Gratitude Project

A few years ago I was checking in on Facebook and I noticed a particular friend of mine was posting things that she was grateful for every day. It was really sweet and touched me to hear her recognize all of the blessings in her life. So I joined in, too.  Every day I would post something that I was thankful for. The first few days flew by. Then it got a little bit harder. I had already stated that I was thankful for my husband, my kids, my house and my dog. It forced me to dig a little deeper. I started thinking about it all the time. During the day I would try to think about just what was I thankful for that day.  It made me start to realize how many blessings I really do have. It was a profound experience for me.

Since then, every November I try to do the same thing. I try to find 1 thing that I am grateful for and write it down with no repeats! This year my kids are going to join me in this Gratitude Project too!

Since we have moved I am now working with the Young Women in our Ward. I felt really impressed that they could benefit from this project too. So I put together these little booklets for them to use to write their own grateful lists. As I was working on this I read several talks from our church leaders and I decided to take it one step further. I really felt like it was not enough to merely state what we are grateful for, but that we needed to take it a step further and act upon our gratitude. The quote below will state why.

Here are the girls instructions from their booklets which were printed out on unlined index cards and bound with a book ring.

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STEP 1: Every day write one thing that you are grateful for.

“As you start to write, you could ask yourself, “How did God bless me today?” If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.”

President Eyring Ensign, 1989

STEP 2: Think about how you will act upon this gratitude. Write it down and do it.

“...to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.”

President Monson, Oct. 2010 Conference

STEP 3: Bring your booklet to all meetings this month to receive a special treat each time. 

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(No, I am not above "bribing" my girls or my kids!Hopefully it will help them keep on track all month!)

Then their daily pages look like this:

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I saw the hand of the Lord in my life today. It made me realize that I am grateful for:

Because I am grateful for this I will...

November 1

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I really hope this has a positive impact on our family and for my Beehive girls. Wish us luck and join in  on your own Gratitude Project if you want to! One thing about gratitude is, it's contagious... pass it along! I added the link so you can print your own if you are interested...
Here's to being THANKFUL!

Gratitude Booklet