Thinking of a doing something new this year? How about making a thankfulness jar. This is an activity for people of all ages. With all the crazy things going on in this world, maybe thinking more about being grateful and thankful is what we all need to try to focus on. A thankfulness jar is a way for people to dwell on the good things and why we should be happy and grateful. It can be a little thing or something big.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gratitude as, "a feeling of appreciation or thanks."
A thankfulness jar can be made at home, in school, or in an assisted living community. It doesn’t require many tools and the benefits will be plentiful.
First, you will need a jar of any size, some slips of paper, ribbon, a sharpie, fabric, glue or tape, wrapping paper (or whatever you’d like to decorate your jar with), and a pen.
The process is so simple, you decorate your jar and write on the slips of paper what you are thankful for and put them in the jar. Whenever you are feeling blue, or the bad things happening in this world are getting you down, you can go back to your jar and read the slips of paper. It will help bring your thoughts back to happier things...and might even make you smile.
Some of the benefits of a thankfulness jar may be:
Opens the door to more relationships.
Enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
People sleep better due to positive thinking.
Improves self-esteem.
Increases mental strength.
It’s a no-lose project and you may even have some fun creating your jar.
Each day or once a week you can write down one thing for which you're grateful and why and put it into the jar. When the time comes at the end of your thankfulness jar period, open the jar, pour them all out and read them. See which ones are your favorites, or which ones have been said more than once. Its a great group activity for assisted living communities. People like to hear what other residents are thankful for and helps get our thoughts pushed to a more positive outlook too.
Have fun!