Thanksgiving Challenge That Will Improve Your Relationship

I have a challenge for you…skip your New Year’s resolution, because if you accept my challenge, you will already be about 6 weeks into making a huge difference in your life and relationships.

Now here is where I should insert something clever or catchy about if you choose to accept this mission, this article will self-destruct in 10 seconds (thank you Mission Impossible) but clever and catchy won’t help you take on the task I am about to suggest.  The task may seem simple but like all change, it won’t be easy.  It will take effort, but it will be worth it.

Here is the challenge I would like you to start right now…Gratitude. Not a simple please, thank you, or small appreciation, but deep meaningful gratitude. This means experiencing a heartfelt/deep connection to appreciation for the goodness of something.

Having deep, meaningful gratitude means respecting its value, treasuring how unique, beautiful, or indispensable it is; connecting to how it impacts us or our life in a way that inspires or makes a difference.  This is a very thoughtful and introspective action which takes intentional time, energy, and practice.

Before you brush this off as “just one more thing you have to do”, let me tell you why gratitude can be life changing.

Over the past several years, there have been many studies and articles published about the positive and powerful impact on gratitude and brain, relationships, and overall health. I won’t go into all the details, but feel free to pop over to Google and search “studies on gratitude”.

In the broadest strokes, the research shows that practices of gratitude manifest externally as a positive emotional response which creates benefits that go beyond positive emotions and happiness.  These benefits become contagious and spread to all aspects of a person’s life.  Practicing gratitude not only strengthens romantic relationships, improves family and friend connections, it is also shown to increase work productivity, retention, and decision-making.

Physiologically it helps with sleep, lowering blood pressure, increasing motivation, and improving immune function. Mentally it boosts self-confidence, helps battle against depression and substance issues, and overall increases resiliency.

As I said that is just a short list, check out a full detailed article here:

35 Scientific Benefits of Gratitude: Mental Health Research Findings | Research.com

Now that I told you the “whys” here is the next step…the big question, if gratitude has such a big impact on so many different aspects of your life, would it be worthwhile to practice it now?

There is no right or wrong answer here.  Maybe you aren’t ready to commit without knowing what “practicing” really looks like.  First there is no one way, there are many, and it might take some experimenting to find the one that works for you.  The short of it is slowing down, looking inside yourself, looking around yourself to notice and acknowledge what you appreciate, value and treasure. Here are a few ways you can do that,

  • Journal.  Keep a specific journal, electronically or physically notebook, for just a daily gratitude list.  Make time in your day to write a few things you felt gratitude for during the day.
  • Share it. Leave notes, text, voicemails to people in your life about what you are grateful for about them.  You can also have a gratitude buddy; someone you share what you are generally grateful for in your day or week.  Or maybe you really enjoy social media, hop on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram or any other platform and share a post or video about things you are grateful for.  You can even ask others to share their gratitude in the comments.  It would be great to flood social media with posts about gratitude.
  • Include your partner.  A little different than the “share it” because including your partner means you will include what you are grateful for about them and your relationship.  It also means sharing it in a more face to face or intimate way.  This can look like sitting down and sharing it, using eye contact and physical touch.  Or it may look like leaving notes for them to find.  This is something you can ask them to do with you or something you can just bless them with.  Another great idea on how to do this is the Top 3 idea which you can learn more about here.
  • Trigger it.  When creating a new habit one of the tricks is coming up with an easy way to remember and fit it in your life.  If you can do this with minimal effort it will often increase success.  You can do this with gratitude practices as well.  You can set reminders or you can come up with behaviors you do throughout your day that remind you to take a minute to practice gratitude.  Like every time you wash your hands, get in your car, turn on/off a screen, eat a meal…think of 2-3 things you are grateful for.  These are already things you do throughout your day so the only thing you are adding is the practice of gratitude.

There are a ton of amazing ideas on specific ways to practice gratitude online.  You can check out a few here:

Stop here and ask yourself the question again, if gratitude has such a big impact on so many different aspects of your life, would it be worthwhile to practice it now?

If your answer is yes, then here is the exact challenge, practice gratitude daily for 60 days.  Then come back and leave a comment, was the practice worth it, do you notice any changes in yourself or your relationships, do you plan on continuing with it.

I will be sending out a free tool to anyone who comments back with how their challenge went.

If your answer is no, that’s ok.  Feel free to leave a comment on why.

If you feel like you want to say yes but are stuck or struggling too much, reach out for a consultation, we can help!