Gratitude Journal
Since we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday here in the United States, I think it’s a perfect time to take a deeper look into keeping a gratitude journal.
I hope you got a chance to get together with someone you care about yesterday, and that you got to appreciate what you have in your life. I think the sense of gratitude was even greater than usual for many people, as things were still so uncertain this time last year.
As you thought of the things you were grateful for, did you notice how your body felt? No, not when you were forced to say it out loud by a well-meaning relative, but the moment you thought of it. The moment you thought, “Oh yeah! I’m glad I have that in my life.” No matter how brief the moment was, you most likely felt relaxed. A warmth may have radiated from within, and your heart probably felt full. It’s a sense inner peace and satisfaction bubbling up from somewhere deep inside of you
Well, I believe that feeling is our survival instinct feeling safe, and it is what heals our souls. A gratitude journal helps you feel this sense of peace for a longer part of your day. Any little bit helps because so many of us are spending the majority of the day under a lot of stress. We really need to make an effort to balance the scale for our own well-being.
Gratitude Journal Explained
As you might guess from the name, you write down things that you feel grateful for in your gratitude journal. You can write about the people in your life. An event that happened. An item you’re grateful to have. You can write down as many as you can think of, or just one gratitude a day. You can write them down in the morning while everyone else is asleep, before going to bed, or anytime you have a moment to sit.
A simple pen and notebook will do, but if you tend to draw a complete blank every time you try to write something down, you might want to invest in a gratitude journal that has daily prompts. There are multiple apps available if you’d rather keep a journal on the phone. I’ve even seen people post one gratitude a day on Instagram. I think that’s a great idea because sharing it publicly keeps you accountable to keep up the practice, and you might help others notice the positives in their own lives.
Personally, I think writing down my blessings was instrumental in my own soul healing. There was a time when I was just seething with resentment, and I recognized that it was affecting my children’s mood. So, I cut up strips of paper and wrote down what I was grateful for every night, right before the kids’ bed time. I encouraged the kids to do the same, but did not force it. Eventually, they joined in. It was something we did for just one summer, but they still like to look back at those strips of paper. It was eye-opening and pivotal in keeping our family together.
Blessings Are Everywhere
None of us can live completely on our own. We are all connected to millions of people around the world in an intricate web. But because our connections are usually brief and remain nameless, we often fail to even recognize them. We mistake ourselves to be alone.
If you run out of steam while journaling, try to focus on just one item around you and remember all the people connected to you through this just one thing. You’d be amazed how much material and how many people were required to bring you the device that you are looking at right now. Just keep in mind that we are doing this to express gratitude for the abundance in your life. If you use it as a way to feel guilt for how ungrateful you have been, that defeats the purpose. You can acknowledge the guilt, but give yourself a break because seeing our world with such a broad perspective is a skill rarely taught in school. Think of this as a chance to learn a new skill!
I, for one, am grateful for you, the reader. It is impossible for me to know how you managed to arrive at my words, but I know that it’s a miracle. We are just 2 people amongst the billions living on this Earth. How remarkable it is that we’ve been able to connect in this way. Thank you for finding me.