It’s time to pay attention to the good things.

This is so easy.  You’re going to love it and be happier for it.

Do you sometimes feel it is easier to focus on the negatives or things going wrong?  Sure, if you stop and think about it, you are able to realize more good things than bad happen in your day, BUT… you find yourself often thinking of the bad?  Such as:

  • Ugh!  The kids still haven’t cleaned up the living room.
  • I have no idea what is for supper and we have to be at basketball in 45 minutes.
  • The cashier at the grocery store was rude to me and I didn’t need that right now.
  • The dog just threw up.
  • The person driving in front of me is going so slow, he’s going to make me late to work!

The day is full of things that can be irritating and draining.  They can drag you down and insist you put on those imaginary sunglasses that block a lot of the good things happening around us.

The good things that are happening  ALL.  THE.  TIME.

This is a super simple activity for your whole family to participate in.  We call it Thankfuls.  It is based on Party Game #1 in Pam Grout’s new book THANK AND GROW RICH, A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Unabashed Joy.  The “grow rich” part, as you probably guessed, has nothing to do with money.  It is all about being rich in happiness and joy.  I love what Pam Grout writes about and lives by and I love doing experiments with my kids to help them see all the grandness that surrounds them.

Ready for the directions?  Got your pen and paper handy?  Here it is:

Pick 3 things each day that you are thankful for and write them down.

That’s it.  Only one step and you’ll be impressed how big that small step can make in the observation of your and your kids’ days.   Believe me, you will have way more than 3 things you’d like to write down, but no need, just pick 3.

You can do this on a sheet of paper or you can create a fun form.  Here is the one we used.  I printed out this grid for each person and taped them on the wall – with page one taped on above page two.  Feel free to use it. Thankfuls Grid

This can be done any time of day you wish.  You can write the items down as you think of them or each morning or each evening or when you get home from school.  Whenever you’d like is perfect.  If you don’t want to write it down for 30 days, pick a different number.

Here are a few random examples of some of things we have listed so far:

spending the day with my grandma ♥ chocolate cookies  blue skies  watching my kids swim  polar bears  map (Ha! – if you got my newsletter this will make sense.  So funny.)  sunscreen  drawing pictures  playing basketball  green  toys  Colorado  fishing  me (aww, isn’t that extra sweet?)

The idea is simple.  Focus on the good.  Focus on the positive and that is where even more of your thoughts will lead.

This is only one idea from one chapter of a book filled with lots of great ideas to bring joy to the forefront of your life.  Pam Grout has a few other amazing “positve energy” books too, E-Squared (One of my all-time favorites.  We have read and worked through the activities in this book three times!) and E-Cubed.

Out of everything I want my kids to learn (and there is a lot!), I want them to be happy, kind, generous, loving people.  That is far more important to me than any sort academic excellence or sports talent.  I want to share with them that the world is a kind and wonderful place with endless opportunities for abundant joy.  This is one easy “party game” for us all to play.

Enjoy and please share some of your “Thankfuls” in the comment section.

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