Gratitude-O-Grams

Practicing gratitude can not only make you a happier and more positive person, it can also bring a lot of happiness to those around us if we choose to share it. That is where the idea of Gratitude-O-Grams comes in. As we practice gratitude, we should pay close attention to the people in our lives we are grateful for and be willing to pass these thoughts of appreciation on to them.

The more complicated we make this, the less likely we will be to pass our gratitude on to others. Our goal is to make sending these messages of appreciation something we do naturally and something that we look forward to doing.

It starts with finding the method of expressing gratitude to others that works best for you. For instance, you might decide to put pen to paper to write a letter to someone who you appreciate. Or you might send one more email each week to someone who you are grateful to have in your life. Or you might decide to craft a post for social media to share with the world your appreciation for someone who has made a difference in your life.

Regardless of how you decide to do it, the key is that you do it. By sharing these positive thoughts with others you are strengthening relationships, building confidence, spreading happiness and making someone feel loved and appreciated. Not only that, taking the time to spread gratitude will also bring you more happiness. As you craft the Gratitude-O-Gram you will be smiling as you express your thoughts. Then you will experience the joy of anticipation as you await its delivery and the reaction of the person who received it. So much happiness by transforming a positive thought into an action.

To increase the likelihood of sharing your gratitude and turning it into a habit, try setting a notification on your device during the time of day that you are least busy. Give your notification a name that inspires you to quickly share with someone what they mean to you. Also, make sure you have everything you need to turn this positive thought into a Gratitude-O-Gram.

Once you get this going, you are going to want to share this idea with your staff and students. I love the idea of setting up a Gratitude Station in your school. Just give the staff and students everything they need to create a Gratitude-O-Gram and place it somewhere visible. Share with them the power that practicing and sharing gratitude can have on people and the culture of the school.

Don’t stop there, there are so many ways to practice gratitude in the classroom with your students. For instance, end each week with a gratitude exit card, decorate a Gratitude tree in your classroom or create a wall of Gratitude sticky notes to share and celebrate what each student is grateful for.

Gratitude is such an important part of finding more happiness and spreading more happiness. Take the time to make this a part of your every day!

Thanks for joining us, and remember to Strive for happiness in Education, you deserve it!