Practising daily gratitude with a thankfulness box is one of the best ways to enhance your mood, focus on the positives and be present in the moment.
While many people save feeling thankful for thanksgiving, Christmas Day or special anniversaries, recognising the things you’re thankful for on a daily basis can really change your life.
The beauty of the thankfulness box is that you can use it so many ways. You, your family members, other loved ones, and guests can write and drop thanksgiving notes into the box to read whenever you feel you need a little dose of happiness.
You could also save your notes to read later in the year, so when Thanksgiving Day finally arrives, you could read through the notes as a family and reflect on the year you’ve had.
Thankfulness boxes are available online, or you can make or customise one at home. Whether you choose to label it a thankfulness box, gratitude box or another label of your choice, this special box can be personalised to you and your household.
How Do You Use a Thankfulness Box?
Ever heard someone talk about a gratitude jar? Well, a thankfulness box is used in the same way as a gratitude jar. Write all the good things that ever happened to you on paper templates and place them inside the box. Remember to include whoever and whatever makes you feel happy, and date the pieces of paper.
Things that people are grateful for vary depending on an individual’s view of the world. You know, what you may be grateful for isn’t necessarily what another person can be grateful for. Anyway, the most common examples include accomplished goals, touching moments, fun, relationships, memories shared with family and surprise gifts. Add yours to the list.
When is the Thankfulness Box Used?
Start dropping notes into your home’s thankfulness box today, or on your anniversary, or after reading this piece. Keep your box visible, at least for ease of accessibility, and so you that you don’t forget about it easily.
You should also place a pen and pieces of paper inside the box. Do it daily, throughout the year, or whenever you feel like doing so. Then, open the box during your next birthday or New Year’s Eve and read all the notes loudly.
Why Every Family Should Have a Thankfulness Box
Well, as they say, life is never a straight line, especially for most of us, you know? There are times when we feel low, frustrated, stressed, anxious, or we doubt ourselves. Yet there are other times when we feel good and we’re in high spirits.
Any time you’re going through difficult moments, learn to figure out a couple of things you can be grateful for in that particular moment, and pen them down on a paper.
Which is the better way to turn sadness into happiness than by pouring your heart out into a paper? Embrace the thankfulness box as a tool to boost your mood whenever you feel a bit down.
And remember, anyone can use the thankfulness box. It’s just easy sitting around the fireplace alone and reflecting on the good memories you’ve experienced.
That said, you should never learn to be grateful the hard way. No. It shouldn’t be like that. You know, most people are naturally ungrateful (and we can do nothing about that) until when failure strikes.
The usefulness of the thankfulness box brings us to the importance of gratitude in life.
Maybe right now you’re asking yourself: “Why is it so important for a family to have a thankfulness box?” Literally, this “special” box can transform lives. First of all, it will shift your focus from monumental failures to good things that you can be grateful for in life.
No matter the moments you’ve experienced in life, embracing the thankfulness box is one surest pathway to family success and happiness.
Thankfulness Box Shifts Focus
One major reason why the thankfulness is useful for any family is that it can change your view of things and shift your focus big time. You see, by choosing to install the box in your house, you’ve already chosen to focus on the good things while ignoring the bad ones.
And every time you wake up, you have to bump into the box in your bedroom or maybe in table room. It’s true that it is much easier for us to see things in negative light, yet it’s possible to see them in positivity as well. If you’ve ever met a person who’s an all-time positive individual, you know that this statement is true.
Ideally, the thankfulness box is a monument that constantly reminds you, you loved ones and guests to embrace appreciation for all the things. It reminds everyone around you that it’s possible to be grateful for everything on a daily basis. Instead of living with abstract concepts in your mind, why don’t you write them down, and place them inside your thankfulness box?
It Brings Happiness
The sight of a thankfulness box in a home reminds every family member to be grateful every day. And psychologists agree that having gratitude makes a person feel positive, optimistic and happy.
All these three traits are inter-related, which means that absence of one can damage the cycle. For example, it’s almost difficult to be ungrateful and positive at once. So, there are chances that a family that practices the thankfulness box tradition is probably among the happiest families.
It Encourages Success
You see, a thankfulness box is a platform for both family and individual success. How? It is one good example of the art of goal setting. In fact, it’s no different from goal setting because you strive to focus on what is good and what you’ve accomplished, while giving failures less attention.
You get to achieve better things if you already appreciate what you have right now. If you’re this kind of person, then your persistent and consistent action will finally pay off. Ideally, gratitude and the “special” box emboldens a person to reach their goals in their individual capacity. The thankfulness box becomes the platform of gratitude, and it becomes your habit to pursue success.
It Strengthens Faith
Most families open thanksgiving notes during New Year’s Eve, or during Christmas Day, or any other “important” day.
Their faith in whatever school of thought they subscribe to is enhanced in the process, as they tend to attribute the good things to God, Buddha, Allah, or any other spiritual oneness that binds them together. In fact, that deep-rooted attribution gets baked into every fabric of their being, which in turn enhances their faith and belief.
Reduced Fears
This is yet another clear way that the sight of a thankfulness box can change lives. You see, it’s almost impossible to be grateful and fearful at once. The thankfulness box is all about being grateful, and it serves to deny us the chance of dwelling on issues that we fear are out of our control.
Every time you drop a gratitude note inside the box, your fears reduce big time. When that day of the year finally arrives, you open the box and it’s when you realize that you actually have a lot to celebrate about.
You also question yourself for harboring small fears. Gratitude put in writing instills in you the habit of looking only on the good side of life, so you watch as your family fears dissipate in a record time.
Thankfulness Box Makes Others to Like Us
There is nothing that generates social capital that making our guests like us. When they visit you and you’ve them drop a thanksgiving note, they feel that you’re nicer, appreciative and extremely social.
Motivation for Improved Productivity
Apart from helping you to become a more effective manager, the thankfulness box helps you realize that you can actually achieve something.
Also, seeing all the good things in many pieces of paper give family members the motivation to even push harder through challenges. This is one sure great way to achieve your goals, as well as make your home and the world a friendlier place to be.
The thankfulness box is not a cure for all life problems, but it is a useful yet often underutilized tool that you can adopt for happiness and self-satisfaction.
Do you want to live a full life no matter the challenges you’re going through? Want to get happier? Well, the attitude of gratitude housed in the thankfulness box can give you that exactly.
This way, you’ll as a family be extremely productive. How about enhancing relationships? Guests will like you more if they realize that you’re appreciative and social.
It all goes down to giving your home a trait, labelling it on a simple box, and constantly reminding your family members and visitors that you value positivity only. The thankfulness box is actually a constant reminder of what you value in life.
We hope you’ve found some inspiration in our guide to starting a thankfulness box for your home.
