Gratitude and support are like life buoys thrown to us by our loved ones in a difficult situation. How not to miss them?

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Gratitude and support are like life buoys thrown to us by our loved ones in a difficult situation. How not to miss them?

I’m here for you. Thank you. These two, frankly spoken phrases are like balm for our nerves and malaise. Support helps us survive difficult moments – we feel that we’re not alone and it’s always easier to face problems together. Gratitude is the art of appreciating someone’s help, but also recognising good things around us. Even the smallest ones.

Small things count

what can we be grateful for? We have survived another week in difficult conditions – congratulate yourselves, at least mentally. And when summing up the week, think about what happened during that time. It’s worth focusing on gratitude, not only towards others, but also towards yourself; be thankful for still having something to be grateful for. We encourage you to analyse what strengthens you and what can help each member of your family survive this difficult time.

Family warmth and expressing affection towards our loved ones

Talk about examples of situations in which you felt your family’s support and love. Prepare cards. Use them to write down your associations with the warmth of a family home and its components. Think about how you show or can show your loved ones that you love and support them. Think about everyday situations and recall the times when you were sad or when something upsetting happened, but also the times when you were happy. Formulate your personal recommendations for showing love in your family in different situations. Maybe even write them all down in the form of a shared poster? Talk about why showing love and support is so important.

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Gratitude and support are like life buoys thrown to us by our loved ones in a difficult situation. How not to miss them?

Say it out loud

When you’re together, for example after dinner, try to finish the following sentence: “My family is important to me because...”. Why try to put it into words? Things that we say out loud have certain significance. Research shows that writing or speaking about our values directly – and if you’re reading this article, family is probably one of yours – helps us become aware of the meaning of life. As a result, stressful experiences cease to be perceived by us as such inconvenience and become an expression of our values. It’s worth a try.

All source materials are prepared by the team of Kulczyk Foundation’s Education Department in cooperation with teachers and experts – pedagogists, psychologists and cultural experts – and verified by an experienced family therapist Kamila Becker. Kinga Kuszak, PhD, Professor of Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Educational Studies, provides content-related supervision over Kulczyk Foundation’s educational materials. All materials are covered by the content patronage of the Faculty of Educational Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University.

The article was published on 27.03.2020 on the website of Instytut Dobrego Życia (Good Life Institute)

Authors: Dorota Szkodzińska (Kulczyk Foundation) and Anna Woźniak (Instytut Dobrego Życia)