he'd sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John's way--from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John's whole life turned around.
365 Thank Yous is a rare memoir: its touching, immediately accessible message--and benefits--come to readers from the plainspoken storytelling of an ordinary man. Kralik sets a believable, doable example of how to live a miraculously good life. To read 365 Thank Yous is to be changed.
Ep. 114: Precursors to Gratitude
Ep.115: Giving Kids Meaningful Compliments
Ep. 132: Creating Structure, Fun, & Connection
Ep. 160: Cranky Young Adults Stuck in the COVID Vortex
Ep. 153: Rethinking School & Education During the Pandemic
Ep. 152: Putting on Your COVID Mask First
Ep. 57: The Importance of Adult Friendships
Ep. 28: Focusing on Our Kids' Strengths