Are you ready to de-stress? Then grab a gratitude journal.
Journaling is powerful
During our 30-Day Challenge, we’re finding ways to create less of what we don’t want and more of what we do want. One of the most powerful ways to do that: a gratitude journal.
It’s a great thing to be grateful. Especially during overwhelming, stressful situations. When you can find the gratitude, you are making it perfectly clear that you are ready for more good things to be grateful for. And I am a true believer that when you focus on the positive, you see more positive. When you focus on the negative, you see more negative.
A gratitude journal will help you find the good.
The power of the pen is real. It helps you process your thoughts and dig deep into your gratitude. Feeling grateful is lovely, but it’s also fleeting. When you journal, you slow down your thoughts and give yourself time to amplify your gratitude.
Types of journals
You can use paper or electronic journals, depending on your preference. There are beautiful bound journals that might appeal to you if you like the feel of putting pen to paper. Personally, I feel that using pen and paper taps into a part of your psyche that a computer or app cannot touch.
However, there is nothing wrong with using a keyboard to type out your thoughts. Some people prefer the feel of a keyboard and the ease of quickly typing out thoughts. The point is to use what inspires you to explore your gratitude.
The De-stressing Benefits of a Gratitude Journal
If you practice daily gratitude you will train yourself to veer away from complaining and blaming and naturally gravitate towards thankfulness. More gratitude means more dopamine. More dopamine means more happiness.
A gratitude journal creates a snowball effect of positivity.
One good thought will lead to another, and seeing your thoughts on paper takes it up a notch. Also, getting out painful thoughts will allow you to more easily release emotional baggage and mental clutter.
Face your insecurities
A gratitude journal is a tool you can use to help you release judgement of yourself. When you write down all the things you love about yourself, you begin to see yourself as you truly are: beautifully, wonderfully, uniquely you.
In some cases, gratitude journalling can lessen depression and anxiety because you are focusing on the good. When you feel grateful for what you have, you may notice an increase in self-confidence and contentment.
Your gratitude practice
Whether you type or write, try to do it every day if you can. Maintaining a sense of gratitude requires consistency. You can end your day by recalling all the nice things that happened. If that doesn’t work for you, try doing a morning gratitude practice, reflecting on the previous days or being grateful for what still to come.
Level-up
This will take some serious practice: be grateful for the things you don’t love. In the Loving Your Home Club, we practice this. We think about what’s not working for us and look for the hidden message. The nugget of wisdom or an opened door that wasn’t there before some unfortunate situation occurred.
Being grateful for the good stuff is easy. Being grateful for EVERYTHING is when you start seeing magic happen.