[Editor's Note: So many of you appreciated our post last week about having a Gratitude Party during the month of November, that we thought we might want to write more about gratitude. Then, Jill Daniels emailed us. Jill, along with her partner Mary Kay Cocharo, runs a program specifically designed for girlfriends called The Gratitude Groove. Read on to hear what they have to say about how gratitude (or the lack of it) can affect your female friendships.] 

By Jill Daniels and Mary Kay Cocharo

There is not a woman on the planet that has a problem-free life. Whether your major source of upset is men, motherhood, family, health, or career_____(fill in the blank!), you need to know an important truth. A primary first step to better handling the challenges you face is this simple…Change the way you speak about your problems to your girlfriends. 

You see, despite our professional careers as a wellness journalist (Jill) and a psychotherapist (Mary Kay), we know how easy it is to get stuck in mental quicksand, wallowing with our female pals. 

And guess what we found out…Girlfriends who complain together, stagnate together. Over time, if the commiserating becomes a habit in female-to-female connection (the psychological term is co-rumination), our problems can get worse instead of better. Our friendship doesn’t grow, and neither do we as individuals. 

But the girlfriends that commit to verbally celebrating their respective lives together, even when things are far from ideal, can soar personally and professionally.   

How exactly do women do this?  By getting their Gratitude Groove on. 

A Gratitude Groove organically occurs when two female friends repeatedly talk about what’s right about their lives; that includes excavating the hidden gems in situations that irritate, challenge, anger, and sadden us. 

If you had the opportunity to take 20 minutes a day, for 40 days, to move your life forward with a little help from your favorite girlfriend in a program designed to take women friends to deeper daily peace of mind, joyfulness, success at home and at work–and decreased stress–would you go for it? For the many women who have enrolled in our Gratitude Groove program, just 40 days of gratitude work allows them to deal more effectively with daily life responsibilities and relationships. The experience is akin to taking a good girlfriend along to the therapist’s office…Gratitude Girlfriend Therapy is what we call it!

Jill Daniels is a professional writer of 16 years specializing in women’s interests. Mary Kay Cocharo has been a psychotherapist for 23 years.

[Editors Note: Tina and I are enrolling in the Gratitude Groove for 40 days starting Nov. 15. We are eagerly anticipating the program, thinking that now—as the holiday season begins—might really be perfect timing to nip that holiday stress in the bud. We highly recommend you read the article that Jill and Mary Kay wrote for Psychology Today here. And, visit their lovely website for testimonials and experiences of women who have done the program. We at GirlfriendCelebrations.com are grateful for this opportunity, and we will be reporting along the way so YOU can hear all about our experience with Gratitude Groove. Wish us luck!  

But here's the really exciting news: Gratitude Groove is offering a 50% discount to GirlfriendCelebrations.com readers who sign up for their November 15th program. That is a $100 savings per person! Simply email jill(at)gratitudegroove(dot)com by November 10th and say you read about it on girlfriendcelebrations.com!]