Sharing Thanks

    I am very thankful for this very special Christmas gift given to me by my daughter Liz. She made me a Sharing Thanks Journal. I love her heart design and the picture of us she printed to adorn the inside of this very special journal. The best gift of all was that we used the journal together to practice gratitude. She wrote the first entry listing four things she was thankful for and passed the journal back to me. We use the journal to share what we are thankful for. It has helped me practice gratitude and has helped me and my daughter connect on a deeper level. It is wonderful to have a dialogue where we share our blessings. I love writing my thanks and sharing what brings me joy. It could be a beautiful sunset, or a kind smile a stranger gave me. I love learning about what my daughter is thankful for. I recommend sharing a journal with someone special to help your gratitude practice. It will allow you to focus on counting your joys and help you connect to someone in a lo

Sharing thanks for this Superbowl Commercial that tells the inspiring story of Derrick Coleman, a hearing impaired football player for the Seattle Seahawks. I love that they used Derrick Coleman's voice in the spot to tell his story. Derrick chose for people to know him as an NFL football player, a goal he worked hard to achieve despite his obstacles. I'll be rooting for Seattle today! I have a soft spot in my heart for this team. My daughter Liz is also deaf and wants to be known as a film director or actress. She knows how Derrick feels about batteries that help her hear with her cochlear implant everyday!

Photo by Ellen Birch. Taken at the Museum of Modern Art Water Lilies room. Art evokes emotions with color and light! To establish a grateful attitude focus on the beauty that is available to you everyday. Notice the light, and color of a moment. Sit and breathe in the beauty of that moment. Carry the picture of the moment in your mind and use it to bring you to a relaxing state of mind. I had many wonderful moments this long weekend.  I was thankful to be able to spend Sunday with my good friends at MOMA! We were energized by art and learning about the artists. One of our favorite places to go is the Water Lilies room at MOMA. The colors are mesmerizing and reflective. We sat in the room and soaked in the beauty and light of Monet's genius. It is one of the most relaxing places in New York City. I was thankful to have a good belly laugh with my friends. We went to a modernist art display and were chuckling over a piece of art work that resembled a stainless steel 

The Emmons Lab from the University of California has done a lot of gratitude research in the last decade and has found that the simple act of saying ThankYou   has many health benefits. Want to keep those New Years Resolutions? Then learn to say thank you! In one study people who kept gratitude lists were more likely to make progress toward achieving important personal goals over a two-month period compared to participants who did not keep gratitude lists. To learn more about this ground breaking gratitude research listen to Robert Emmons himself! I'm devoting the Month of January to help you start a gratitude habit! Each post this month will focus on techniques that will lead you down the road to thankfulness! I invite you to try these exercises! The first exercise is to start your day by waking up to gratitude! When you open your eyes to wake up, continue laying down in bed and take a deep breath. Breath in a "Thank You" Breath out a "Thank You"

Happy 2014! I look forward to sharing the new adventures I will be thankful for in the coming year. Let the good times roll. There is something liberating about putting on silly hats and tumbling into a photo booth! I love this crazy, silly photo of my family. This photo reminds me of many happy moments I was thankful for in 2013. In celebration of the New Year I am going to write some blog posts on how to add a dash of gratitude into your life. Being grateful is a choice and a mindset that can be developed by anyone, with practice. Here are the grateful moments in 2013 that this photo reminds me of. I was thankful to celebrate the wedding of my nephew Nick to the incredible Jess! The wedding in Philadelphia was a joyous event. They had a photo booth at the wedding with some silly accessories that led to many fun family photos. Our family gathered and danced the night away and toasted this beautiful couple. I was thankful my daughter Becky had a wonderful summer learning ex

A journal half homemade by my daughter Liz Sometimes the best gifts are those that come from the heart. This year my husband's family decided to do a homemade gift swap at our after Christmas party. I enjoyed watching my daughters and husband figuring out what they could make and bring for this gift exchange. It was fun to watch everyone around the kitchen table making their homemade gifts for the party! I've been busy enjoying the holidays, seeing close friends and family. I have so many reasons to be thankful, its difficult to pick just 4 for this post! I am thankful for all the gifts I have received this holiday. We are a family that is a tapestry of religions. Our best holiday is when we are all together celebrating! I loved hearing all of the voices at my Christmas Eve Party belting out  "Oh Chanukah, Oh Chanukah!" and "The 12 Days of Christmas" I was thankful to do a bit of reorganizing before the holiday party and found Holiday songbooks I had m

I am a dog lover! Seeing this short compilation of cute dog vines made me smile. If you enjoy this please share a smile with someone. I am always thankful for a chuckle or a smile. I loved the dog whose best friend is a hairless cat! Here is what I am thankful for today. I am thankful for safe travels that brought my two girls home from college. Thank you Mega Bus, whose bus from Pittsburgh was almost an hour early. Thanks to Jet Blue. They wisely cancelled the flight from Chicago on Saturday. They rescheduled Liz for a flight home on Sunday. I recently watched Loved Actually which opens and closes with families and friends reuniting at airports. There is a special magic when you reunite with loved ones. Thanks to Dr. Cornell who did my Mom's hip surgery. The nursing staff at the Hospital for Special Surgeries is phenomenal. My mom is happy to get a new hip and is on the road to recover. Thanks to the nice folks my dad and I met yesterday while waiting for my Mom to be out