door #16: gratitude

Welcome! Before you can come through, you are required to name something for which you are grateful. EVERYONE can find something. Yet, we go through our days, the typical 'grind', and forget about expressing gratitude.

Newsflash: when you begin anything and the source comes from a place of gratitude, the outcome will always be okay. It's kind of like when you are really angry and make a fake smiley face, your anger dissipates. There is some scientific back up for this.....if you haven't tried it, do so. It works!

About five years ago, I was a facilitator/participant in a family meeting. The other participants were all dudes and crazy smart - like double-Ivy-league-educated smart: Drs, lawyers, MBAers. I was visualizing the all the day meeting and anticipating some conflicts that may arise. Nobody asked me but all I could think about before was how I could change the tempo of the meeting? I spent a 1/2 day doing the math of how much value, in dollars, has been passed on to them from their parents over e pas t 40+ years. It was round #'s but covered their education, gifts via Trusts, GRATs, etc. The amount was huge and I totaled it all on a homemade flip chart for each category. It was about $80M and for shits & giggles, the last page showed the value, in dollars, that was passed on to me $55K. No joke. The point was to ensure that all these really wonderful, really smart people had a foundation of GRATITUDE for the next 7-8 hours. I think it worked!

What are you grateful for? How often to you express it? Who do you tell, who needs to hear it? Saying 'thank you' will never get old. I've trained my four kids so well that every time I say 'what do you say?' their automatic response is 'thank you' even if it's not appropriate. One of my parenting wins!!!

When I was growing up, we couldn't leave the house without writing our thank you notes for anything we received. It was a chore but now I am so thankful that my Mom forced us to do it. I have to admit, though, that in my current life busy-ness, while I am no less grateful, I've become lazy in my expression of it. My favorite way to express gratitude is the good old fashioned way - writing it and sending it in the mail. It's the absolute best and now-a-days will always be remembered. Teach your kids to do this, start yourself.

This long, holiday weekend there is so much to be grateful for - our freedom, your family, the ability to breathe, food on your table, love, laughter, friends, the sound of children.......the list is endless!

Come hang behind Door #16. No matter what you have going on in your life, there is ALWAYS gratitude. Express gratitude from your heart and express it often. Nobody will ever get tired of receiving it. 

With love,
Katie

p.s. THANK YOU J&J xoxo