Historical February–March 2020 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
I have always been by nature a glass half-empty girl.
I totally understand how fortunate I am, how others have worked just as hard as I have and do not have nearly what I have.
But how are others more ‘happy’ than me?
I have done a lot of research into why some people are naturally gregarious and jolly and I am just – not.
Most of the research that I have conducted ironically led to one conclusion, the main indicator of happiness is… gratitude. For the people that know me personally, this is an old story that they may have heard more than they care to, but a couple of years ago I began a journey to note and record my gratefulness.
To my surprise it made a big difference in my life.
The best article that I found on gratefulness suggested that before you go to bed each night, write down three things that you were grateful for that day.
I added my own rules – it cannot be a negative (such as I am grateful it didn’t rain today), it must be positive (I am grateful that it was sunny today), and you can’t just repeat the same things over and over (I am grateful for my husband and daughters).
My thoughtful and artistically talented husband made me a chalkboard for our bathroom that I write my ‘three things’ on every night before I go to bed. By doing this process, you train your brain to note good things that you want to include during the day to write on your ‘board’ at night.
This process helped me so much that I gifted gratefulness boards to my friends (who probably still think I am crazy). Don’t get me wrong, there have been days that I have seriously just put a poop emoji on my gratefulness board, but most days, not only do I note the things that I am grateful for but when we are eating dinner at night, our whole family will list their ‘three things’ as well.
This is not rocket science and will not cure any of the ills that we are facing, but sometimes just an adjustment in attitude will make things a little brighter. Try it with your family and let me know.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2020.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2020_02.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
