Gratitude changes everything

Ways to Teach Your Child Gratitude – Plus Tips for Teens

                      Start a daily gratitude tradition. Go around the dinner table and share something that you are grateful for that day or incorporate it into bedtime routine. For little kids, you might ask “What is one thing that you liked about today?” Another variation on …

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Make a Gratitude Adjustment

As a child, Chris Peterson absolutely hated writing thank-you notes. His aversion continued right into his 40s, until one day he knew he had to face it. A psychology professor at the University of Michigan, Peterson regularly gave his students an unusual homework assignment. He asked them to write a “gratitude letter,” a kind of …

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Acts of Kindness

  1 inShare Generosity refers to being benevolent by giving and sharing acts of kindness.  Al Ellis can be counted among the super productive. He was famous for his pioneering work in rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). His pioneering work in sexology is legendary.  He was at the forefront of the psychology self-help movement, having …

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Raising Kids with Gratitude: Why Going From “Gimme” to “Thank You” Is Important For Your Child’s Health

Gratitude is central to our physical and mental health. Grateful people are healthier, happier, and more satisfied with their lives. They are more resilient and have a higher sense of self-worth. Grateful teens are less likely to abuse alcohol and drugs and less likely to have behavior problems at school. The list goes on and …

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Bullying Epidemic in Our Churches?

Until 6 months ago, even with all the campaigning and advocating, I didn’t take today’s “epidemic” of bullying too seriously. I’m ashamed to admit it out loud.  But the truth is, when I read reports of bullying, I dismissed some of it (not all of it) to over-reactive, over-litigious parents and hyper-sensitive children. While there …

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Teens: Are Yours More Entitled Than Grateful?

My teenager is just NOT grateful for anything we do for him.  I keep trying to introduce gratitude practices into our family dinners, but he just sulks through them.  What can I do?”. But I’ve also been reminded that some gratitude interventions—practices that researchers design to increase gratitude in individuals—don’t always work for everyone.  In …

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Paying it Forward

  I have a desire to do something in return. To do thanks. To give thanks. Give things. Give thoughts. Give love. So gratitude becomes the gift, creating a cycle of giving and receiving, the endless waterfall. Filling up and spilling over… perhaps not even to the giver but to someone else, to whoever crosses …

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Bullied by classmates, this Georgia teen can now bring her service dog ‘Carson’ to school to help her cope

  Bullied by classmates, this Georgia teen can now bring her service dog ‘Carson’ to school to help her cope The other middle school students and ninth-graders told her that no one would miss her if she killed herself. And they dared her to try it. Because she was overweight from a hormone imbalance, she …

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Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier

Our world is pretty messed up. With all the violence, pollution and crazy things people do, it would be easy to turn into a grouchy old man without being either elderly or male. There’s certainly no shortage of justification for disappointment and cynicism. But consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it …

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Teaching Children to be Grateful

The Art of Appreciation Gratitude is one of the trickiest concepts to teach toddlers and preschoolers — who are by nature self-centered — but one of the most important. Sure, thankful children are more polite and pleasant to be around, but there’s more to it than that. By learning gratitude, they become sensitive to the feelings of …

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Why Practice Gratitude

Over the past decade, hundreds of studies have documented the social, physical, and psychological benefits of gratitude. The research suggests these benefits are available to most anyone who practices gratitude, even in the midst of adversity, such as elderly people confronting death, women with breast cancer, and people coping with a chronic muscular disease. Here …

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Bible Verses about Bullying Part 1

Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Romans 12:19-20 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, …

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