“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” James 1:17. Last week, I wrote about the joy you will find by keeping a gratitude journal. My friend challenged me to find 1000 different things to …[ read more ]

@carol_mcclain So you’ve heard this before: You can find God through gratitude journaling. What? It didn’t work? I fully understand. I tried gratitude journals so many times and ended up repeating myself over and over and getting the same results. Quitting. This time though? At the end of this post, I’ll give you my formula. I …[ read more ]

by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN Friends and I hike the Smokies looking for Jack-in-the-Pulpits. Little Annie Margaret is the master. Me? Not so much. Finding them is a matter of seeing. Obvious? Not really. You have to look. You have to be present and be willing to see. Are you near a stream–not on it or adjacent …[ read more ]

By Carol McClain @carol_mcclain   Gratitude improves physical health. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in  Personality and Individual Differences. Not surprisingly, grateful people are also more likely to take care of their health. They exercise more often and are more likely to attend regular check-ups, which …[ read more ]

By Carol McClain @carol_mcclain According to Psychology Today, (http://bit.ly/2sRBIR0), gratitude improves relationships. Can you imagine why? While sitting in the teacher’s room, a colleague and I had an agreeable conversation between grading papers. In came “Bud.” He never had a positive thing to say. “Bellyache, bellyache…” My friend had the good fortune to need hearing aids. …[ read more ]