Spring break has sprung here with the end of school on Friday. The fun of “movie and popcorn day” was accompanied by the anticipation of a week of freedom. Shouts of “I’m going to the Cayman Islands, Disney and Hawaii” floated around my son’s classroom. My son jubilantly joined in by shouting out [well maybe it was more of an embarrassed whisper] his hometown. Yes. We are having a stay-cation. This idea was met with much disappointment. I did mention at the beginning of the year the idea of driving to DC with the kids for break, but the 7 hour drive alone and the fact that we visited DC this fall for a family event, made the idea much less appealing now and I did not follow through.
The kids’ displeasure with the idea of staying home struck a chord with me. How quickly the memories fade. Did we not just go away for a ski trip February break? Is it a sign of being over privileged, over indulged… or the dreaded word… spoiled?
I think that it means that we have lost touch with being grateful.
We used to spend time during our family dinners going around the table sharing things that we were grateful for or something good that happened during the day. With the craziness of after school activities, our dinners are more hurried and harried and this conscious act of remembering to be grateful went out the door with us following at break neck speed to get to the next event.
I have really been looking forward to this change in routine. We all need some time to slow down. The kids and I will find time to ride bikes, swim and connect during this luxurious week off and I will make sure to reinstate some daily gratefulness.
As fate would have it, I happened upon a fabulous website this week called Thankful For. What I love about it is that you can program the site to remind you to post something that you are grateful for daily. This personal online journal stores your daily gratitudes and will share them with the public if one desires. It creates a community of people spreading positivity through daily postings of the good things in life. Check it out!
Interestingly, I also found this video on the Happiness Project blog that talks about the small awesome things in life that add to our happiness.
Break or no break. Take some time this week to be grateful for the little things in life. Stop to smell the flowers with some deep yoga breaths and appreciate the moment.
Karmaspot's Blog 
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April 18, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Lisa Flynn - ChildLight Yoga
What a timely and fabulous post. We are working in my classes and at home on the power of gratitude and positive thinking. There is tendency in our children these days to be pessimistic, negative and downtrodden. Using ‘positive opposite’ affirmations and gratitude thinking are incredibly powerful ways to ‘change the channel.’ These are all part of our Yoga 4 Classrooms teachings. And a hot topic in my own home as well. Today, my daughter experienced a “Switch-uation” by turning a disappointment into an opportunity. Impressive, as she has been going through a negativity stage. I asked her last week if complaining helped her to feel better – her eyes opened wide and the light switch came on. These lessons are so powerful. Thank you so much for the reminder. We adults can learn from this as well.
April 21, 2010 at 1:34 pm
The PranaMama
I couldn’t agree with you more. I struggle to teach my kids gratitude, especially my daughter who seems to want more, more, more. She begs to go someplace fun, like Chuck E. Cheese (horror!), and the next day after doing so, she wants to go to a store and buy a toy. It never ends.
Luckily, my kids aren’t quite old enough to care if their peers are going away on vacation, and are quite happy to have the time to relax in their jammies and go for nature walks.
Just yesterday we hiked in our nearby State Park and it was absolute heaven for all of us. I am eternally grateful, and wouldn’t have rather been anywhere else on that beautiful Spring morning with my children.
April 21, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Being Grateful (Karmaspot) : The PranaMama
[…] brings this topic to light this week on their fabulous blog post: Being Grateful. The post includes several different ways to incorporate gratitude into your daily life as a […]
April 22, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Aruna
I agree the attitude of gratitude is so powerful.
My niece loves $100 Lululemon pants and I bought her one pair for a gift (since I’m her yoga aunt). She wears them all the time and wants more pairs.
When we talk we find her desire for the pants stems from wanting to fit in with her friends and create an identity as a yoga/athletic person. She can achieve this desire in many ways, regardless of what pants she wears.
By looking at the desire it helps us know ourselves better. I am grateful for my desires too.
April 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm
manditrainermomma
I loved everything about that video. It totally changed my whole day. Many thanks 🙂