Gratefulness Journaling

Welcome to day 2 of the gratefulness challenge. Wasn’t yesterday great? We talked about the practice of noticing. Today we’re going to be working on gratefulness journaling.

Reflection:

Gratefulness journaling takes the practice of awareness a step further. It involves first noticing things you are grateful for, then taking action & actually writing down those things in a journal. You might be wondering why it’s necessary to write down the things you notice.

Two Reasons for this.

• When we write things down, it gives us time to reflect. Writing, especially writing by hand, forces us to slow down & think. When you write about what you’re grateful for, it allows you to pause & consider WHY you’re so grateful.
• Second, writing down the things you’re grateful for reinforces them in your mind. It’s like noticing them a second time and being grateful for them all over again.

This practice of “double gratefulness” can literally double your joy. When you write down what you’re grateful for, it freshly focuses your attention on those things and gives you a fresh appreciation for all that you have to be grateful for.

Action:

There’s no need to overcomplicate this. Get a notebook. At the end of each day, write down at least TEN things from your day that you’re grateful for. They can be big things, like getting a raise at work, to little things, like holding your daughter’s hand on a walk.

Also, write down WHY you’re grateful. What about them makes you happy? Why are you grateful for them? Finally, after you’ve written each thing down, say a brief word of thanks for it. Take the opportunity to be grateful again in the moment. This practice doesn’t need to take long. You should be able to do it in 5-10 minutes. The goal is simply to get yourself in a state of gratefulness at the end of the day.

Now, before we dive in tomorrow, take a moment to share in the comments how this went for you. Did you find it challenging to come up with ten things to be grateful for? What was it like writing them down? I can’t wait to hear your comments.