1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 A memorable line from the incomparable classic The Great Gatsby reads, 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:15,000 quote, let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead, unquote. 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Which highlights one of the themes of the novel that the author F. Scott Fitzgerald drives home 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:29,000 about the shallowness of the wealthy society who doesn't bother to appreciate Gatsby before or after his death. 5 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:37,000 When less than a handful of people attend Gatsby's funeral after hundreds ironically swarmed to his house for his lavish parties, 6 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Fitzgerald offers his critique of a society where people are often self-serving and insincere in their connections with others, 7 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:53,000 illustrating the fleeting nature of loyalty and human connection in a materialistic society. 8 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,000 What Fitzgerald saw lacking in humans in general was true gratitude. 9 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:07,000 And gratitude is our central topic for today's special holiday episode of Life's Next Lesson Plan podcast. 10 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Gratitude amplifies the joy of Christmas, bringing deeper connections and meaningful celebrations, 11 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:20,000 which is the feeling we should celebrate all days of the year, not just during the holidays. 12 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Today we're going to learn the health benefits of gratitude, 13 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,000 and I'm going to share one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever received, 14 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,000 and how you too can create and share this impactful gift with others. 15 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:40,000 This episode will dig into the science of gratitude and offer special holiday activities and projects 16 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 you can do either in your classroom or at home with your family. 17 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Hello and welcome back to Life's Next Lesson Plan podcast, 18 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,000 and thank you for joining me for this special holiday episode. 19 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,000 Today's lesson plan is called The Gift of Gratitude. 20 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,000 The purpose of today's lesson is to learn how gratitude, especially during the Christmas season, 21 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:09,000 but really all days of the year, can boost our happiness, improve relationships, 22 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:16,000 and bring deeper meaning to our celebrations. 23 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:22,000 The definition of gratitude is the act of recognizing and appreciating what we have, 24 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 both tangible and intangible. 25 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:33,000 At Christmas time, this often aligns with the joy of giving, receiving, and celebrating togetherness. 26 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:40,000 To start off our lesson today, let's dig into the scientific benefits of gratitude. 27 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:48,000 A 2018 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that gratitude practices reduce symptoms of depression 28 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 and increase overall happiness. 29 00:02:51,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Writing gratitude letters or doing a gratitude journal can create long-lasting emotional benefits. 30 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Expressing gratitude strengthens your relationships. 31 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,000 This can help on an everyday basis or make holiday gatherings more meaningful, 32 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:17,000 according to a study at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021. 33 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:23,000 Gratitude shifts focus from getting to appreciating, 34 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:34,000 which should counter commercialized holiday stress, according to the Personality and Social Psychology bulletin published in 2017. 35 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Sometimes this gets lost in the holiday shuffle of trying to find the best Black Friday deals 36 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,000 and trying to fill the tree with oodles of presents. 37 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:53,000 This should not become the focus of the holiday season. 38 00:03:53,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Research published in Personality and Individual Differences in 2017 revealed that people who practice gratitude 39 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:07,000 report fewer aches and pains, better sleep quality, and greater energy. 40 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Gratitude can enhance your physical and your mental health. 41 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Gratitude definitely fosters social bonds. 42 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:28,000 A 2021 study at the University of California, Berkeley, showed that expressing gratitude strengthens trust and connection in relationships. 43 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:39,000 The activities that I have for you after the lesson today will help you incorporate some of these scientific benefits into your life. 44 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:49,000 If you're looking for a message you can enjoy personally or in your classroom, there is a TED talk called Want to Be Happy? Be Grateful, 45 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:55,000 where brother David Steindl Rast explores the profound connection between gratitude and happiness. 46 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:04,000 He emphasizes that happiness does not lead to gratitude. Instead, gratitude fosters happiness. 