Thanks for everything: keeping a gratitude journal

-By Lisa

I don't mean to get all Oprah here, but I just have to say it.

Keeping a daily gratitude journal has been huge for me.

I'm not sure if The Secret works; maybe if I glue pictures of the things I want on a poster board, they really will fall in my lap the next day. But what seems to be true in my life is something akin to Karma or You Get What You Give.

Even if there is no cosmic scorekeeper and the 90’s pop/rock one-hit-wonders have no clue what they are talking about, there is something significant that happens when I write down the things that I am grateful for; I am a happier, better person.

It’s pretty simple. I sit down once a day and write out five things that I feel grateful for. Depending on the day and my mood, that might be a bullet point list, or it might be a long, descriptive writing exercise. 

It has fundamentally shifted my thinking, away from only noticing the things that piss me off. I have an unfortunate tendency to dwell on that one thing that went wrong in the day. I concentrate on the one criticism in the sea of praise and the one misstep along the way. I then perform an elaborate, 2 AM slow-mo re-run of the situation and then, right around sunrise, I craft the re-write with all the clever things that I should have said and done.

But my new daily practice of appreciation reminds me that the other things, the good things, far outweigh the moment when I dropped my purse in line at the grocery store and felt like a complete tool.

Some days my cloudy lack of perspective is extra thick and I struggle to come up with my five things. At that point, I resort to my fall-back list, which looks like this:

Today I am grateful for:

1. husband

2. dog

3 family/friends

4. health

5. home

Those are the safety schools of my gratitude journal. And for a moment I sigh deeply and shake my head in disapproval, because that was all I could think of.

That was all.

But then I look at the list again. That was all??

That is all!

Not sure what else, if I was to make a wish list, I would want to have in my life. It's that kind of switch in thinking that is so powerful. Because before I kept a gratitude journal, there would certainly be days (weeks, months, even) that passed where I thought nothing at all about my good health. And there is something deeply wrong about that.

When I look at other people that I admire and that I am inspired by, one thing tends to be a constant - they are people who don’t take their lives for granted. They take advantage of the time, opportunities and talents that they have. They are not constantly complaining and overlooking the simple wonders of life. They are grateful for what they have, even if it’s very little, and they do the best with it. Those are the people I love to be around and aspire to be more like.

I feel like this journal helps me get at least a little closer to that.  

For more from Lisa, check out www.justherejustnow.com 

 

 

Comments

[Dave]

In our house we ask a simple question at dinner: What was the highlight of your day? We definitely get caught up in the bad moments, so it is nice to remind ourselves of the good ones.

I assume you list is in no particular order, but if it is, I am glad dog came after husband.:)

[Simplifying the Simple Life]

I love that! Yes, no particular order. I thought "Tied for first place" would be a little awkward. : )

[Jamie]

It does make such a change in your outlook, doesn't it? I post a Thankful Thursday post every week and even on bad weeks when I think I have nothing to say, it's such a lift for my spirit to force myself to sit down and write it out. By the end I find that I could just keep going and going and I usually write a couple posts at a time and save a few for later. :)

[Simplifying the Simple Life]

I love the idea of making gratitude a routine... and stockpiling thanks has got be a good thing! Thanks for stopping by!!

[plumbing]

Me too, those ideas are very wonderful! I bet this will be effective on the long run. Love your blog!