I’ve started a Good Things Jar this year and thought I’d pass the idea on. The idea came from my friend Milka. When she mentioned it on her blog a few years ago, I thought it would be a lot of fun but didn’t get around to doing it. Now that so much in the news is focused on the negative, it seemed to be a good year to start.
The idea is that you designate an empty jar as the Good Things Jar. You put it out somewhere in the house. Then whenever a good thing happens, you write it on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. At the end of the year, you sit down with family or friends and read through all the pieces of paper as a way of celebrating the past year.
It’ll be interesting to see if there will be good things in there that are forgotten by the end of the year. Who knows, maybe doing this will get anyone who tries it to get out there and do good things more often.
So far one of the good things revolved around a snowstorm that happened in early January. After shoveling the driveway for a while, we somehow still had the energy to go cross-country skiing. The snow was perfectly slippery for gliding adventures around the park.
There hasn’t been snow here since then, but we’re expecting six to twelve inches tomorrow. Snow always means the possibility of more time for reading and writing. So I’m looking forward to more good things…
Are you doing a Good Things Jar this year or something like it? Do you have any suggestions for snowbound reading?
Sheila Hurst 
I remember when Milka posted about the Good Things Jar. I thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted to try it too. I never did. Maybe this will be the year. I think we could all use a jar like that right about now!
That’s funny – I never did it either! Then finally just started it a couple weeks ago mostly because the news was too depressing. It does make you think of the good things more often. You can still do it! 🙂
Thank you for thinking of my good things jar! Do you think that we still use it? We change the date on it every year. Sometimes we forget to put things in there as soon as they happen, but it’s always fun to go through them when the year ends. I save the most memorable or interesting ones in a box so we can go back to them when the kids are older. It should be fun!
Thank you for the idea! I love doing it, and it does get you to look around for more good things. I was just wondering if you kept the good things from year to year. That would be a lot of fun to look through them later with your kids. I hope everything’s going well with you guys!
So beautiful! I think I would struggle to keep up with it, but I definitely love the idea. The more positive things we can notice and honor, the better our world will be. Having all of those wonderful moments in one place surely must hold some kind of power, don’t you think? xo
Yes! I like that idea of creating positive power. It’s fun because it makes you stop and think about the good things more often, especially if you’re looking for something to put in the jar. It might be easier to keep it up if it’s out someplace noticeable, maybe with multi-colored paper so that it’s more of a decoration. It’ll be exciting to see the jar fill up! Thanks so much for the Twitter share – love and hugs!
Love Milka’s idea. Glad your’re doing the good things jar. And cross-country skiing is definitely a good thing. I wouldn’t mind getting out and doing some of that myself. Enjoy your new snow when it comes.
Thanks Char! The snow is here and coming down like crazy. So this is another good thing for the jar – Snow Day!
I love this idea. I am inspired to go to my kitchen right now and find a suitable jar!
Yay – I’m glad to hear it! It’ll be fun to watch the jar fill up. There might be more good things out there than we realize. Thanks so much for the Twitter share!
Hi Sheila! I don’t have a good things jar, but I do have a one line happiness journal. I’ve been diligent in recording one thing that makes me happy at the end of each day. I’m into my third year and I must say, it’s fun to look back on the previous years. Your photos are AMAZING!
Thanks Jill! That’s a great idea – it would be a lot of fun to look back through the years and remember all the happiness. The sun came out right after that last storm so it made for good picture taking. The snow we’re getting now might last a little longer, but it did turn out to be a Snow Day!
That’s a very good idea. I like it.
As far as snowbound reading, I’m nearly finished reading The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty and it’s really good. If you read historical fiction, Julie Klassen’s The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill was also great.
Thank you! I do love historical fiction and will give both a try. One I recently read and loved was The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. It’s a book that celebrates books and bookstores so it’s a lot of fun.
I think you’ll enjoy both.
I read A.J. Fikry a while back. ( :
I’m glad you read it too – it’s a great one for book lovers! It also makes me want to read all the short stories that were mentioned so I’ll have to get around to that someday. 🙂
Sheila, I love the shots. I love the jar idea, too. Thanks for sharing the positive energy. (Ah. The sky is so blue. I’m almost able to hear the crunch of the snow. Lovely tree shadows.)
Happy New Year!
Theadora
Thanks Theadora! I’m glad the photos could transport you there for a bit. It’s snowing again here now with dark gray skies and even thunder so we might wait a while before going skiing again. 🙂
Lovely! Right now all my jars are being used for Valentine’s Day party centerpieces. Maybe I’ll use a different container ’til then.
One thing that brings me joy is collecting the funny things my family says. We get to go back over them and laugh together.
That’s a great idea! Doing that could encourage them to say more funny things and then there’s more laughter. I hope you’ll have a fun Valentine’s Day party with lots of laughter!
Thanks, Sheila. I hope you do, too!
The Good Things Jar is a wonderful idea. With so much negative swirling around us, focusing on positive seems almost subversive! 😉
Hahah – that’s true, it does feel like that! I like that feel of being subversive, especially when the world has gone crazy. 🙂
Interesting idea, especially when here we are so fixated on Brexit and its probable consequences at present. Something to help us focus on the good things happening might help the balance – if we can find any!
