ABC’s of the Holiday Season

As we approach the holiday season, keep these simple ABC’s in mind to help your family to get the most out of it!

Living Intentionally During the Holidays

The holiday season is typically one of the busiest times of the year for families. It’s easy to feel lost through it all, like you’re walking in a haze and caught up in the rush. At the end of the year you may think, “Where did all of my time go? Why do I still feel unfulfilled?” During this holiday season I urge to think about your own values. Values look different for every individual and every family. If you value community, knowledge, and love how does this show up in your life?

Practicing Gratitude in Your Family

As the holidays season continues, one of the greatest gifts you can give your family is to strategically develop their sense of gratitude. Rather than having the focus be on presents or parties, you have an opportunity to help them turn their attention to others and to cultivate a sense of gratitude.

Exploring Gratitude

gratitude

I was doing some nerdy reading recently and stumbled on a scholarly publication called “The Journal of Happiness Studies.” Yes, please! Basically these scholars review and approve articles all related to Happiness. Turns out study after study has been done to try to break the code on how to make us happier.

Gratitude and Dissatisfaction

It can be difficult to listen to someone express dissatisfaction with an open mind.
Instead of receiving the comments as a reflection of someone else’s feelings, we insert ourselves into the mix, imbuing their comments with accusation and expectation and responding with defensiveness.

Gratitude is Good for Your Health

This always makes me think about how gratitude shows up in my everyday life. When I am really serious about being grateful the things that come up are my family, my health, and the connections I have. So, why do I spend so much of my time focused on other things?

The Definition of Gratitude

We often interchange the words “thankfulness” and “gratitude”. And while they are related in definition, if we look closer, we can see a few differences.

Cultivating Gratitude in Your Kids

Many parents today face a struggle in how to help their children develop a true sense of gratitude. Not just around the holidays, but throughout the rest of the year as well. One of the biggest ways to help your kids be grateful is to model gratitude yourself in your everyday life.

Kindness & Honesty

When we combine honesty and kindness, we can develop a more empathetic understanding of others and have healthier relationships because we would have a more authentic and deeper connection.

Traits of Trustworthy People

It’s true that we accept a degree of risk when we choose to trust someone. But, it doesn’t mean that choosing to trust someone it’s a shot in the dark. Here are a few traits of trustworthy people.