**Update 7-30-2009** A big THANK YOU to everyone who has left a lovely comment and/or spread the word about this little booklet. I truly appreciate you!
At times, it can be so easy to take that slippery slide downward and focus on what’s not working. It happens to the best of us.
About 5 years ago, I noticed each night at dinner when we would ask the kids “How was your day?”, we would get a lot of what went wrong for them. We (the grown-ups) would try and point out the good in the gripe du jour. This would lead to defensiveness from the kids and an overall unpleasant dining experience for all.
So, one night I started out the dinner conversation with “Tell me 5 good things about your day.” It ended up being a great conversation starter and the opportunity to teach the kids (and grown-ups) to focus on what is working. We still do this most nights at the dinner table. It’s always amusing when one of the kids has a guest for dinner and we ask them to participate. They get a shy, funny look on their face, but play along. Repeat guests know the drill and often prompt the question and want to go first.
Long story longer (!)… This little printable pdf booklet came from our dinner routine.
Booklet straight from the printer.
Booklet all folded up and ready to be put to good use.
Booklet in action.
Click HERE to download. I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to leave a comment on a good thing about your day or life.
As always, this is for personal use only.
note: the booklet doesn’t have to be used solely to record good things about your day. It’s also handy to jot down good things about a situation that is not ideal (your job, a relationship, etc). Pick any topic and find five good things about it.
Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this great idea!
I LOVE THIS!!!!!
Love it! Going to use it for a support group today. It’s soooooooooooooo cute!
We’re working on a post about teaching life skills and we believe a positive outlook a key to resiliency and helps us cope better. We’ve featured your booklet in it and used your thumbnail along with crediting you and providing a direct link back here. We hope that’s alright, thank you for sharing and if you’d prefer we remove it please let us know.
Thanks for sharing this idea. The booklet is so pretty hence an inspiration to write on it daily. It will be a great help for me and my kids.
Thank you, thank you!
Such a great idea, that makes such a cute book. So rushed off to make one straight away – got to bed at 3:00am! I haven’t posted it on my blog yet, but will soon.
Thank you so much for this! I will be making many as there is nothing better than a gift that promotes happiness through creating a habit of gratitude!.
You can see my take on your book on my blog :
http://swanlady-impressions.blogspot.com/2010/11/5-good-things.html
[...] gone?!) and it made its way around the blogosphere, but in case you missed it the first time, click HERE to download. I’m a little red-faced to admit that our family has been slacking on our 5 Good [...]
This couldn’t have come at a better time. My family needs this, so we can continue to remember and recognize how truly blessed we are.
Thank you.
Thank you soooo much for this idea.
I was given a journal for Christmas but already have one, so I’m going to repurpose it to create a more positive outlook on my working day. There are too many obstacles in my job and I know I need to focus on the best things in each day so this will be a great help in giving me a more optomistic outlook.
This is definitely one link I’ll be sharing with friends.
Cheers!
This is beautiful, thank you for sharing. I found you on Ann Voskamp’s facebook page. have been trying to think of a way to share this gifts journey with my kids. Thank you again.
I love this!
We will be printing this for our family – andI think that we will try to fold it like this….http://www.ehow.com/how_2281936_minibook-one-sheet-paper.html .
It makes a neat little page-turning book! just make sure to keep the graphics side out on your first two folds (the “hot-dog” and the “hamburger”).
Super cute!
Thanks!
This is absolutely lovely. Thank you for sharing it!
[...] {If you want a cute booklet to print to help you write down some gratitude, check out this printable from Whisker Graphics!} [...]
Thank you! I am giving this to my daughter for her family. She will LOVE this. Always looking for a focus at the table!
Thanks again!
Excellent job on this article! I really like how you presented your facts and how you produced it intriguing and simple to understand. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing!