Got 5 minutes? It’s the absolute best Christmas gift idea ever

Gift wrap printable by dailysuze.com

I’m going to let you in on a secret from the photography business: If you can get the clients to cry, they’ll buy.

I apologize if that sounds crass, but the philosophy behind it is actually pretty sound.

If we see an image of ourselves, our children, our spouse or our family which captures so mightily and tenderly the joy and love in our relationships, our cotton candy control dissolves in the mist of our tears, and we can’t spend our money fast enough to gain a physical reminder of that emotional trigger.

It’s why great photographers can charge what they do. It’s not because they capture an image. They capture emotion.

And there is a world of difference between the two.

But I digress.

My desire is for you to create such an amazing gift that you will enjoy a similar response. It’s a gift that plays the heart strings of your loved one in such a lovely and touching melody that they will melt into a gentle puddle of tears when they open it.

And for extra points, it is simple, inexpensive, takes just minutes a day, and can also literally help turn a strained relationship in a more positive direction.

I heard about this idea, the Thanks-giving Journal, from an interview that Life and Career Coach Joel Boggess held with Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect and the publisher of Success Magazine.

Darren relayed a story of having a tiff with his wife and later writing a card to her in which he shared his gratitude for her. While he struggled at first to look for those blessings, he found his attitude towards her had completely changed to one of deep love and thankfulness once he finished with his message.

Believing he had stumbled onto a great idea, he began a year long project.

Every day, he would spend a few minutes noting just one thing about his wife that he admired, adored or enjoyed and wrote it down in a journal.

At the end of the year, he gave his wife her personal Thanks-giving Journal. She cried, and told him that it was the best gift he had ever given to her. He joked with Joel, the interviewer, that since he had given her a BMW for her birthday a few months earlier, that was really saying something.

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What happened here?

He was just paying attention to the goodness of her, to the woman with whom he fell in love.

He detailed for her how she mattered, both to him and others every, single day.

I don’t know a stronger testament for a marriage than that.

So, dear readers, we have just about three months until Christmas. We don’t need to let another year pass to let folks know how important they are to us.

Let’s grab a notebook, a journal, plain or wonderfully adorned, and start writing every day.

Oh, and one more bonus: Darren’s surprising observation about this gift.

The person most affected by it was him.

Yeah.

It was him.

Why?

It caused him to look for the good in his wife,  which in turn changed the way she responded to him. The process produced absolutely the best year of their marriage, and it has just kept getting better and better.

Do it. Now.

Ladies-First, share this post with three men in your life-your husband, relatives and/or friends- to give them the idea of a lifetime.

Now, go get a blank  journal of your own and take just those few minutes a day to make someone’s heart sing this Christmas, because you don’t need wait for a full year before starting this project-start where you are.

This post is linked to No Ordinary Blog Hop