What is gratitude and benefits of gratitude in our life

BENEFITS OF KEEPING A GRATITUDE JOURNAL

There are times when we have some feelings built up inside our hearts and minds, and we are unable to speak them out loud. That's when a journal has always been our best friend. Starting a gratitude journal is difficult, mostly because we tend to capture the sad memories much better than the small happy ones.

However, the benefits of a gratitude journal are innumerous, and it's the only thing that will keep you sane and calm during unwanted mental pressures. It's always better to write in your gratitude journal every night about every small thing you are happy about throughout the day; it could be as small as having an ice-cream or maybe feeding the street dogs that gave you pleasure.

Sometimes we are so engulfed with the unwanted incidents happening to us and we need to skip a day or two from writing in our gratitude journal. It's okay as long as after a small break, you again start writing. Journal only when you feel like doing it- because, after all, the benefits are worth much more than the time and mind you have spent on it.

All you need to do is make a checklist of 30 days of gratitude journaling and abide by that. You will soon find it a part of your daily routine and keep continuing writing on your Gratitude journal every single night.

The world is filled with negativity, and people are always there to lower your self-confidence. Writing a gratitude journal is the only hole that will help you breathe in such times. Starting and maintaining a gratitude journal in the first place would be a bit difficult and tricky, but once you keep doing it every night for a few days, you will soon get used to this.

It won't feel like a burden because it's the little "me"-time you are giving yourself after a long day of surviving. This not only lowers your stress level but also provides you a sense of calmness throughout the night.

You just need to start journaling, and everything will keep on falling in place. Start with writing in your gratitude journal for just 15 minutes; you will gradually see that the fifteen minutes have turned themselves into one hour before you even realized it.

In the book "Thrive" by Arianna Huffington, she mentions a line, "Gratitude works its magic by serving as an antidote to negative emotions. It's like white blood cells for the soul, protecting us from cynicism, entitlement, anger, and resignation." You could only feel this once you start having a gratitude journal.

If you are wondering about the best time you should start a gratitude journal, then it's now! Just grab a journal, a pen, and write down every single thing that bought a smile to your heart today.

If you do not want to buy a journal, you could simply download and take a print out of any of the gratitude journal template available online. Most of them are for free, and you shall surely find one as per your aesthetic.

There are many benefits you shall come across once you start a gratitude journal. Some of them are –

1. Increases your focus –

Once you start writing in your gratitude journal, you will have a clear outlook on the things that provide you mental satisfaction, and you shall work only for those. It will increase your focus on the things that really matter while taking you away from people or things that do not deserve your energy. Thus referring to your daily gratitude list will give you a clear outlook on what you need to work upon to make yourself happy.

2. Gives you a new perspective towards life –

Joy and Gratitude move hand in hand. On nights when you do not feel like writing or feel like life is not fair, a look at all the writings you have noted in your gratitude journal will help you give a new outlook to your life. You will realize what an unnecessary drama in your life is, and you will gradually cut yourself out from all the negativity that it comes with.

You can write whatever you feel like because there is no one to judge you, and thus you can be brutally honest with what gives you happiness in your life. Sometimes reliving the happy moments in our life helps us to keep going when things are falling apart.

3. Lowers stress level –

People have different ways to come out of reality when reality haunts them. Keeping a gratitude journal will guide you throughout the process as everything you will jot down over there is bound to give you happiness. This lowers your stress level extensively and provides you a calm feeling when you are anxious.

After you have written in your gratitude journal for a few days, you will realize that it will not only increase your happiness and positive mind but also will give you more satisfaction in your life. It will gracefully control your mind, and thus you will feel less fatigue throughout the day.

4. Betterment in your physical health –

As your mind is healthy and your heart is content, your physical health is bound to get better day by day. You will realize that you will feel more satisfied with all the un-materialistic happiness that comes along to your every day, and this changes your outlook on your life and everything that works in it.

Writing in a gratitude journal will encourage your development of patience, humility, and increase your wisdom. There have been some shreds of evidence that people who keep a gratitude journal have a lower risk of heart diseases and lower symptoms of depression.

5. Gives us strength –

Keeping a gratitude journal can help you be stronger and give you hope when you need it the most. Research shows that when you keep your focus on the positive, in addition to the negative, your mind gets boosted much more than we expect it to.

Wonder you are facing some really tough time like losing someone close or losing a job; you just need to find out one thing you are grateful about, maybe just the clean weather or the smile on a beggar's face when you gave him some money. This will help you keep grounded, and it will also help you find peace when the world around you is filled with chaos.

6. It helps you get a night of better sleep –

Once you start writing in your gratitude journal for just 15 minutes before going to bed, you will realize that you can get a much peaceful and better sleep than before. This is so because writing down a few grateful sentiments that have occurred in your day, or you have witnessed them can help you get a night of much better sleep at night.

This has been proved by science, and we cannot disagree with it. When you are thinking of all the positive experiences that have occurred to you throughout the day, you are basically reminding yourself that life is not as bad as it seems to be and that there are many small incidents that you are thankful for.

