I'm going to deviate from my usual topics today and write about something that seems appropriate for the holiday season: gratitude.

At the beginning of this year, a friend shared that she likes to choose a new word for each year. The word serves as a kind of “guiding theme” for that year. In 2015, she chose “truth” because she wanted to live out her own truth, to be true to herself. This idea captured my imagination and inspired me to think about what my word for this year might be. The answer came to me rather quickly.

A year before, my sister had given me a Gratitude Jar for Christmas. It was a simple gift- a mason jar with a label bearing these instructions: 

Start the year off with an empty jar and fill it throughout the year with notes about good things that happen. On New Year’s Eve, empty the jar and see what blessings you received in the past year!

I loved this gift from the moment I opened it, and I filled it with notes all through 2014. I keep it on my dresser, and to this day, it serves as a reminder to be thankful, even when I’m not feeling especially grateful for anything. I don’t really remember what my notes said that first year. But I do know that I cherished reading through them. It gave me a chance to think back on many of the things that I had had to be grateful for that year, and I felt thankful for them once again as I pulled each scrap of paper from the jar.

So when my friend introduced me to this concept of choosing a word for the year, “gratitude” just seemed right. I’ve tried to keep this word in mind throughout this past year and to be grateful for every blessing, no matter how small. I have fallen short of this aspiration on many occasions, though; it can be so easy to focus on the things I don’t have, rather than on those precious things that I do have. I wish our house was just a little bit bigger. I’d like to have just one more sweater, or one more dress. And so on. Of course, I know in my head that these are not the things that bring happiness. But this year, with “gratitude” as my guide, I have tried to know it in my heart, too. And I have realized that the times that I feel most grateful are also the moments that I am most content. Indeed some of the happiest people I know are also those who are most thankful for all that they have.

As 2015 comes to a close, I am looking forward to reading the notes in my Gratitude Jar again. I admit that I’ve cheated and peeked at some of the notes visible from the outside, and I have much to be thankful for: “good health,” “time with friends,” “our boys,” “11 wonderful years of marriage.” When I think about it, I really cannot ask for anything else; such things are more than enough. I am still contemplating what my word for next year will be, but I’m thankful that this year it was “gratitude”.

Photo courtesy of Verefina

About the Author

Katie Zapotoczny is a Verefina Affiliate and the creator of An Ever Green Life, a blog that seeks to empower readers to make changes that will improve their health and help protect our environment.