47 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:16,000 Steindl Rast encourages us to view each moment as a gift, something unearned and precious, and to recognize the opportunities within it. 48 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:26,000 I have to say that in the last three weeks, connecting with many people who I used to teach with early in my education career, 49 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 who are now retired and I'm connecting with to be guests on my podcast, 50 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:42,000 this is the number one message that they have shared to appreciate every day, to appreciate the small moments of happiness, 51 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000 and to not take any days for granted. 52 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:54,000 To help with this, Steindl Rast offers a practical three-step method for cultivating gratitude. 53 00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:02,000 First, stop. Take time to pause and recognize and appreciate the present moment. 54 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:15,000 This can be just sitting, eyes closed, appreciating the small things in life. This can also involve journaling or just deep breathing. 55 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:26,000 Second, look. Look around you. Try to engage your senses and notice the richness of what life offers. 56 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:38,000 Enjoy the beauty of the color of the leaves, the falling snow, the lights on the Christmas tree, the small joys that bring you pleasure. 57 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:46,000 And third, go. Act on the opportunities presented by the moment, embracing them fully. 58 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Wrap up in a warm blanket, smile, put on some soothing music, just appreciate and be present in the moment. 59 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Steindl Rast clarifies that while we can't be grateful for everything, particularly in situations involving suffering or injustice, 60 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:14,000 we can be grateful in every moment by finding opportunities for growth and response. 61 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:20,000 This perspective can transform difficult experiences into meaningful lessons. 62 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:27,000 The broader impact of gratitude according to Steindl Rast extends beyond personal well-being. 63 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:40,000 A grateful mindset reduces fear and violence, fosters a sense of abundance, and promotes sharing and generosity, creating a more joyful and harmonious world. 64 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:46,000 I will be sure to include a link to this TED Talk in the show notes. 65 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:54,000 So now we can move to the part of the lesson that includes our reflection and activity. 66 00:07:54,000 --> 00:08:04,000 The first option is what a lot of people already are familiar with, or perhaps you already practice, and that is a gratitude journal. 67 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:15,000 If you'd like to start on a small scale and practice this right now, you can simply pause the audio and write down three things you're grateful for in the moment. 68 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Research by Greater Good Science Center indicates that this small exercise immediately boosts your positivity and reduces stress. 69 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:31,000 A second option is to take time to write a gratitude letter. 70 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,000 Whether you send it or not doesn't matter. 71 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:45,000 It is the action of writing to someone who has made a positive impact on your life, and this act of writing increases happiness. 72 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:56,000 Again, you may pause now if you're feeling compelled in the moment to compose a letter, or you can add this to your list to do at another time. 73 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:06,000 The last activity you can engage in for today's lesson is to get outside and take a mindfulness gratitude walk. 74 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Taking a walk and noticing what you're thankful for in the environment such as fresh air, nature, or simply having the ability to move immediately shows benefits. 75 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:27,000 The wiring in your brain changes after just a 10 minute walk outside. 76 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:40,000 This is a practice as well that can serve you each day, whether you do it in the morning, in the middle of a work day to take a break, or at the end of a day to decompress. 77 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:54,000 This is probably a great time in the episode to remind any educators who are listening that you can receive a free Headspace account to assist you with your mindfulness activities. 78 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:08,000 There are so many options in the Headspace app as far as guided meditations or sleep meditations to help you increase both your gratitude practice and just your everyday mindfulness. 79 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:15,000 And just like that, we've come to the homework or action step portion of today's episode. 80 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:23,000 And this is where I want to share with you a little story about one of the best gifts I've ever received. 81 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:35,000 So right before the winter break during the school year, we would have an exchange in my journalism classroom called Secret December Friends. 82 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Because not everybody in our district celebrates Christmas, so we were keeping it PC. 83 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:53,000 So we would exchange names kind of the week or two before and put a small $10 limit typically on exchanging gifts. 84 00:10:53,000 --> 00:11:04,000 And everybody would create a little wish list and we would shop for each other and wrap it up and then bring food and kind of have a celebration the last day before break. 85 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:11,000 And that became kind of a funny tongue-in-cheek team bonding sort of activity. 86 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:23,000 One year, probably three or four years back now, the staff gifted me a little mason jar. 87 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:37,000 And in the mason jar had a bunch of colorful slips of paper and on the top lid of the mason jar, I'll post some videos and pictures of it on social media. 