Tag: Gratitude

Day 1 2024 Gratitude Challenge

Get ready for the fourth annual Gratitude Challenge! Today we embark on a transformative journey where each day will bring a new challenge to inspire gratitude. As you participate, take note of the profound effects it has on you and those around you. Consider inviting your family, friends, or coworkers to join you in this enriching experience. Although every person’s journey will be unique, by the end of this challenge, you can anticipate emerging as a better version of yourself—physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Exciting times are ahead!

While any time spent in gratitude is valuable, those who actively reflect on and record their feelings of thankfulness will experience the most profound benefits. I encourage you to embark on a daily journaling journey to capture your thoughts.

It’s important to acknowledge the negative things happening around us, but let’s not let them overshadow the positives. All too often, we find ourselves fixating on what’s wrong, and in doing so, we overlook the incredible moments and opportunities for joy that are right in front of us. Embrace the challenge of shifting your focus—your perspective can make all the difference!

Let’s embrace the challenge of day one with strength. It’s hard, if not impossible, to operate in a positive and a negative state at the same time. Don’t believe me? Sit or stand tall, put a big grin on your face, and try to feel unhappy.

For today, embrace a commitment to avoid complaining, whining, and negativity. Choose only positive words to express your emotions. At the end of the day, take a few moments to journal and reflect on how this challenge heightened your awareness of your words. Consider their impact on yourself and others. Did you observe a contrast between the power of positive words and the weight of negative ones?

2024 Gratitude Challenge

October 2020 was a particularly challenging time in my life. My wife, noticing that I was struggling, stepped in with immense love and support. She gifted me a 21-day gratitude challenge created by one of her coworkers. I’ve always appreciated the support she provides, but this gift truly stood out during a difficult period.

Initially, I was pretty skeptical about the whole idea. But my wife, always the optimist, encouraged me to give it a shot. On Day 1 of the challenge, we kicked things off with a strict rule: absolutely no complaining. Ironically, that was also the day my beloved Minnesota Vikings were set to clash with their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers. To my excitement, the Vikings came out on top! That victory sparked a noticeable shift in my mood and outlook, leaving me feeling surprisingly uplifted.

As I pressed on with the challenge, I noticed subtle changes along the way. However, it was towards the end that a significant breakthrough occurred. In the final days of the first challenge, I began a remarkable transformation in both my physical and mental well-being. It felt like a turning point, igniting a newfound energy and clarity I had never encountered before.

This past summer, I learned that the creator of the challenge unexpectedly passed away. Her memory has inspired me to take part again, even when I considered stepping back. I’m excited to embrace the journey starting November 1! Are you ready?

Day 30 Gratitude Challenge

Last day of the gratitude challenge. There are so many things I have left out of the challenge. I am grateful for all in the challenge and much more.

Clearly, I have much to be grateful for as do you. I could write a book or two about today’s topic. However, I will keep it short. Today, I am grateful for wife. I love doing life with her.

Day 29 Gratitude Challenge

This post is a retread of a post from a previous challenge. When doing a challenge like this every day, it is easy to miss gratitude opportunities. If you haven’t figured it out by now, there is much to be grateful for. I know I have forgotten important people, groups of people, things, or experiences in my postings. This challenge could be a year and I would still miss a few things.

This gratitude challenge is not complete unless I write about about the two men who are my sons. I am so grateful for both of my sons. It has been a joy to watch them develop and grow into amazing human beings. They have taught me so much about myself and life, I am better because of them.

My oldest son graduated from college and earned a master’s degree in public policy. He has a job where he has the opportunity to shape the world around him for the better. He is married to an amazing woman. My youngest is in college and doing great. He has a wonderful group of friends, a vision for the future, and the drive to succeed. For the first time in several years, we spent Thanksgiving together. It was wonderful.

If you have children (furry kind count), take time to be grateful for them. They grow up quickly and leave the house. Send them a note letting them know you are thinking about them.

Day 28 Gratitude Challenge

Short and sweet today. It’s giving day. Pick a charitable organization and give what you can. I suggest a minimum of $25. Need help?

Dakotabilities “is a nonprofit organization in Sioux Falls focused on supporting and uplifting persons with a range of disabilities. We provide many services, including housing, employment, day programs, access to 24-hour nursing guidance, and more.

We work together with the individuals we support and the community at large to create opportunities for people with disabilities. Everyone deserves a meaningful day and the opportunity to live their best life.

In addition to serving the people we support, we’re proud to champion inclusive communities that actively include people of all abilities through advocacy and education.”

Lifescape “formed in mid-2014 when Children’s Care Hospital & School and South Dakota Achieve joined together. We are an independent, non-profit organization, serving adults and children in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Our center in Rapid City provides therapy and psychological services for children on an outpatient and outreach basis.

LifeScape will be an innovative organization, providing exceptional services and creative solutions for people with varied needs and complex care across their life span. Through collaborative partnerships, LifeScape will become a destination for research, and the development, implementation, and training of technology-based solutions to improve the lives of people we support.”

Michael J Fox Foundation “The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today.”

