The holiday season is in full swing, and focusing on gratitude during this festive time is a wonderful way to increase your well-being as we inch closer to 2025.
Even if you’ve struggled with health issues, financial concerns, loss or other troubling circumstances, adding thoughtful new traditions to your holiday plans can help you see and embrace the good things in your life, no matter how small or simple they may be. When we focus on the good things we have, the good people in our lives and what we can do for ourselves and others, good becomes what we see above all else.
In fact, cultivating an attitude of gratitude can train your brain to better cope with life’s stresses.1 What better time to do that than during the holiday season when we’re often so much more aware of the blessings in our lives?
Consider incorporating one of these gratitude-based traditions into your holiday plans this year:
- Focus on being thankful. Try to look for ways to be grateful every day during the holiday season.
- Start a gratitude journal and jot down at least one thing that happened that you are grateful for at the end of each day.
- Write thank you letters to your loved ones and those who have made a positive difference, no matter how small.
- Thank and congratulate yourself when you do something good for your mind or body during the holidays.
- Remember to thank people in the moment. Knowing you’ve made a positive difference in someone’s day can change the course of their day.
- Walk or run for charity. If you’re physically able, consider signing up for a fun charity walk/run in your area. You can use helpful sites, like runguides.com to find a charitable run event in your community. Taking time out of the busy holiday season to recognize what you have by helping those in need is a fantastic way to turn your feelings of gratitude into action.
- Have a thankful dinner. At the beginning of a holiday meal, invite each person to say something kind about every other guest at the table. By the end of this exercise, every person at your holiday table will have had a chance to express their gratitude towards others and hear what others find special in them.
- Give back as part of giving thanks. Volunteering your time and giving back to charities that need your support is the perfect opportunity to give thanks for all the blessings you have in your life. Get started with a $200 Foresters Care™ grant or a $1,500 Community Volunteer grant and give back your way in the community you call home this holiday.
- Be mindful. Mindfulness is about turning off our inner autopilot and experiencing each moment by truly noticing even the tiniest details. Try to stop several times a day, take a breath and really observe what’s happening in that moment by taking in all the details—the smell of the coffee on your desk, the sound of the traffic in the distance, the feel of breeze coming through the window—and be thankful for the world around you and that blissful moment of peace that you thoughtfully cultivated.
Life is busy—and not always easy—so we might struggle to feel thankful sometimes. But by looking for the good things and good people in our lives, we’ll see how truly blessed we are—not just during the holidays but all year long.
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424215 CAN/US (12/24)
