Girls and Gratitude

Contributed by: Delaney Seebold, Development Intern

 

We all have those days where it seems like there is little to be excited about in life—school can be tough, work can be grueling, and sometimes things just don’t go as planned. With girlhood comes incredible amounts of pressure and hardships, which can sometimes make you question your path, ability, and choices.

 

As we get the new year started, it is incredibly important to be mindful of practicing gratitude everyday! This is such an easy, but impactful change you can make to elevate your quality of life.

 

Not only is gratitude impactful for adult women, but it is also an important skill to instill in young girls! Practicing gratitude strengthens emotions, develops personality and increases self-esteem. Check out this neat chart for other benefits of how practicing gratitude can affect you positively:

Gratitude-Diagram.png

Some ways to actively practice gratitude are:

  • Daily journaling of things you’re grateful for and why you’re grateful for them (5 minutes/day)

  • Take a walk for a few minutes and notice the beauty of the Earth, the birds, chirping, the way the wind feels against your skin, the comfort of air filling your lungs, etc.

  • Volunteer for organizations that help others

  • Make a gratitude collage of the things you are grateful for and hang it on the fridge

 

GEN helps girls build a gratitude practice. The parent of a GENgirl recently told us that after her daughter wen through GEN’s programming, she began telling her parents why she was grateful for them. The family was so inspired by their daughter’s intentional expressions of gratitude that they decided to implement a new tradition in which every night at dinner each member of the family shared one thing they were grateful for that day.

 

 

Chart Source:

http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

Other Sources:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/40-simple-ways-practice-gratitude.html

Felicia Gonzalez