Creating Your Gratitude Journal

Why and How

Creating a gratitude journal has many benefits. Stress relief is one of them. It is difficult to be stressed out and grateful at the same time. Other benefits are that you will feel more joy and happiness.

Did I mention peace and tranquility? Naturally. Once you begin to focus on what you have, you will beging to feel more positive emotions.

Keeping a gratitude journal will teach you and encourage you to reconnect with what is important in life. The little things, the blessings, the everyday happenings.

You may not always feel grateful, but keeping a gratitude journal will help you shift these emotions.

Gratitude also helps you to recognize the higher power within you. You develop more trust in life.

Let's get started with journaling:

Getting into the habit of writing in your gratitude journal will take 40 days of everyday writing. Yes, experts say that it takes 40 days to create a habit. So, if you can write for 40 days and not miss a day, you will create a wonderful new habit.

What should you write about?

Here is what I do: I write for 10 minutes every morning. I consciously look for things I am grateful for. At the beginning, I was writing things like

• I am grateful for being alive.
• I am grateful for having food and shelter.
• I am grateful for having education.
• I am grateful for my family, my friends, and my dog.

...things like that. The basics, really obvious stuff.

As I continued every day, I was opening up to more wonderful stuff that I have in my life and I am grateful for.

When I write, I try not to repeat my entries, although sometimes I do - and I am grateful for my awareness of it :-)

Here are some of my entries:

• I am grateful for Skype.
• I am grateful for sliced bread.
• I am grateful for aromatherapy oils.
• I am grateful for socks.
• I am grateful for free information.
• I am grateful for funny youtube videos.
• I am grateful for beautiful poetry.
• I am grateful for stress relief tools.
• I am grateful for chamomile tea.
• I am grateful for yellow stickies.

So, go ahead, start creating your gratitude journal, get on your path to peace, tranquility, and happiness. You will be amazed what the journal will do for you.

Related Articles:

Gratitude
Benefits of Positive Attitude
Positive Attitude Tips
Symbols of Gratitude
Gratitude Thoughts
Cultivating Gratitude
Highly Sensitive People

Gratitude Quotations:

None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.
~ Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

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Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
~ Melody Beattie

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Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.
~Denis Waitley

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