Gratitude is one of the attributes of happy people, and I try to cultivate it in myself and in my family. I don’t cultivate it because I want to be better than others. I just cultivate it because it makes me feel good to note all of the things that I can be thankful for. Even when the day is hard, it is easy to be thankful.
I am thankful for my health. Yesterday I had severe back pain that was so bad that I couldn’t sit down. I was very grouchy. Yet at the end of the day when the pain began to subside, I was grateful for the pain. It reminded me that it is so good to feel pain-free. By helping others who have health challenges, your children can be grateful for the fact that they are healthy. If you or your children have health challenges yourself, as I do, get them to note what feels good about their body when it does feel good. Children can begin to understand the things that make them feel good: drinking water, eating good food, exercise. Cultivating a consciousness of these things is important, because it allows us to both pursue them and to feel thankful for them.
Feel thankful for the natural world. As I write this, the sun is rising. Every morning as I see the sun rise, I am thankful for the beautiful day that it brings. To inspire thankfulness in your children, get outdoors regularly. Enjoy whatever the day brings outside, whether it’s rain, snow, or sun. Dress well, and make the experience an enjoyable one. Having adventures outdoors connects children to the rest of nature, and this helps them feel peace and thankfulness in it.
Feel thankful for living in this time. This is a time of many challenges. Every time is a time of many challenges. However, as you study history with your children, you can think of the reasons that you are thankful that you live in this time. I know that I am thankful that I live here and now. In another place or another time, the medicine that keeps me alive would not exist, and my daughter would not have a mother. Every time I begin to think that this time is fraught with so many different troubles, I go back to what makes me feel thankful to live here and now. This is when we are living, so while we can think of and work towards the things that we would like to change, it’s important to love the here and now as well.
Image Credit: Lumix2004