Happy Things (aka gratitude practice)

Well, we made it to the 2021-2022 school year, and yet somehow, it feels like an extension of the last year– amiright?

I’m over a month deep into this term and there are so many unknowns. If you’re feeling that way too, you are not alone.

I’ve started incorporating gratitude practices into my life again. It’s a thing I did in college to keep myself sane. I make a list of “happy things” in the moment. I tried this with my 7th graders and they all participated (it went way better than the meditation practice we did where they just fell asleep).

Happy Things:

1. morning coffee
2. my new rose gold nutribullet
3. getting rid of clutter
4. re-runs of Murder, She Wrote
5. re-runs of Midsomer Murders
6. yoga (even if it’s only like 5 minutes of it)
7. hanging out with a friend on a Saturday afternoon
8. teaching my adult ESL class
9. my new bottle of 64 pieces of Airborne
10. a new pair of shoes

Those are my happy things right now. I did struggle a bit to get to 10, if I’m being honest. HOWEVER, that’s why I think gratitude practice is so important- it makes you consider all of the things you might be overlooking.

If you want to try it with your students, let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear about it.

-CC