Yes, we probably won’t find much good in the news these days, but there are still a lot of good things out there. Writing them down might encourage us to look for them more often. We might be surprised to see how many good things there are, especially once that jar starts filling up. 🙂
I love this idea, and I think it would work well in a family with tweens who seem to be all about negativity!! I will try this and see if my house fills with sunshine and butterflies and rainbows!! 🙂
I bet you already fill the house with sunshine and rainbows. It’s fun to be on the lookout for all those good things though! Let me know how it goes!
Love this idea! We were putting together a newsletter recently and wanted to add highlights from the past year, but they ended up being quite standard things competitions, shows, etc. which are great to remember, but it would have been nice to add the small things as well. This would be an easy way to remember those. Thanks for the inspiration!
It’s funny how easy it can be to forget some of those things. The friend that’s done this before mentioned that they’d always be surprised by the things that were in the jar. I’m looking forward to a few surprises!
That’s a charming idea, almost like a communal gratitude journal. I hope you got a chance to ski again after yesterday’s storm!
We haven’t made it out there yet, but if the snow sticks around then the skis might have to come out over the weekend. We did get a Snow Day yesterday and that’s always exciting! The storm was too crazy for any traveling or skiing so it was a great excuse to stay in and read. I hope you and your puppy are having fun in the snow!
My puppy is crazy about the snow. She could spend the entire day out there. We went hiking with her yesterday and let her lead as much as possible which was a wonderful adventure: it makes you see the world in a new way! Have a lovely weekend!
I love it when dogs get excited about the snow – I can picture her running around and leading the way through all that excitement!
Snow is great! I dislike it so it certainly means plenty of reading and writing and perhaps even a snow themed book if I can time the reading pattern right, that way the book is properly immersive.
Hahah – either that or a tropical island paradise read. I might have to find one of those soon to warm up with. The best thing about the snow is that chance to be a recluse for a while with lots of reading and writing and something hot to drink. It never lasts long enough though.
Haha, yes so true! I am more of a method reader, in that I like to read books in the right environment or weather so summer books are left for summer unless the edges of spring and autumn are looking promising,
That’s a good way to do it – sometimes depending on the book it can help us appreciate that season more.
The Good Things Jar sounds such a great idea but I think I’d be the only one that would put anything in the jar! I have a family of Eeyores! Your photos are gorgeous – I love the sparkling snow and blue sky!
Hahah – well, you never know – once they see all the good things pile up maybe they’ll start leaning more toward Winnie the Pooh. I might be the only one who puts things in the jar too, but maybe I’ll be surprised. 🙂
What a great idea, Sheila. I hope your jar is overflowing by the end of the year! 🙂
Thanks Dianne! I hope yours will be too – I’m guessing it will be if creature sightings are added (and those are always good things)!
You know, I read about this idea not long ago and I thought I would try it…but then I forgot about it. Guess I should have written it down 🙂 But it’s not too late. I’m off to find a jar!
Yay – I’m sure you’ll find lots of good things to add because you’re always finding beauty everywhere!
I love the sound of this jar and particularly of looking over it at the end of the year surrounded by family and friends. At the moment I’m keeping a five year journal where you write a sentence or two for each day…that should prove an interesting reflection of each day throughout the years! Oh the skiing sounds wonderful and the pictures a winter idyll. Ah…
The five year journal sounds like a great idea – that would be a lot of fun to look through it while finding things that we might normally forget about. The snow is almost gone now, but I’m hoping for more skiing adventures. I hope you’re finding a few winter adventures too!
I love the idea of the Good Things Jar, Sheila! I hadn’t read that original post from Milka that you mentioned so it was nice to be introduced to the idea. I would imagine a bunch of smiles as you looked through the pieces of paper at the year’s end that told of so many happy times. HUGS
Thanks Christy! We’ll hope for lots of smiles by the end of the year, especially if some things come up that had been forgotten about along the way. Thank you for the Twitter share too!
Counting one’s blessings is such a positive thing. I love your idea and also Jill’s one line happiness journal. 😃
Thank you – I know you’re always finding good things and beauty everywhere – we just need to remember to keep looking for them.
Sheila I love this idea but I try to be positive every day. The good things are usually very small moments for me. Wishing you a great year where your jar is full to the brim.
That’s true that they’re usually small moments – maybe that’s why they can be easy to forget. Wishing you all good things!
Lovely post, Sheila, and a splendid idea. Thanks for the follow.
Thank you – I’m glad you enjoyed it (and thanks for the follow too)!
This is definitely a very good idea. I think this initiative could light a spark into us, making us give more value to our lives and its occurrences. As well as having a more pro-active attitude.
Thank you – yes, hopefully it will make us notice all the good things more often!
I love the idea of a good things jar. I tried to do a good things list but lost my focus on keeping it up. I’m reading your book right now and hoping to get a review up next week. So sorry for the delay. I wasn’t able to read on Kindle much this winter, but I’ve gotten that ability back finally. 🙂
Hi Kourtney! I’m glad you’re feeling better! Thanks so much for reading the book – I hope you’re enjoying it! I’ve been sick for the past couple weeks and will have to get back into the swing of things around here too. Maybe we’ll be cured once the sun stays out for a while. That would definitely be something for the good things jar.