The other day we received a lovely email from Ed Han of Tiny Prints, thanking us for participating in The Gratitude Challenge. Tiny Prints has put together an inspiring video about the challenge, which you can watch below. Even better, they’ve now made the Gratitude Challenge available to everyone! You can download the Gratitude Challenge pledge, download the Gratitude Challenge calendar with all the tasks and prompts for the 21-day challenge, and add a Gratitude Challenge widget to your own blog. We really hope you will check it out and consider taking the challenge yourself. It only takes 21 days to form a grateful habit that could change your life! If you’d like to revisit our gratitude journey, you can check out all our Gratitude Challenge posts here.

Watch the video and read an excerpt from Ed’s letter below.

“We started this project as a internal movement focused on helping our colleagues to achieve one simple goal—to counter everyday stress and negativity with daily affirmations of gratitude. As The Gratitude Challenge grew to include bloggers outside of our company, however, we learned just how much gratitude can change a person’s life.

From tornadoes to car accidents, fires and family drama, The Gratitude Challenge saw our bloggers through meaningful, life-changing events. We learned so much from this experience that we made a short video about how gratitude can revitalize your perspective.” [watch it above]

“We hope this experience has meant as much to you as it has to us, and we hope that you and your readers will to continue to follow our progress as we invite the world to join the movement at gratitudechallenge.com.

Ed Han

Tiny Prints Founder & CEO

Life is Like a Bowl of Stone Soup“

Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriend-In-Chief Tina here:

It’s Day 21 of our Gratitude Challenge. Today’s instruction reads: Publicly reflect on the 21 days of the gratitude challenge and what this process has meant to you.

So today is the end of the road for my journey in experimental gratitude. I have to say I’m a little sad, in a way; it was nice to have the daily reminders to think about my not-so-perfect world in a cheerier way. It kept me on my toes, always finding something good out of something mundane or not so great.

The challenge made me appreciate the small things in a different light. For that, I am grateful. I’ve always thought I was a positive person and agreed to do the challenge because I thought it would be easy-peasy pie. However, a few days into it, I realized my true colors. I truly wasn’t the rosy person I’d claimed to be and it was really hard trying to find something good in certain situations. Some days, it was really a lot of work for my mind.

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit. My hope is that gratitude is a way of life for me now. I know I’ve been in a better frame of mind and have been looking at things in a more positive light.  In fact, I think if more people rode the gratitude wagon we would have less need for antidepressants and therapists. I know that gratitude has spilled into my relationship with my husband. I no longer gasp at all the things he doesn’t do for me (bring me flowers?) and I focus on what he adds to my life (a loving, caring guy with no romance skills).  I truly think we would need less divorce lawyers if couples were made to do gratitude counseling.

I’ve even realized how important it is for my children to be thankful for the small things in life too!  So we’ve started a gratitude journal to talk about at dinner time.  We share 3 things we are grateful for that day. It’s sometimes hard for them to think about something other than the yummy dessert to be thankful for. But just like me, I’m hoping it gets easier over time. Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriend-in-Chief Dawn here. When I looked at my Gratitude Challenge card for today, it asked me to think of one specific thing I am grateful for and blog about it. I have to admit my first thought was “coffee”! (Okay, it was early in the morning, and I never start a day without a steaming cup of java). As I was pondering the wonders of coffee, I noticed the coffee mug I had chosen this morning. It was a gift from Girlfriend-in-Chief Tina. Honestly, I can’t remember the occasion on which it was given, but I do remember it was filled with chocolate when I received it. The mug got me to thinking about something I AM truly grateful for…big surprise….friendship. More specifically, I am grateful that I have the kind of friend who gives me little mementos of our relationship. I am not a big tchotchke person, but I keep things that have meaning to me. As I look around my house, I see quite a few reminders of my nine-year friendship with Tina. Last Christmas, she had a plate made for me (by an Etsy artisan) to celebrate our achievements on the website. Thoughtful, right?  I was so surprised and delighted (and of course, guilt-ridden that I had not been nearly as thoughtful). That she took the time from her busy life to slow down, think about me, and make that gesture meant the world to me. I am not nearly so good at slowing down to consider the girlfriends who are important to me and letting them know. (Maybe, just maybe, writing this post counts for a little!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriend-In-Chief Tina here. Today is Day 10 of our Gratitude Challenge. My task is to pick one of my five

senses to be grateful for.

