How to Create a Meaningful Gratitude Journal
This new year, boost happiness with this simple five-minute daily ritual of saying thanks.
Text: Josephine Tee & Rebecca Morais
Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance
Do you find yourself feeling bouts of blues from the increasingly grim news headlines or the omnipresent travel restrictions? We feel you. As we usher in 2022, focus on controlling your mind and the positive, instead of mentally replaying life’s challenges, no matter how difficult that can seem.
Cultivating habits that foster happiness is easier than you think. It can also take just a couple of minutes of self-reflection. You’ll find yourself appreciating life a little more, even amidst the chaos that is the pandemic. As you develop a positive mindset, you’ll be able to build better relationships with others, increase your overall well-being, and the toughest of them all – learn to love yourself fully.
Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance
We can train our minds to seek out positive aspects to any situation no matter how grave the outlook. A gratitude journal is a simple tool that helps build the habit of recording and reflecting on things you are grateful for. This action helps to rewire our brain to channel energy on the positive aspects of our lives and build up resilience against negativity.
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”—Eckhart Tolle
Gratitude journaling, backed by science
One of the most commonly cited research papers by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough shows that practicing gratitude may increase overall feelings of happiness and reduce symptoms of depression.
Scientists cite that the benefits of gratitude journaling include:
· Building deeper more meaningful connections
· Fosters joy
· Enhances sleep patterns
· Reduces worrying and stress
· Helps you focus on what matters
Gratitude journaling helps counterbalance our negativity bias on a subconscious level. For most of us, we tend to criticize and dwell on problems while showing appreciation and focusing on the positive requires a conscious effort. Keeping a gratitude journal allows us to extract and savor life’s happy moments, no matter how big they are.
Recording a relationship that helped or is helping you
How do I start?
First, decide where you want to record your thoughts. Whether it’s a physical notebook or a digital app, select the option that works best for your habits and schedule. A blank journal may inspire you to get started if you’re unsure.
Gratitude journaling may be tough at first as it can feel like another task on your to-do list. Attaching it to an existing morning or evening habit guarantees you a dedicated time to write, and shifting your mindset allows you to view it as a relaxing activity and not a chore.
From here you can choose to write a simple one-sentence gratitude-of-the-day, a free-form journal entry expressing appreciation for life, or follow a structured template.
Tim Ferriss (author of the “4 Hour Work Week”) structures his gratitude recording according to these categories:
· Relationships: A relationship that helped or is helping you
· An opportunity that you have today
· Something great that happened or you saw yesterday
· Something simple near you (the morning sun, smell of fresh coffee, etc)
After establishing your journaling ritual and style, practice effective journaling to ensure that the good feelings will stick at a core level. A key tip to fostering gratitude is to be as specific as possible.
Extending gratitude to friends and family
Extend the gratitude to your loved ones
As you grow more comfortable with the process, consider getting your family involved by sharing the things you’re grateful for around the dinner table, or making it part of your nightly bedtime routine. It can be a great family activity, especially during this period of uncertainty and stress. Over time you will find that reflecting on gratitude will inspire you to express that sentiment to others. Consider sending a thank you note for a kind gesture someone did for you or contacting a good friend that you may have lost touch with.
Check-in with yourself every once in a while to gauge how your happiness has improved and to validate your ongoing practice. Are you feeling lighter and more positive after one month or a year? Maybe you are having better relationships with others or your self-talk has become more positive. Revisiting your old pages can also provide a boost of positivity and to discover your progress!
Keeping a gratitude journal is a personal journey and while there are recommendations to guide you, there are no fixed rules on what you can or cannot do. Remember that creating a new habit takes time so don’t be too down on yourself if you miss out a day or two. Journal what feels right for you and watch your heart and mind open to up to more light and positivity.
