Why November is Statistically the Hardest Month — and how to beat it:

So according to the guys in lab coats with thick glasses –

 they say November is the month of the year that depression is most likely to spike.

Most likely to spike and prick hard and deflate everything unexpectedly.

About the middle of the month, they say — right before Thanksgiving.

Clouds can press low in November, the dark underbelly of things pressing to close.

And the guys in lab coats, they also say this:

That if you write down 5 things a day you are grateful for? Your happiness set point rises like a flame in the dark:

you feel 25% happier.   Like a pushing back of the dark.

“People who were in the gratitude condition felt fully 25% happier – they were more optimistic about the future, they felt better about their lives — and they even did almost 1.5 hours more exercise a week than those in the hassles or events condition.”

How we behold determines if we hold joy. Behold glory and be held by God.

How we look determines how we live … IF we live.

The strange quiet paradox of this — our lives change when we receive life with thanks  – and ask for nothing to change.

Let the rain fall in November.  Let the clouds scuttle west. Let the kettles whistle of better things.

And let the thanks rise.

 

 {maybe print out your own Thanks Giving Tree –

a simple little way to quietly celebrate November?}

{ at 50% off at Christian Book – maybe quietly tuck away a few for gift giving? 

– a soul-nourishing read to curl up with in this season of thanks and gifts? }

Scavenger Hunt for God’s glory. Count  1000 ways He loves you – count  1000 gifts.

Scientific reasearch says that giving thanks for just 3 things a day makes you 25% happier.

God’s Word says give thanks in everything because He knows this is how we live through everything.

Scavenger hunt through November for His gifts so you don’t miss Him.

( and enter to win a NikonD90 camera & a $100 Amazon Gift Card?)

How to Count Gifts?

~ Print out November’s Joy Dare {or the whole year (thus far) of Joy Dares}  – put on your fridge, have it at the dinner table, over the kitchen sink. Have a family scavenger hunt for His gifts everyday 00  and enter to win a Nikon D90 camera

~ Check out the free #1000gifts App … for iPhone or iPad… the new (free) #1000gifts app is like your own mobile gratitude journal to snap photos and record notes of your gifts from the Giver. So many so loving it.And more fun things to come. Free! Happy August!

~ Blog your 1000 gifts, or tag #1000 gifts on Instagram, or join us on Mondays and link up to the list on your blog, or record a legacy of your 1000 gifts in the new numbered journal–

And, if you’d like to be entered into the monthly draw for a JOY BASKET  (including a $100 Amazon gift card), share your gifts everyday in the Facebook Gratitude community (everyday we post 3 prompts of what gifts you could look for #JOYDARE!) ... and come the end of the year and counting 1000 gifts (after recording only 3 gifts a day/1000 gifts) … be back here to enter for a Nikon D90 camera…  Give thanks to Him in the assembly…

Click here to download the FREE EASTER / LENT Devotional: The Trail to the Tree{please give it a few moments to download… thank you for grace!}