The Resilience Project

Gratitude
Working on gratitude helps us to be thankful and appreciate what we have in our lives,
rather than focusing on what we don’t have or what we want. When we practice being
grateful, we start to scan the world to look for positives – this only takes 21 days! Practicing gratitude every day increases our levels of
energy, helps us to feel happier and more
focused, determined and optimistic. It even helps us have a better sleep, lowers levels of anxiety and depression and we are less likely to get sick. So many benefits – let’s all try to be grateful for the things and people in our lives every day!

Whole Family Activity:
Gratitude Scavenger Hunt
As a family create a scavenger hunt list of things that make you happy or you are grateful for, you can make your own list or use the
examples below:

Something that makes you happy
Something you love to smell
Something you enjoy looking at
Something that is your favourite colour
Something you like in nature
Something that is useful for you

• Each member of the family uses the list, and has to find as many things as they can.
• You can hunt for things inside or outside, or both. You can hunt for real things, or you can also do this using magazines or pictures from the internet.
• After a set amount of time hunting, come back together, have a look at what each person collected and let them explain why they are grateful for each item.

Family Habit Builder:
Every night at dinner, have each person talk about their favourite thing about that day.

Sue Shimmin
Resilience Project Coordinator