Create Your Own Gratitude Jar
Anything that goes into a jar used to make me happy as a child. Chocolate chip cookies, candies, jams and yes - even pickles! I loved how my mom decorated them with red and white gingham jar covers. I imagined those covers were like hats. All the jars had different personalities, yet they were all dressed the same way. It was so much fun to visualize the friendship of the candies and pickles. Would they fight a lot because they were so different? Or would they be best friends despite their differences? I could write a thousand more words about my story of jars, but you get the point: I was a little girl with a big imagination!
Today, jars still make me happy. They remind me of home, our kitchen, my mom's baking, and the friendship of jars wearing red and white "hats". But there is one jar that makes me HAPPIEST, called the gratitude jar.
A gratitude jar is a container where you store little notes expressing your gratitude for the positive experiences, people, or acts of kindness you encountered during the day. It offers a beautiful chance for families to come together, reflect on their day, and highlight the positives in their lives.
According to an article published in Harvard Health Publishing, gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. And rituals such as creating a gratitude jar or keeping a journal greatly impact our overall well-being.
So, if you are convinced to start a family ritual of creating a gratitude jar, let the fun begin! And continue reading to find out the following steps:
1- Find a jar you all like. Go for a jar hunt. Make it fun and memorable. You can either shop for a new one or find a jar sitting in the kitchen cabinet and waiting to be picked for the project of their life!
2- Get colorful papers and cut them into small pieces. Get creative and decorate them the way you want. Provide different art supplies and give your children the freedom to express themselves.
3- Decorate your gratitude jar: Give your jars a personality that reflects the joy and positivity they carry inside them :)
4- Decide on your "family ritual" rules such as: what time you will write your gratitude notes each day (before dinner, after dinner, when you are all back from home, early in the morning?) and how often or when you will open them. (Once a year? Christmas morning? Every January 1st?) There is no right or wrong time - just find what works best for your family.
5- Stick to your routine and have fun with it!
If we inspired you to create a gratitude jar, please snap a photo and share it with us at @monkinya - we promise this will go into our gratitude jar!
With love & gratitude