Being Thankful!

I'm posting the In The Word Wednesday segment at the Scrapping Everyday Miracles blog today, and since it was Thanksgiving this past Monday here in Canada, being thankful is definitely on my mind. As a rule, I try to look on the bright side and focus on the positive because I think it's too easy to get caught up in the bad stuff that happens in our lives. I also think that no matter what I'm going through, there's someone else who is worse off, and I really do need to be thankful for the amazing things I have.

This bible verse on being thankful is from the NIV, and I used the Rhonna Designs App to create a pretty photo featuring it.

I also found an interesting article from the Greater Good website on tips for keeping a gratitude journal, which is a great way to remember to be thankful for both big and little things. Here's a list of the tips in the article-

• Don’t just go through the motions. Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others suggests that journaling is more effective if you first make the conscious decision to become happier and more grateful. “Motivation to become happier plays a role in the efficacy of journaling,” says Emmons.
• Go for depth over breadth. Elaborating in detail about a particular thing for which you’re grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things.
• Get personal. Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful.
• Try subtraction, not just addition. One effective way of stimulating gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain blessings, rather than just tallying up all those good things.
• Savor surprises. Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude.
• Don’t overdo it. Writing occasionally (once or twice per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling. In fact, one study by Lyubomirsky and her colleagues found that people who wrote in their gratitude journals once a week for six weeks reported boosts in happiness afterward; people who wrote three times per week didn’t. “We adapt to positive events quickly, especially if we constantly focus on them,” says Emmons. “It seems counterintuitive, but it is how the mind works.”

I find scrapbooking and Project Life also help me to be thankful and keep track of those gifts that I sometimes take for granted. Here's a layout I created with my photos from Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday in the Project Life App. I then used the Rhonna Designs App to add some text and digi stamps. 

Thank you so much for joining me today! I hope you're inspired to write down something you have to be thankful for, whether it's in a journal, a scrapbook page or just sending a thank you card to a friend to let them know how much they mean to you!