This week my family is starting a gratitude journal. 

I had my two oldest daughters take an assessment on their character strengths, and “gratitude” was one of their top five strengths.  That is remarkable to me as they don’t always seem that grateful!  I feel very grateful, but it is not one of my top five strengths.  Due to my apparent lack of gratitude, my instructor has suggested I keep a “gratitude journal” for at least 30 days to see if I can strengthen that characteristic in my life.

 I am trying to grow happiness in my home; therefore, we will ALL be counting our blessings every evening and recording them in a journal. 

Alex and Sydney don’t understand why they have to keep a journal if this is already one of their strengths.  I explained that while gratitude may be one of their strengths, it is being underused in our household; therefore we will foster this characteristic and let it flourish!  Reese just wants to know if she can get a pretty new journal to write in.

 “No, we need to use what we have and be grateful for it!”

What is gratitude?  I think of it as being thankful or appreciative of what you have, a gift, or for something someone has done for you.  Most dictionaries define it in similar terms, but at www.answer.com they define gratitude as this:  “the state of being grateful; thankfulness.”  I love that!  I don’t want my family or myself to just be appreciative of things in our lives.  I want us to live in a state of gratefulness, happiness and thankfulness.  If we can begin to achieve that in the next 30 days, that will be something to write about!