Hello My Fellow CJs,
Being grateful is a very important skill that is part of becoming emotionally intelligent. I thought I was being so grateful until my teenage daughter at the time was complaining constantly about all the designer clothes she didn’t have. I was a single parent and couldn’t afford them but believe me she was always dressed stylishly and within our means. I couldn’t understand her ungratefulness. I was doing the best that I could. I posed this dilemma to a counselor of mine.
Be careful asking a question to a person who is going to give you a straight answer. My counselor said that I was teaching her this. “Who Me?” Well, I was grateful for some things but she heard me complaining about money and what I couldn’t afford. She just changed it up to not having designer clothes. Oh my, I had to clean up my act. As a result of this, I started a great thing that lasted for years. Every Friday night, I had lots of guests on Friday nights, we would say “our gratefuls”. In just several months, I didn’t hear those complaints out of either of us and a wonderful tradition was started.
Pick a night at your dinner table and say those gratefuls. Watch what wonderful things occur!