I want to share something I haven’t shared before. Going back nearly 2 years ago the idea of Growing With Gratitude crossed my mind. I always knew creating something from nothing was going to be a challenge.
There was something that gave me a rush of adrenaline, that motivated me to go ahead and create a program that will give primary school aged students a head start in life.

 

This rush of adrenaline came from wanting to change something. Not only I wanted to create the next generation of grateful, happy and flourishing children I wanted to change something else. That change is to reduce depression, anxiety, mental health issues and suicide rates in teens/young people.

Here are some alarming statistics and facts about depression, anxiety, mental health issues and suicide rates in teens/young people in Australia from BEYOND BLUE. These statistics percentage wise are similar in many countries through out the world.

Who doesn’t want to see a reduction in rates of depression, anxiety and suicide?

Who would want to see their own students/children go through depression, anxiety and mental health issues?

Who wants a student/child who causes others to be depressed and anxious?

Looking back, these statistics have not reduced in decades.

Thanks to ground breaking research by Professors such as Martin Seligman, Shawn Achor, Barbara Frederickson and Sonja Lyubomirsky we know that we can train our brains to focus on positives that can reduce depression and anxiety.

Over the past 20 years many studies have found practicing gratitude, performing acts of kindness and exercising can reduce depression and anxiety.

But I thought, why do we still have such a high rate of depression, anxiety, mental health issues and suicide rates in teens/young people not only in Australia but in many parts of the world?

I realised one thing. How do we do it? How do we create the next generation of grateful, happy and flourishing children?

I realised children need to learn positive habits as early as possible in life. It’s not a sprint it’s a marathon.

Imagine the world we would live in if children from the age of 4 or 5 start to:

  • practice gratitude
  • perform acts of kindness
  • to serve other people
  • read personal growth books
  • exercise
  • think optimistically
  • be mindful of the people and the world around them.

10 years of positive habits will see students reaching 14 and 15 years of age fully equipped and emmersed in a life of:

  • gratitude
  • kindness
  • optimism
  • mindfulness
  • serving others
What kind of world would this create?
Not only we will see an entire generation of grateful, kind, optimistic, mindful and flourishing people rule the world, we will see a reduction in cyber bullies, drug takers, crime and socially unaccepted behaviour.

But where does it start to reduce depression, anxiety, mental health issues and suicide rates in teens/young people?

It starts with teachers, it starts with parents and it starts with families modelling positive habits.

In numerous conversations with teachers and parents / caregivers I quickly realised a common theme was developing. How do we do this?

That’s why I am so passionate about the Growing With Gratitude Program. Both the Teacher Tactics and the Home Grown Gratitude resources make it easy to teach children positive habits.

Through Growing With Gratitude you will:

  • Build strong class/family relationships with your students/children
  • Create a classroom/home atmosphere of gratitude and happiness
  • Equip students/children to make positive choices now and later in life
  • See your students/children wanting to serve you and others out in the community
  • See your students/children appreciation what they have rather than worry about what they don’t
  • See your students/children develop a mindset of not giving up
I invite you to join this global movement to not only create the next generation of grateful, happy and flourishing children, but to reduce depression, anxiety, mental health issues and suicide rates in teens/young people around the world.

CLICK HERE TO PLANT THE SEEDS OF HAPPINESS TODAY

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Growing With Gratitude Blog
Twitter: @grow_gratitude
Email: [email protected]