Tag Archives: gratitude journal

Youngest Journaler Yet

Wow, I just heard the sweetest story. Last month, my friend Pam got a copy of the What I Love About You, Mom  for her mom. She set it on the coffee table and planned to start filling it out for her mom over the weekend. That evening, Pam’s adorable daughter saw it and began leafing through the pages. She’s in second grade, and excited about learning to read and write independently. She asked Pam if she could write in it for Pam’s upcoming birthday. Wow. Of course Pam said yes, and suggested she fill out 9-10 pages for her birthday, then 9-10 more for Christmas, and so on.

After her birthday, Pam showed me what her daughter had given her. I was floored by how well she was able to complete the first set of pages. Our goal in creating the short answer and check mark format was to make it easy for anyone to fill out, but I was still surprised to hear how easy it was for someone as young as this sweet gal. She wrote precious memories from “when she was young” with freshness and inventive spelling. She thanked her mom for “changing my dipers” and making “good snaks.” I know she’s going to love the pages that ask for drawing.

I’m happy for Pam to have this expression of gratitude from her young daughter, and a keepsake of this moment in time.

 

We made mom videos!

Whenever we tell people about our gift journal for moms – What I Love About You, Mom – it usually gets them talking about their own moms. Since I had just gotten a handy dandy new Samsung phone with an amazingly clear video function, we decided to film a few of them answering questions from the journal.

1. What’s something special or unique about your mom? Answers involve favoritism, shining lights, and time keeping. They also prove that young men do love their mamas. Watch.

2. What’s something you want to thank your mom for, big or small? Answers involve New Jersey accents, acceptance and safety. Watch.

3. Share a memory about your mom from when you were a kid. Answers involve snapping turtles, balls of yarn, and a toad in trouble. Watch.

Stop Glossing Over the Good Stuff

I just have to share part of an excellent article by Jason Lengstorf on his blog, Scrawny to Brawny. Here’s the general theme:  “As simple as it seems, taking the time to recognize the good stuff can have a huge positive impact on your relationships with colleagues, significant others, friends, and clients.”

Excerpt from Jason’s article:

STOP GLOSSING OVER THE GOOD STUFF (How to Be Positive and Happy)

Positivity at Home

Every day I tell my girlfriend, Alison, what makes her special to me. Whether it’s her outfit, something cute she did that put a smile on my face, or just the fact that – to my bewilderment – she still hasn’t thrown all of my things out the window and changed the locks.

As a result, I can share my frustrations with her without it feeling like the relationship is ruined. We still fight, but those fights happen with the understanding that we don’t have each other, we’re just pissed that one of us was supposed to do the laundry and instead watched an entire season of The West Wing.

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Yes! This is what at least two of our journals are all about…taking time to recognize the good stuff in your relationships. It may be simple, as Jason says, but not necessarily easy without some help, or a jumpstart from something like What I Love About You and What I Love About You, Mom.

Jason’s full article is here.