Daily Human – One important life skill to teach your children

I read an amazing Bruce Lee quote a few months back. Paraphrasing it.

Don’t give your children the things you didn’t have. Teach them the things nobody taught you.

This really got me thinking. What are the life changing things that I learnt on my own, which I didn’t know as a child ? Things that I wish I had known as a child.

One of those things is gratitude. Or rather gratitude journaling.

Important clarification. My parents taught me about gratitude. They taught me to give and be grateful. I imbibed it from them and was always grateful for all the good things that happened to me.

But gratitude journaling is different from just being grateful. By practising it diligently, you can acquire superpowers that can change your life.

What is gratitude journaling ?

It’s journaling about the good things that happen to you everyday. Small simple things also.

How does it help ?

Doing this regularly conditions your brain. It trains it to become better at noticing and remembering the good things that are happening to you. The big and small things.

How does this help and what superpowers can you develop by doing this ?

Doing this will make you a positive and optimistic person. The noticing improves your consciousness. Meaning at any given time, you are always aware of the good in your life. So you rarely feel you are an unlucky person. That things don’t go your way. You get the sense that you are lucky most of the time. As a result you are positive and optimistic. This is a superpower. Such people are more likely to overcome difficult challenges and are less likely to be depressed and unhappy.

Positive/ optimistic people are more likely to notice opportunities and create serendipitous moments in their life.

In addition, you don’t have FOMO about others. You are not engulfed by envy. You are happy with your life. Your energy is always channelled in the right areas.

These superpowers can make all the difference in your life. Personally and professionally. Life is more fulfilling and meaningful also.

I have gleaned this from many books that I have read about happiness, fulfilment and serendipity. I have also experienced it myself. Many times over. You will find this wisdom in ancient texts about religion and philosophy. I can provide some references if you want them.

How do you teach this to your children ?

Simple. Ask them to start writing about the good things that are happening in their life. Start with weekly and gradually increase the frequency. You have to help them be more specific and more current. Not just write about things in general. Like saying, I have great parents. They should say I am happy my mom baked cookies for me today. Or my dad bought me new shoes.

Remember the thumb rule

Gratitude >>> Optimism >>> Serendipity

There are other things that I want to teach. But this one is the most important one.