Last Friday marked the third anniversary of my launching this blog, and for today’s post I’d like to revisit the subject that inspired me to begin writing these posts in the first place: gratitude. Specifically, I want to focus on gratitude journals. These are mindfulness tools that can help you look for and emphasize the good in your life.
Keeping a gratitude journal goes beyond writing down a list of happy thoughts, although there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a deliberate exercise of identifying some things you’re thankful for, writing them down, and reflecting on them to actually feel appreciation for them.
I’ve written a lot about the benefits of being grateful and why gratitude needs to be a way of life, and keeping a gratitude journal can reinforce that. Our brains naturally tend to focus on negatives, threats, and problems. Keeping a gratitude journal forces us to break that tendency to look at what is working well in our lives.
Instead of just having fleeting feelings about the good things in your life, you can possess a written record of positives to look back on whenever you want. By creating this kind of record, you’re building a resource that can help you get through the tough days.
A few years ago I received a gratitude journal as a gift. It features a “morning meditation” and “evening reflection” for each entry day. The morning meditation includes several sections, each with space for a few entries:
- Today’s Focus: How I plan to spend my time on that day, or what in particular I wish to accomplish. For example, I might mention something specific like writing a chapter of a book; or something more general such as being more creative.
- An Affirmation For Today: A brief, positive statement about what I’m feeling at the particular moment. An example of this might be, “life is precious”.
- What I’m Grateful For: A short list of things I’m feeling grateful for on that day. This, to me, is the heart of the journal. Here I’ve included family members, friends, readers, medical professionals, improved health, sunshine, holidays, experiences, opportunities, and many other things.
- What I’m Excited About Today: A few sentences about things I’m looking forward to on that day. For instance, making progress on a project, or planning for a trip.
- How I’ll Make Space For Gratitude Today: This is where I declare what I will do to acknowledge my gratefulness. A common example is trying to be more mindful.
The evening reflection includes these sections:
- Good Things That Happened Today: A brief list of highlights, such as completing an assignment, enjoying a great meal, or seeing a spectacular sunset.
- Things I Did To Make A Positive Difference Today: This might include helping someone cope with a difficult situation, making a donation, or meeting a steps goal.
- How I Felt Today: This is where I make check marks next to a list of emotions I might have experienced that day, such as happy, content, hopeful, loving, connected, creative, insecure, discouraged, angry, and anxious.
- A Positive Thought To Carry Me To Sleep: One sentence to wrap up the day. Examples I’ve used include “determination leads to progress,” “I am truly blessed,” and “always try to look at the bright side.”
The entries can be repetitive at times. For example, I might be grateful for the same people or things on multiple occasions. But that takes nothing away from the benefit of acknowledging what I’m grateful for.
If we take the time to think about it, there are probably hundreds of people and things we can be grateful for at any time. If you’re in the right state of mind to do this, just give it some thought and start a list on a piece of paper or in a document on your computer. You will be amazed at how quickly the list grows.
And now that I think about it, even if you’re not in the mood to do this, make a list anyway. It might even be a better time to undertake this exercise, because just the mere effort of thinking about things for which to be grateful and writing them down will likely brighten your outlook.
So yes, keeping a gratitude journal is definitely worth the effort.
“Researchers have found that people who write down three things they’re grateful for every night (or even a few times a week) improve their well-being and lower their risk of depression.”—Janice Kaplan
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