Among many ancient cultures, winter was a time of “looking within,” a time of soul searching and connecting with our inner wisdom. The external darkness beckons us to find our inner light….the spark of the Divine within us all. It is a perfect time to get back to meditation and reflection upon our Divine Purpose.
A powerful tool I recommend for spiritual growth is the Gratitude Journal. Take 5 minutes at the end of each day to reflect on your experiences and write at least 5 things you are grateful for, specific to that day. It can be as simple as time for a relaxing cup of tea, a call from a good friend, a beautiful sunrise, or a parking space close to the grocery store on a snowy day!
This exercise does two important things: It makes you more mindful & appreciative of blessings and everyday miracles AND it literally magnetizes your energy field to attract more
good into your life. Start your Gratitude Journal tonight and you will be amazed at the life you create!
What is gratitude?
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.” – Zig Ziglar
In simple terms, gratitude is the practice of being consciously thankful for the things in your life.
It’s the emotion you feel when you acknowledge and appreciate the people you love, the things you have, and the person you are.
What’s more, it’s an emotion that you can evoke anytime you choose – because you get to decide what you will and won’t feel gratitude towards.
How does gratitude create success and happiness?
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” —Willie Nelson
-
Gratitude makes you feel better
Take a moment right now to acknowledge something in your life that you’re grateful for.
You could choose to focus on your health, your family, or your security. What’s equally valid is focusing on the little things – such as the feel of a hot cup of tea on a cold day, the sun glinting through the clouds, or the book you’re reading that’s igniting something inside of you.
As you allow yourself to feel grateful, notice how you feel – then allow yourself to intensify and elevate those good feelings until they wash all over you. This simple experiment is proof that gratitude can transform the way you feel – almost instantly. Through the practice of gratitude, you can switch on feelings of happiness, contentment, peace, satisfaction, and abundance at will.
You are in control. Because there’s ALWAYS something to be grateful for [regardless of what’s happening in your life], gratitude is a tool you can lean on to elevate your emotions anytime you want to feel differently.
In this way, gratitude can change your experience of life. Your experience of life is related to your perspective. You get to choose whether you see the upside or the downside in the situations and circumstances that come your way. In other words, happiness is always within your grasp because through gratitude; you get to feel more of the emotions that make you feel good.
The reason gratitude works is because this practice releases the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin – two vital feel-good chemicals. In turn, gratitude can help you better navigate stress and anxiety.
-
Gratitude improves your relationships
We all lead busy lives, and in the hustle and bustle of everyday living, it is easy to take the people you love the most for granted.
We don’t mean too; it’s just that other things grab our attention and create distractions and points of focus.
Gratitude in our relationships creates space inside which you can pause and reflect on the things you love and appreciate about others.
Again, the small things matter as much as the big things. For example, when was the last time you sent an “I appreciate you” text to your partner, your children, a friend or a family member?
What would happen if you told your partner how grateful you are for them taking care of the tasks you hate? Gratitude brings us closer to the people we love because, through gratitude, we demonstrate our love. In this way, gratitude ignites a spiral of increasing connection.
Appreciation makes people feel more seen, heard, and valued. It builds trust and respect. In turn, they feel more inspired to show up fully in the relationship. This strengthens your connection, which deepens your love. Consistent appreciation is one way to make your relationship stronger the longer you are together.
Healthy relationships create a robust foundation for you to explore and discover the next version of your best self. When you feel seen, loved, and supported by the people closest to you, it’s easier to step up and take risks. It’s easier to dream bigger, and in turn, your success and happiness build.
-
Gratitude inspires confident action
You can’t achieve your goals unless you take action, and some of your biggest goals will require you to take a risk and do things you’ve never done before. You have to encourage yourself to put courage over comfort and put yourself out there – even if you’re feeling nauseous and your heart’s pumping like a drum!
Gratitude is a powerful foundation to take action upon. That’s because gratitude elevates feelings of optimism and abundance, making it easier for you to do the things that feel scary.
How to practice gratitude
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
—Albert Einstein
-
Make gratitude non-negotiable.
If you want to leverage the full life-changing benefits of gratitude, you need to practice every day. Build a habit and make gratitude a part of your identity. The easiest way to achieve this is to weave gratitude into your daily routine. For example, you could practice:
- Before you plan out your day
- While you’re eating breakfast
- After your meditation etc.
The trick is to tag gratitude onto something you already do daily [this is called habit stacking]. With an existing habit providing an anchor and a reminder, you’re more likely to practice daily.
