Deepen Your Gratitude Practice: Family

In 2025 I will be focusing on giving gratitude to fill my consciousness full of goodness! In this post, I’ll share how I am giving gratitude for family.

Additionally, I will discuss how to deepen your gratitude practice for family through some questions you can ask yourself.

For the past three weeks, I have been leaning heavily on my family for their encouragement and support. I am currently a federal employee, and my career is in jeopardy after over 20 years of work. Interestingly, I had previously written about How I am Giving Gratitude for Home in January. Now, I face a future where I may not be able to stay in our home.

While significant changes are coming, I still have much to be grateful for and the many good things present in my life.

Family has always been a safe space for me—a place to share opinions, dreams, and goals, and to be encouraged to pursue them. I hold many titles in my family: wife, mom, aunt, daughter, sister/daughter-in-law, niece, granddaughter, etc. and I fill these roles with joy and honor.

Incorporating a gratitude practice with family not only strengthens our bonds but also enhances our overall well-being.

How do I express gratitude for family? Through check-ins and words of affirmation. Some of you may recognize this as one of the five love languages. If you haven’t taken the quiz, do it now! A handwritten note is a wonderful way to reach out with messages of love and encouragement.

I love to text my family to stay updated on their lives. Questions like, ‘Do you have any fun weekend plans?’, ‘How are you feeling?’, and ‘What’s new and exciting?’ are great for keeping in touch. Since we don’t live near each other, family text chains are vital for updates.

It’s important to be vulnerable with family, sharing needs and challenges. I didn’t expect a career change and a potential move abroad in my early 40s, but here I am. Moving farther away from family will be hard, yet I trust that new opportunities lead to growth. My family wants to see me thrive, not just survive.

Gratitude Practice

If you’d like to deepen your gratitude practice, here are some questions to ask yourself about family:

• What family memories do you cherish most? and how to do you feel when you think of these memories? Consider reaching out to a family member that was part of those memories and have a conversation about them.
• Is there a family member that has made you feel special or loved recently? If so, reach out to them to thank them for their support.
• What makes your family dynamic work and in what situations do you experience discord? Are there ways to find resolution to topics you disagree on?
• List 5 positive qualities for each person in your family. Focus on those positive qualities if you are navigating a challenging topic or discussion and remember what you have in common without focusing negative attention on your differences.
• What role do you serve in your family and does it bring you joy? If not, what needs to shift so your role is in alignment with your needs?

Gratitude isn’t about being positive 100% of the time; it is about being thankful and deeply appreciative of the goodness received. Here’s to a year full of gratitude and grateful hearts.