I am thankful for my ability to see the world through open eyes.

I was fortunate enough to have been born with wonderful eyesight. Yes, with the blink of an eye, I’ve had mine for total of 14,860 days now. Yet, it took The Gratitude Challenge to open my eyes to being thankful for such a simple gift. Being able to see the many colors of the rainbow is something I’ve taken for granted all these years. Sad but true.

Here is a small glimpse of beauty I saw over the summer through the eye of my camera. I realize now I’m not only fortunate to be able to see such wonderful visions but I’m also lucky to be able to capture such heartwarming memories one click at a time.

At the right is the shore of Lake St. Germain. Yes it is a picture of rocks, sand and water. But through my eyes it is much more than that. This is the spot where my boys playfully giggle as the dig their entire bodies into the sand, skip rocks with the greatest of ease and build sand cities to get lost in. I know these times with my children will come to an end as they grow older, so this picture of a place that holds so many memories is dear to my heart.

Thank you Tiny Prints for opening my eyes to something so simple to be grateful for. Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriend-in-Chief Dawn here. My task for today (Day 3) in The Gratitude Challenge is to write a blog post about something I’m grateful for today in my life. Well, I’m finding this incredibly easy today. For the past few days I have been visiting the beach with my family. It’s fairly easy to be in a grateful state of mind when you’re away from housework, schedules, and real life. It generally takes me three or four days into vacation to truly relax (just in time to go back home). I personally never seem to schedule enough down time into my busy life, but I always feel better when I do. Vacations are great for remembering what is really important, and what isn’t. As we watched the waves crashing into the shore, my husband reminded us that no matter what happens — who wins the big game, who gets the client, what the test score is — the waves will keep crashing into this shore.

Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriend-in-Chief Tina here. Since I’ve had more than enough time to contemplate the Gratitude Challenge

today and something that I am grateful for, my list of things to be thankful for is growing by leaps and bounds. But that is what a total of
five hours and twenty-one minutes to be exact, driving alone in the car post-vacation will give you. Lots and lots of time to think.

Read the rest of this entry »

Turn your attention to something, and it grows. The Girlfriends-in-Chief can certainly attest to this little truth. Over the past year, we’ve turned our attention (more than ever before) to GirlfriendCelebrations on and offline. And GIRL, have we grown! Opportunities online and offline have grown for us by leaps and bounds. Our girlfriend circle has grown by a bunch. We feel incredibly grateful for the opportunities—and the fun—that have come our way lately. So, when we were asked to join The Gratitude Challenge with 11 other bloggers, we were both honored and thrilled.

You see, the theme behind The Gratitude Challenge, “Take Note and Give Thanks,” is really in harmony with what we are trying to do here every day. We truly believe that Girlfriends Make Life Better™, and we recognize that you have to pay attention to your girlfriendships to help them grow. Not only do you have to take note of what your female friends add to your life, you need to act on it (by scheduling fun and meaningful times together) to strengthen your friendships and improve your lives. At least that’s our theory. We’ve also written about ways girlfriends can explore gratitude together.

So anyway, both of us have signed a pledge to take part in The Gratitude Challenge for the next 21 days. As part of our pledge, we’ve promised to ” take note of life’s little blessings and give thanks for the relationships, experiences and opportunities that make [our] life unique.” As part of this challenge, you’ll be seeing posts from both of us on the concept of gratitude. This could get personal! Are you with us? We’d love to hear from you, girlfriends, on what you’re grateful for—and we hope you start with your girlfriends. Remember, what you put your attention on grows. Let’s all grow something good together. Read the rest of this entry »