-
Hack it!
As with any new habit, it can take time for gratitude to become an autopilot action. In the meantime, track your progress with the help of a habit tracker. As the days clock up, your habit will become stronger and stronger – until it feels too painful to break.
-
Write it down
While you can express your gratitude out loud or in your head, you’ll engage with the experience more deeply if you write it down. In addition, you’ll create a log of your gratitude, which you’ll enjoy reflecting over in the future.
Dedicate a specific journal to record your gratitude. If you’re a Self Journal or Self Planner user, you can use your daily pages or freedom pages respectively for this purpose.
-
Vary what you acknowledge
Lots of people start their gratitude practice well, then run into a wall! When you’ve listed out all the obvious things, you can find yourself wondering what to write down next! This is a problem because if you’re simply running through the motions, you’re not getting full value from your gratitude practice.
Fortunately, there’s an easy solution to this common problem! Simply lower the bar.
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
It’s easy to get caught up in the myth that only the big things matter – but that’s simply not true. Instead, use gratitude as an opportunity to become more observant. Gratitude isn’t about acknowledging the big things alone – such as your health or your family alone. It’s also about appreciating the small details of everyday life – such as the song that moves you to tears, the feel of the sun on your face, or the awe-inspiring beauty of a magnificent sunset. The more you take notice of the minute detail, the more you’ll find you have to be thankful for. Then see how you feel as a result.
-
Be specific
Your gratitude practice is a brilliant opportunity to magnify and understand at a deeper level why you appreciate certain things. So get specific.
- You’re not grateful for your partner… you’re grateful because they took care of an errand they know you hate to do.
- You’re not grateful for the gift… you’re grateful because the gift demonstrated that the giver really knows you.
-
Feel it.
It’s one thing to write down that you’re grateful for the sunrise, the stranger who help open the door, or the perfect cup of joe made for you by your best friend.
It’s quite another to fully acknowledge how those experiences made you feel.
So as you write, allow the emotions to flood through you. Feel the love. Feel the generosity. Feel the joy or the bliss or the elation.
Let gratitude become a gateway to a rich spectrum of feel-good emotions – and unleash positivity as a result.
-
Practice – even on a bad day [in fact, especially on a bad day]
It’s easy to practice gratitude when life is going great. It’s a lot harder when you’re feeling down after you’ve made a mistake, or if life has dealt you a curveball.
Don’t underestimate the temptation to throw it all in when the bottom falls out of your life. This is THE most important time to lean into your habit and somehow find the silver lining – however small.
How to Start?
Pick a Great Journal
Your first step to start Gratitude Journaling is choosing a Journal that inspires you.
You can write digitally or even on a piece of paper if you like, however, keeping a Gratitude Journal is a fantastic idea.
- You call it a Gratitude Journal, so it triggers a special feeling whenever you look at it.
- It’s durable and
- inspires you to write in it
It may be simple or fancy – whichever suits your personality the best.
Set up a Writing Time
Some people want to journal whenever they like, but creating and sticking to your journaling schedule is what I always recommend. Because it synchronizes your mind with this activity and done consistently, you develop an incredible habit forever. For me, it’s before bedtime, and my journal is right there on my writing table, always in sight. So, I never happen to miss it. If you have a few minutes available during your mornings, create a morning journaling ritual. This will help you set the right tone for the day, and open your heart to see good aspects of your life. As a result, you’re highly likely to stay in a positive mindset during the day, and consequently, be much more productive at everything that you do.
Be Consistent
Whatever type of Journal you choose for yourself, the key idea is to be consistent with your Gratitude Practice. Commit to your ritual, and come back to it every single day. What I love most about setting up a daily ritual to write in the gratitude journal is that I keep looking for the great things to record during the day. To me, it’s like a game. I want to score high each day. It’s so much fun. Isn’t it?
Keep it Going
The objective is to be more appreciative of things that happen to you. It’s just about taking notice of great things which were always there but maybe, lost in your own negative world, you never paid attention to them. But with Gratitude Journaling, as you gain more awareness of positive situations, negative things start to disappear. I am not saying that they would immediately stop appearing entirely, but they will be less visible to you because of your focus on great things now. Being thankful pays huge dividends.
You would be able to understand its astonishing benefits once you make it a daily practice. And you will never want to leave it, I bet.
I would love to hear from you.
Do you journal? What are your experiences with Gratitude Journaling?
Drop your comments below.
Manifest in the Midwest