88 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:42,000 There was a little Sharpie drawing that just said, heart to you exclamation point. 89 00:11:42,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And when you opened it up, there were a bunch of slips of paper with students favorite memories of me or slips of gratitude, memories that they had written to me. 90 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:20,000 And the editors who put this gift together had gone back years prior and reached out to former editors who had shared their moments of gratitude about being in my class and just how I had impacted their lives. 91 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:38,000 And truly, it wouldn't matter what the gift cost or when I received it. But again, it was one of one of the most meaningful and impactful gifts that I've ever received. 92 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:52,000 And I've kind of recreated this idea a little bit and created my own gratitude jars. I give these as gifts from time to time. 93 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Again, I'll post some information about how I created the jars and what they look like. 94 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:15,000 But they're really meant to be used 365 days a year kind of going back to the opening quote in this podcast that we should celebrate people or life on a daily basis, not just at the end of the year. 95 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:32,000 So the jar asks you to put a slip of paper or a receipt or whatever you have near you to jot down any small or large thing that you are grateful for that day. 96 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:50,000 And then at the end of the year or in the new year, you can open the jar either alone or as a family and read all of the amazing moments that you were grateful for in the previous year. 97 00:13:50,000 --> 00:14:02,000 I just think that this is such an amazing practice, both the gratitude jar that was gifted to me as a personal gift where the messages were written about me. 98 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:10,000 I think that that would be such a wonderful gift for a family member, a neighbor, a close friend. 99 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:24,000 You can ask others to contribute to it. That's one just amazing touching gift that you could give or to create a 365 day gratitude jar. 100 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:39,000 It starts empty and then your children or again yourself, your significant other, you can write down your moments of gratitude each day and then read them at the end of the year, empty it out and start over. 101 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:45,000 So I will post some pictures and videos of those jars on social media. 102 00:14:45,000 --> 00:15:01,000 A couple other activities for homework that you could do either in your classroom or at home with your own children is that you could hand out like red on green printer paper. 103 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:12,000 You could even have some Christmas themed templates to have children or students create a gratitude map. 104 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:22,000 And so here they could just kind of do like a word cloud and you can encourage them to write down things that they are grateful for. 105 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:38,000 You could also do this at Thanksgiving time, things that they're thankful for and encourage them to take simple concepts like family or my pets and to have them be a little bit more specific about it. 106 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:48,000 Like my sister helping me with homework or when my dad drives me to school each day, things like that. 107 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:57,000 These can just be hung up in the classroom or at home or these can be decorated as gifts as well. 108 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:04,000 And then the last idea that I had was to create gratitude ornaments. 109 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:20,000 So again, you could provide paper or I know craft stores have like small blank wooden ornaments and you could ask students or your own children to write or draw something that they're thankful for. 110 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:25,000 And you could gift these or you could also hang them in the classroom. 111 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:42,000 I know we have a yearbook tree, but you could create a little gratitude tree or these would be wonderful ornaments to put on your Christmas tree at home. 112 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:57,000 I want to thank you again for joining me for this special holiday episode. I know everybody's holiday season is so busy and I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and spend a little bit of time thinking about gratitude. 113 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:07,000 I hope you enjoyed today's lesson that blended scientific insights with practical tools for keeping what's most important at the center of the holiday season. 114 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:15,000 Remember that gratitude can amplify the joy of Christmas, bringing deeper connections and meaningful celebrations. 115 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:35,000 In the end, it's not about how many presents are under the tree. It is about the meaning in our lives, the strength of our relationships and how we can be sure those who mean the most to us know how much their presence impacts our lives, especially while we can still share that with them. 116 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:42,000 I can't express enough how grateful I feel that you have decided to take time to listen to my messages each week. 117 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:48,000 Your feedback has me on cloud nine and it has been an honor to share this new journey with you. 118 00:17:48,000 --> 00:18:01,000 However big or small your holiday celebration is, I want you to know that I am celebrating with you and I am thankful for the gift of your presence in my life, however near or far. 119 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:12,000 Until next week, if you'd like to subscribe to our email list for special offers, send us your email at nextlessonplanatgmail.com. 120 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:22,000 We are becoming more active at Life's Next Lesson Plan on Instagram and Facebook, so be sure to follow us there if you are on social media. 121 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:35,000 In the meantime, have a blessed holiday and we'll see you in 2025.