It’s November and you know what that means.  Gratitude is everywhere!  You have probably seen it pop up on one of your social media feeds over the last few days or even posted something yourself.  It’s such a great way to spread the message to a large audience and encourage everyone to count their blessings.

We use it for our own accountability, but isn’t it the hope that grateful hearts would spread like wildfire?

Can you imagine if everyone you knew was willing to write down 5 things they were grateful for each day?  How might things change over the course of a month?

What if we all took that a step further and spoke our gratitude?

Perhaps if your teenager rolled in way past their curfew you might take a deep breath and listen first.  Then you might respond, “I get it, you didn’t have cell service while you were out in the woods with your friends. I was worried that something had happened when you missed curfew and didn’t call.  I am so GRATEFUL that you are safe.”

Or maybe your boss would say, “I realize things didn’t go as planned in that meeting, but I APPRECIATE your effort.”

Or your spouse might say, “I know how hard you work and I am so GRATEFUL that I get to go to work while you stay home with our hellions, I mean our beautiful children, each day.”

Okay, perhaps none of these scenarios would happen, but you get the idea.  Rather than just being grateful for your teenager, show them.  The reality is that you are truly grateful they made it home safely regardless of missing curfew.  That doesn’t mean that they won’t incur a lecture or get their well-deserved punishment.  It means that they might actually feel how grateful you are that they are safe rather than just mad at them.  The next time they might make a concerted effort to call you. Don’t reserve your gratitude for quiet time with your journal.  Keeping a gratitude journal is life-changing, but so is speaking it to the person in which you feel gratitude.

This weekend, I happened upon a little real-life experiment. My hubby and I have an ongoing debate about his listening skills.  He thinks I nag him to listen and I think his NOT listening is a legitimate issue that needs work.  His defense is that he is either on the computer, the phone, or thinking about something else while I am trying to have a conversation with him. My defense is that he is always doing something else and it isn’t obvious if he is “thinking” about something other than our conversation. The reality is that he does listen to me a lot.  I only mention it when he doesn’t.

Here is where the experiment came into play. I decided to tell him how grateful I was for his attention, his listening, his making plans this weekend, etc..I put action to my gratitude rather than just writing about it where he would never know how I felt.  Saying thank you for making me feel like a priority not only shows your gratitude, but it also reinforces that behavior.   I was intentional with my words and my gratitude and in turn he responded with his full attention.  We had a great weekend.

The reality is that you could plug any issue you want into this experiment.  Figure out what it is and focus on the positive.  Then speak your gratitude.

Keep being grateful. Keep writing your gratitude down in your journals and keep posting your lists to social media, but then put some shoes on that gratitude and go walk the talk.  Commit to telling someone each day how much you appreciate them and  see what happens over the course of a month.