{"id":202,"date":"2020-05-18T23:27:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T03:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/?page_id=202"},"modified":"2020-05-18T23:29:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T03:29:50","slug":"gratitude","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>What Is Gratitude?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gratitude is one of many positive emotions. It&#8217;s about focusing on what&#8217;s good in our lives and being thankful for the things we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gratitude is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fkidshealth.org%2Fen%2Fteens%2Fgratitude-practice.html&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNH6ammegWc-TnCTGNR6Oric9thFqQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pausing to notice and appreciate<\/a> the things that we often take for granted, like having a place to live, food, clean water, friends, family, even computer access. It&#8217;s taking a moment to reflect on how fortunate we are when something good happens \u2014 whether it&#8217;s a small thing or a big thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can use lots of words to describe feelings of gratitude: We might say we feel thankful, lucky, fortunate, humbled, or blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why Gratitude Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gratitude doesn&#8217;t just <em>feel<\/em> good. Making a habit of gratitude can also <em>be good for us<\/em>. Like other positive emotions, feeling grateful on a regular basis can have a big effect on our lives. Brain research shows that positive emotions are good for our bodies, minds, and brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Positive emotions open us up to more possibilities.<\/strong> They boost our ability to learn and make good decisions.<\/li><li><strong>Positive emotions balance out negative emotions.<\/strong> People who often feel grateful and appreciative are happier, less <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fkidshealth.org%2Fen%2Fteens%2Fcenter%2Fstress-center.html&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0Oz_rlkCjWYWFoQt7CheMxQ8HTA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stressed<\/a>, and less <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fkidshealth.org%2Fen%2Fteens%2Fdepression.html&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlRWFGXtgKT1HTB8fc0jMj-dIxRg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">depressed<\/a>. Gratitude is like a U-turn on complaining or thinking about what we don&#8217;t have.<\/li><li><strong>One positive emotion often leads to another.<\/strong> When we feel grateful, we might also feel happy, calm, joyful, or loving.<\/li><li><strong>Gratitude can lead to positive actions.<\/strong> When we feel grateful for someone&#8217;s kindness toward us, we may be more likely to do a kindness in return. Your gratitude also can have a positive effect on someone else&#8217;s actions. Thanking people can make it more likely they&#8217;ll do a kindness again.<\/li><li><strong>Gratitude helps us build better relationships.<\/strong> When we feel and express heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to people in our lives, it creates loving bonds, builds trust, and helps you feel closer.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>When we make it a habit to feel grateful, it makes us more aware of good things as they happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Build a Gratitude Habit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, feelings of gratitude happen spontaneously. But we also can create feelings of gratitude by deliberately counting our blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can build a habit of counting blessings just by paying attention each day to things you&#8217;re glad to have in your life. Slow down and notice what&#8217;s around you. For example: &#8220;Wow, the sky is beautiful today! What an incredible world we live in,&#8221; or, &#8220;There&#8217;s Sara! It was so nice of her to help me yesterday.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Noticing the things you&#8217;re grateful for is just the first step in building a gratitude habit, but you can try other things too, like taking the time to thank people or pausing to appreciate a star-filled sky. Start now. What&#8217;s good about this moment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Giving Tree - Animated Children&#039;s Book\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XFQZfeHq9wo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ACTIVITY HANDOUT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Create a family GIVING tree<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Take green paper and trace and cut out everyone\u2019s hand. If you don\u2019t have green paper then just color the hands once cut out.<\/li><li>Cut out a heart \u201capple\u201d and write on it one way you can \u201cgive\u201d to others.<\/li><li>Cut out or draw and color on paper (or re-use a cardboard box), a tree trunk and then glue the hands and heart \u201capples\u201d onto the tree<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/hRg-20umNrfvpdP4sBI2qRquabtXT23erlAhlLkPtVccr_jM6_B48oOsdnYPEApY7VRQSl79cSCxvdt2ToTPiH15XSkC1OVDxxYU4kbwjBao994cdxGE=w1280\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Is Gratitude? Gratitude is one of many positive emotions. It&#8217;s about focusing on what&#8217;s good in our lives and being thankful for the things we have. Gratitude is pausing to notice and appreciate the things that we often take for granted, like having a place to live, food, clean water, friends, family, even computer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2476,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-202","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/202\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/bazzya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}