Showing gratitude has many proven benefits. Gratitude has shown physical, psychological as well as social benefits. They range from better sleep to feeling more joy and becoming more compassionate and forgiving.
A way to generate gratitude is by creating a gratitude journal. Buying any journal or composition notebook will do. However, having a journal that speaks to you or decorating a composition book with photos or drawings will make you WANT to write in the journal.
Next, set aside some time to write in your journal. First thing in the morning or right before bed is nice, but whatever time you decide, treat it as an important appointment with yourself. Five to 10 minutes is more than enough time to jot down what you are grateful for.
The next step can be done in several ways. Some people will want to cluster what they are grateful for, writing words or drawing a sketch of what comes to mind. Others will want to write a few sentences or create a short paragraph. You may even want to create a hybrid of both versions. The format is unimportant, so long as you are thinking and writing down what you are grateful for.
The content of what you are grateful for is where you may encounter difficulty. You want to cultivate gratitude in all aspects of your life. If you’ve made a daily commitment with yourself, you could assign a different aspect of your life to each day of the week. If you enjoy spontaneity, write down different areas of your life on small pieces of paper, place them in a jar, and pick one out each day to focus on, moving it to a different jar. Once the first jar is empty, start the process over again.
I’ve included several topics below as ideas for your journal:
- Family
- Friends
- Health
- Places
- Things you use daily
- Home
- Work
- Self
- Food
- Recent experiences
- Past experiences
- Hobbies
- Something you learned
- Someone who helped you
- Something that excites you
- Education
- The last thing that made you smile
These are some suggestions to get your ideas flowing. All of these can be narrowed or broadened. For example, regarding the “food” category, let’s say you are grateful for the existence of strawberries. You can think of where you purchased the last strawberry you had. Assuming it was a grocery store, you can be grateful for how the strawberry arrived at the grocery store. You can then be grateful for the driver who delivered it and the farmers who packaged it. You can be grateful for the people who picked the strawberry and the seed that produced it. You can show gratitude toward the fertile soil that produced the fruit and the fertilizer that made the strawberry grow well. With one bit of gratitude, you can open a door to so much more.
Keep the benefits of gratitude in mind. This journal is for you. No one will judge how deep or shallow your gratitude is. Allow yourself to be grateful for your favorite pair of jeans. That’s okay! The purpose is to cultivate gratitude. The more you flex your gratitude muscle, the stronger it will become.
