YW Gratitude Journals

Grateful = The Quality of Being Thankful

 

What a great definition of grateful!

It is a quality that each one of us can develop in our lives.

In honor of Thanksgiving, this month I made a gratitude journal for each of our young women. This gratitude journal is somewhat like a smash journal. The idea is that it is a bit crazy with different shapes and sizes of paper, different colors and patterns, etc. 

 

I am happy to report that the girls adored the books :)

I included several quotes on gratitude, writing prompts about gratitude, a pocket containing scripture references about being grateful, and an LDS conference talk entitled  "O Remember, Remember" by Elder Henry B. Eyring. (Click on the title or here to view the talk on the lds.org website.) I shrunk it down and fit 4 on a page then folded each page in half and added it into the front of the journals. It is a 4 page talk.

 These books are a 4 x 6 size. I would recommend that as the smallest size or you can do a 6 x 6 to give them a bit more room to write. The first picture on this post is a 6 x 6 one that I made as a test run. It was less expensive to make the 4 x 6 and they were still cute.

 The idea behind these gratitude journals is that the girls write about as many things as they can throughout the month that they are grateful for. The girls were then asked to being their journals on a certain Sunday to share some of the things they had written.

 This is one of my favorite parts of the journal. It is a page with butterfly sticky notes that instructs the girls to write one thing they are grateful for about each member of their family on a sticky note and then put it on a mirror or door or somewhere that individual would see it.

 Learning to be grateful for that which we have is an important attribute to develop. Empowering the girls to see the good in their lives will help them recognize the hand of God in their life and that will bring peace and happiness.

For those of you interested, I used a machine "the Cinch" to bind the books. It worked like a charm:) Love my new toy.

May we all remember the things we are grateful for this holiday season and see the good in our lives!