Gratitude Journal

You might ask, what in the world is a Gratitude Journal?  Is that some kind of new age thing?  Actually they have been around a lot longer than the last 10 years. Many people write in a Journal daily, or they used to be called diaries.  I keep a Gratitude Journal.

A Gratitude Journal can be as simple, or as fancy as you like.  The composition notebooks you can find at Walmart, or Target, or even the dollar stores, work just fine, or you can use a Gratitude Journal that is pre-made, like the one I show here "The Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude" by Sarah Ban Breathnach, which you can find online.  Or you can use what I use, which is a moleskin notebook, or just a plain journal.

The important thing isn't what you use, it's what you use it for.  Here are three tips which have helped me.

1.  Every night, list 3 - 5 things you have been thankful or grateful for during the day.

2.  List them in a complete sentence, explaining who, what, where, why and how.  The more       explanation you can use, the more you can generate the feelings that go along with them.

3.  Take 3 - 5 minutes for each one and allow yourself to really feel the gratitude of having or experiencing each one of your sentences.

Scripture has been teaching the value of thankfulness for centuries.

1 Thessalonians 5:18  "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Studies have been done on the theory that gratefulness, or thankfulness is actually good for our well-being.

"The experience of gratitude, and the actions stimulated by it, build and strengthen social bonds and friendships. Moreover, encouraging people to focus on the benefits they have received from others leads them to feel loved and cared for by others (Reynolds, 1983). Therefore, gratitude appears to build friendships and other social bonds. "  (Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life, Robert A. Emmons, Michael E. McCullough, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003)

The 3 major things I have found from this practice are:

1.  I sleep better after having done this every evening.  

2.  I have more of a feeling of well-being.  I just feel better.

3.  Things come easier, my daily chores aren't quite as much of a burden, I seem to be able to solve problems in a faster and more logical fashion.

Gratitude Journaling may help you out!

So try starting your own Gratitude Journal today and see what happens in the next few weeks.  It won't hurt you any, and it may just help you immensely.

Until next time.