What to write in a gratitude journal - Ideas, Tips and Examples

What to write in a gratitude journal - Ideas, Tips and Examples

  

  • suvangi
    SUVANGI CHANDA
    67 pts
    Rising Star


    Writing not just helps you to organize your thoughts but also provides a medium for you to express them. While you have your journal, for all your wild thoughts, maintaining a gratitude journal will help you lead a life filled with positivity and thankfulness.

    Psychologists have come up with many benefits that appear once you start practicing thankfulness in your life. The most popular and basic way to enter the field of gratefulness and have an attitude of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal.

    By simply writing down some lines on gratefulness, researchers have found that it benefits the person with better sleep, fewer symptoms of illness, and a sound mind. Gratitude is a powerful emotion that is enough to turn your world upside down (in a good way) and open you to unending options of joy and success in your life.

    There are many basic benefits of gratitude journaling, such as increased mental happiness by lowering both emotional and physical pain. The feeling of gratitude gives you better sleep at night and increases your concentration power. It will shift your perspective and only led your thinking to better and good things in your life.

    Here are some “rules” (actually ideas) you need to follow if you are planning to start a gratitude journal and stick to it forever –

    1. Get yourself the most aesthetic, the most pleasing journal

    Buy something that makes you excited about writing, because let’s face it. No one wants to write down five things every day about what made them happy. It’s nearly impossible to find out five things that made you happy.

    So the best way you at least would want to open your gratitude journal is to find a journal that looks pleasing to you so that your brain is interested in opening the pages and filling them in. it will also help you when gratitude doesn’t work, i.e., when you do not have the strength to get to your gratitude list and fill it.

    Make your journal selection very special for you, and get creative and make it as personal as you want. After all, the entire journal is yours, and no one is going to read it. No one is going to judge you for what you are writing, and you can be most honest with the list. So, gift yourself something that you would want to go to every night.

    2. Start your day with gratitude journaling

    You could make a to-do list and keep journaling as one of the points in your list. You could either start your day with writing in your gratitude journal or end your day after writing in your gratitude journal. You could start a routine such as “operation gratitude letters” and then write a letter every day on gratitude.

    You could also download templates from the internet and write on them if you do not want to maintain a gratitude journal. The benefits are worth everything. You will be amused with all the positivity you feel throughout the day once you start maintaining your gratitude journal.

    3. Create a ritual to journal every day

    The daily repetition of the work is the only way we can turn it into a habit. Set n alarm or make a to-do list and keep Gratitude journaling as your top-most priority. You will be thrilled at the end of the day after you finish jotting down the points in your gratitude journal.

    Create a ritual to journal every day and if you are someone who cannot keep up with a habit, try giving yourself rewards each time you write in your gratitude journal.

    4. If you have a busy, tightly packed schedule, write at least once a week

    For some people, maintaining a gratitude journal could be a very overwhelming thing. After all, writing in your gratitude journal is going to be your leisure time activity. That’s why if you have a busy schedule, try to write at least once a week.

    Write everything that made you happy during the entire week. Write about the sound of the birds chirping, about the petrichor, or the soft, cozy bed that you crave on Saturday nights.

    Target a goal to write at least once a week for half an hour and fulfill the target. Set the alarm on Sunday evening to write in your journal and do it instantly. After all, Gratitude journals are effective because it compels your mind and body to work on the path of gratitude and calmness.

    5. Make your brain believe that gratitude is a great attitude for self-development

    Once you start practicing gratitude in your daily life, you will realize that this is the path you need to follow for self-development. You can never learn things, such as personal growth or self-development. You attain them from your daily activities.

    Once you keep on with your habit of Gratitude journaling, your brain will automatically learn the fact that gratitude is a great attitude and that self-development is the ultimate goal. Thus, life will take an ultimate transformation, and you will feel safe in your own body and mind.

    6. Try to connect to something very specific and write to-the-point

    Do not write anything blandly without feeling it. Try to feel it before writing it down in your journal. This way, it will give you satisfaction to your mind and will also help you write the points flawlessly in your gratitude journal. The more detailed you will be while writing, the easier it will be to connect to yourself.

    For example, you could write about a book you read today. You could write how the book took away your breath for a while and how you could not leave the book aside before finishing it. You could write about the favorite character and how the protagonist of the book did not seem to please you. Write down every little detail and be specific with it.

    7. Try to explain the feeling that you had and write down your experience, rather than just jotting down the points

    Expressing is what makes your gratitude journal worth the memory lane. Feel gratitude while you write about it. Try to explain it as much as you can so that the next time you come back to it, you feel the same feeling you had while you were writing it.

    If drawing images or pasting pictures make it worth your imagination, do it. Make it as personalized as you can because you never know when this is going to be the air for you to breathe.

    Forget about everything at that moment and write only about the good thing, the incident and the life event and how it is everything that you need in your life. This way, you will also wake up with gratitude and spend the next day with a sense of calmness in your soul and mind.

    8. Try to make categories and fill them every day

    Making “categories” instead of writing something randomly. This will give you a clear idea of what you need to think about, and writing in your gratitude journal would be an easier process.

    Like, try to make categories such as health, relationships, people, goals, and random. Fill in one point in each category every day, and you will find enough ways to fill your gratitude list, and you do not have to think about what to write.

    9. Start with a five-minute gratitude journal routine and increase the time gradually

    A general gratitude day activities would include a sound mind and a healthy body throughout the day, but you need to maintain the rule of five-minute journaling for this to happen. This means that make a ritual of journaling at least five minutes every day before going to bed. Write anything that comes to your mind. If you had a bad day, just write, “I am grateful because I’m strong,” five times and end it.

    The easiest way to come up with ideas on what to write in your gratitude journal is to think about what happened in your life today. You will see that the next day you will wake up with gratitude and spend the day with a smile on your face.

    You do not need to add self-criticism in your gratitude journal, but if you want to add an incident that falls in the category of self-criticism, try to put it up like a lesson that made you stronger. While at the beginning of starting a Gratitude journal, you might fall short of words and ideas for your gratitude list.

    So here are fifteen Gratitude Journal prompts that you can modify in your list –

    1. The air, the ocean, the trees, the rain, basically everything you see around yourself

    2. Your family, your friends, and the people you love

    3. A sweet old memory

    4. Your favorite playlist

    5. The description of your crush

    6. Your favorite meal

    7. What you want to accomplish in ten years

    8. Places you want to visit

    9. The most important life lesson you have learned

    10. One small thing you accomplished today

    11. About the scent makes you feel lively

    12. The type of art that makes you stare at it long

    13. Appreciate your appearance

    14. Write about the positive qualities you want in yourself

    15. Old relationships you are grateful about

    Journaling is a process that is meant to give you pleasure and happiness. You do not have to make it a burden in your life. It’s like the little “me-time” you are giving yourself. Try to enjoy the process thoroughly and learn every bit you can along the process of writing your Gratitude list.

    It is the place for you to keep your heart overhead, and that is the sole purpose of keeping a gratitude journal. Over time, you will develop a love for gratitude journaling and have a positive mindset and healthy relationship with everyone around you.


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