This will instill a feeling of positivity, and as a result, you are much less likely to worry about your troubles and therefore clear your mind for the next day and get a good night's sleep.

People who spend their time writing in a gratitude journal are found to be content with their life. These grateful people take better care of themselves, their minds, and their soul. Thus, in the long run of life, they tend to live a healthy life and are therefore able to manage stress in an easy way.

While writing in a gratitude journal, you might come across times when you will have this feeling as "I have no words to express my gratitude." Well, you could just write down a word that comes to your mind, or you could simply scribble something incoherent that makes sense only to you because, after all, it's your gratitude journal, and no one in the world is going to judge you for what you have written down in it. It is enough that it makes sense only to you because it will give peace of mind to you at the end of the day.

Benefits Of Practicing Gratitude

By now, we have discussed how to practice gratitude. But let’s have a push to practice it by knowing the benefits that entail doing it.

Relieves Stress:

As I already mentioned, our unrealistic wishes and desires bring nothing but stress, anxiety, and negativity when not fulfilled. That makes us feel stressed to our bones. When you practice gratitude, you count your blessings and things you are happy to have in your life.

And you realize that it is not much of a matter when you don’t achieve a few things. You learn to make peace with that fact. And in turn, it eliminates the resulting stress and negativity caused by it.

Mental Peace:

Mental health is not considered to be of importance, but you will notice how much it can affect even the simplest of our activities. That is why more and more institutions and health workers are stressing about the importance and awareness of mental health.

Your mental health is best when you have mental peace. Practicing gratitude can help you in achieving mental health.

Improving Health:

When you are going to feel good from the inside, you are going to experience its effects from the outside as well. You will glow and will practically radiate happiness and positivity. You may also start to take more care of your body as you will realize that it is the best blessing you can have.

Experiencing More Happiness:

When you feel good and happy, everything around you will be like a rainbow, even if your situation is not so for others. While you practice gratitude, you surely will experience more happiness as you will be more aware of the things you can be happy about.

Some may even think about you as an embodiment of sunshine. And also, happiness is the ultimate weapon for fighting against depression.

Optimism:

Being optimistic means, you are capable of seeing the light at the end of the dark tunnel. While you practice gratitude, you are going to have a positive change in your personality and way of thinking.

You will become more optimistic about your situation, and your outlook towards them will change as well. Needless to say, it will help you in making better decisions and handling the situations in your lives better.

Helps You Accepts Change:

Accepting change is not easy for the majority of humans. But gratefulness can help with that. One of the benefits of being grateful is that it also makes you attain optimism.

And being optimistic helps you see opportunity in every situation, even if it means that you will have to let many things change in its wake.

When you keep in mind the opportunity a change in the situation brings, you will find it easier to accept that change.

Live in the present:

There is a famous saying, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift; that is why it is called a present.”If you understand the meaning behind the saying, then you can relate to this point.

Thinking too much about your past will only stop you from moving forward. What happened in the past cannot be changed now. It is out of your hand. You are only stressing yourself with that. You need to let it go.

Similarly, the future is unknown and out of control. It is also very uncertain. The only thing you can do about it is to prepare yourself for the possibilities of challenges your life will throw at you. Leaving in the present is the only thing in your control. So why not do it to the fullest? And keep enjoying every bit of it.

Power of Positive Words:

Just like the acts of kindness, words spoken in kindness are just as effective. It is not always in our hands to help a person in their situation.

In this case, a few encouraging words can go a long way. Just “It is going to be okay.” or “it is good enough” words like these hold more power than you can think of.

Even a ‘You are doing great’ is more powerful than you think for encouraging someone. And it add-ons to your list of things you are grateful for.

Help Others Practice the Same:

Helping others practicing the same will benefit them, of course. But it will also bring you happiness. Besides, you are going to make your list of gratitude grow.

Share your experiences with practice on social media as well, if needed. You are going to practice it more than before or refreshing your blessings again. And trust me, helping others will surely give a sense of pride and happiness as you have never experienced before.

Make It a Habit:

Practicing gratitude is not a day or two’s work. One needs to cultivate a habit. Hence, it requires discipline, just like when you make a resolution of losing weight or quitting drinking/smoking.

You have to stick to the routine of practicing the same if you want actually to get fruitful results out of it.

Lasting Effects Of Gratitude:

When you make an activity a habit, then the effects of the discipline remain with you for a long-lasting time. And as per the previous statement, practicing gratitude is also a discipline.

So its benefits and effects are going to stay with the majority of your life after that. You are actually motivated to do things every day. And we all know how difficult it is to do the simplest of tasks when we are not motivated to do so.

Conclusion:

We have discussed the many points on how to practice gratitude and how it will benefit us. However, we must keep in mind that we are also humans. Every day will not be the same for us.

There will be days when we will not find anything for being grateful about. So, when that happens, allow yourself to feel negative and be human.

Not everything can be sunshine and rainbows forever in one’s life. It is okay not to be okay sometimes. But also remember not to give up. Pick yourself up after it and continue to be grateful.