Promising Futures Fund “The Promising Futures Fund is a fund of the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. Donations to the Promising Futures Fund are used exclusively to support low-income students and schools with high rates of poverty in the Sioux Falls School District. We are proud to be part of the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation and a strong community partner of the Sioux Falls School District.”

Have a great day! Live with gratitude.

Day 27 Gratitude Challenge

With four days left in the 2023 Gratitude Challenge, I will focus on more personal things.

For most of my life, I have lived with animals. During my early years, we had a Dalmatian (honestly don’t remember what happened with that dog). When I was about four, we got a beagle puppy that would live for 15 years. We also had a receiving door of cats. During high school we got a cat named Rowdy who seemed to only like me. About the time I purchased my first home, two cats decided to join me. One of the cats would live for 19 years.

When the cat passed away in 2015, I was fairly certain there would be no more pets in my life. However, my youngest had other plans. He began planting seeds in late 2018. “We need a dog,” he said.

Pretty soon, his mother was on board. It was 2 against 1. They began showing me pictures of dogs they would like. Puppy pictures are hard to resist. My resolution remained strong. Further neither my wife and nor son had prior dog experience. This is a ridiculous idea I said. We aren’t getting a dog.

When my youngest son advocates for an idea, he can be unrelenting and persistent. His constant requests and suggestions began to weaken my resolve. I began looking at the puppy pictures. I began researching where to get a dog. I explored and considered a rescue dog. Ultimately I decided this was not the best route for our family at the time. NOTE: I think rescue dogs are amazing. I know many people who have successfully obtained a dog this way. If you are looking for a dog or cat, consider a rescue.

Long story short, by late March 2019, I put down a deposit for a dog from a litter of puppies due in May. If all went well we would have a dog by July.

Luck and fortune were on our side, on June 29 we brought her new puppy home. we considered several names but settled on Ginger. It’s hard to explain to those who don’t have a dog the bond that is formed. I won’t attempt to explain it here.

Today, and indeed every day, I am grateful for the joy, energy, and unconditional love our dog provides us. She is part of our family and our lives are immeasurably better. If you have a pet or had a pet, take a few moments and be grateful for them. Have a great day.

Day 26 – Gratitude Challenge

As this Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, I can’t help but be grateful for the quality time spent with family.

Thanksgiving was spent with my family. For the first time in years both our children were home for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I attended “The Gathering” of relatives on my spouse’s side. “The Gathering” is an annual event that started with my wife’s grandparents hosting a meal and gift exchange for their children (including my mother-in-law). It has expanded to include the grandchildren and now great grandchildren. It is a wonderful event with great people.

Today’s challenge is to be grateful and express gratitude to and for extended family. Especially Grandparents, parents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins whether by birth, adoption, or marriage. Remember my spouse’s wise words – “Love multiplied it never divides.”

Day 25 Gratitude Challenge

Pretty soon, gratitude will become a habit, if you continue to practice it. There are several ways you could do this. You could repeat this gratitude challenge every month. You could pick three things every morning and every night that you are grateful for. You could pay it forward every day. But if you want to make it a habit and keep it simple, today’s challenge is for you. Today’s challenge is simple. Say thank you and mean it for everything and everyone. If you go to a store and a clerk helps you, say thank you. If someone compliments you, say thank you. If your car starts, say thank you. If you have hot water, say thank you. If your dog greets you, say thank you.

Pay attention to how people respond. Pay attention to how you respond. Journal about it. One last thing, if you are reading this, thank you.

Day 24 Gratitude Challenge

“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris

Yesterday was a very good day. Both of my sons came home for Thanksgiving. My wife prepared amazing food for all. I took a nice walk with our dog. We watched football and basketball.

Except for the walk, all events took place in our home of 19 years. Our home is so beautiful (almost entirely because of my wife’s decorative skills). Over the last couple of years, we have transformed and modernized our space. Much of this has involved decluttering which is challenging for me. However, the joy I felt yesterday, made it all worth it.

The challenge today is to look around your living space. Notice the things that are beautiful and useful. Additionally, notice the things that are neither – and get rid of those things. Commit to getting rid of two things today. Dispose of two things tomorrow. Repeat until the above quote is a reality.

Be grateful for the beauty around you. I have included a picture of our dining-room table set for Thanksgiving meals. At least four generations have enjoyed meals at this table. I was young when my mother received this table from her mother. Years later, my mother would pass it on to me. I hope you can see the beauty and usefulness of this table – and the joy it has brought to my family for approximately a century.

Day 23 Gratitude Challenge

Today is the annual day of gratitude in the United States. The first national day of Thanksgiving was first declared by George Washington in 1789. Yet, it was during the civil war that it seemed to take hold in the United States. My hope is you all will take time to reflect on all that is wonderful in your life.

Today, many of us will gather with family and friends to watch football, tell stories, eat turkey, and enjoy our blessings. The challenge for today is to read the below statements, watch the WKRP Thanksgiving Episode (which is loosely based on events in South Dakota), love your friends and family, and be grateful for all you have.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the
ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefullyacknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows,
orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.


Abraham Lincoln
By the President: William H. Seward. Secretary of State.