21 Day Thankful Invite 2020 : Kenai Peninsula, Alaska schools & communities

Do you know that if every day, for 21 days, you briefly pause three times to identify someone or something that you are grateful or thankful for, you can rewire your brain for happiness and resiliency?

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District invites students of all ages, families, staff, and the community, to participate in a Districtwide 21 Day Thankful Invite during November and December 2020.

Download your free Thankfulness journal, or pick up your free printed Sources of Strength Thankfulness Journal arriving to a location around the Kenai Peninsula during Thanksgiving week, or when picking up "Get-It-And-Go" meals at schools. www.KPBSD.org

Pegge Erkeneff, KPBSD Director of Communications, Community, and Government Relations offers a brief invitation to you in this video. Practicing gratitude helps us to be more positive, joyful, kind, and resilient. Plus, especially in a pandemic, it can have a significant positive impact on our mood in daily life. Times are challenging right now for many of us, and every positive act can help us navigate easier. What are you thankful for today? Maybe it is someone, or something. Think about it–what moves your heart, catches your attention? It can be really simple!

Keep your thought close to your heart, talk with your child, partner, or friend, or text a friend, write it in your thankfulness journal, or on a slip of paper and tuck it in your purse or pocket.

Visit KPBSD.org or @Kenai Peninsula Schools on Instagram to learn what others are thankful for. Help us share gratitude and build resiliency in our communities. We all need it. Together we can be #KPBSDstrong and #KPBSDthankful #Thankful2020 #KPBgrateful

Start your 21 days any day—and maybe today is the best day to begin, or start again!

Ideas:

  • Share a round robin during a meal with each person telling one thing they are grateful for that day - and everyone listen carefully to what matters to someone else
  • Choose a friend or partner, and text your word or a sentence about what you are thankful for, every day during the next 21 days
  • Before you go to sleep, let your day pass through your memory, and choose one or more people or things you noticed that evoked gratitude or calm in you
  • Say thank you to someone when you notice their act of kindness or service

Practice pausing for 30-60 seconds in the morning, midday, and evening to take a deep breath, shake like a dog or stomp your feet a bit, then think of something that makes you happy, and brings you strength and a sense of belonging and gratitude.

  There is no right or wrong way to do this. Simply orientate yourself to appreciation and be willing to be surprised what you discover!