Lesson six – Keeping a Gratitude Journal – December 2009
| Early in November I started a gratitude journal as an extension of the gratitude list I started in October. Since starting my gratitude journal, I find that I have more things to be grateful for than I thought. That’s because I now write down the emotions and events of each day that I would normally forget or just take for granted. |
| Actually what is happening is that I am training my mind to be more positive about everything. |
One thing that I’ve found is that writing positive things each day in a gratitude journal has encouraged me to focus on what I like about my life. I didn’t realize how much I like my life as it is now. As I do this process, I have started to look for even more positive things throughout the day to enrich my life.
Sometime I think "Man, that is a good one for the list tonight, I hope I don’t forget it." things like: right now I’m feeling grateful that I have a whole day free to work on my December newsletter, and I’m making excellent progress. |
| The process |
I sit at my desk at home right before I go to bed and write at least 5 things that I’m grateful for that day. At first it was only 5, but now as I get more aware of how many blessings I have, I find myself putting down more than 5.
Then, after I’m finished writing, I take a few minutes to reflect on what I’ve written. That helps me remember additional things to add to the list. It also helps me to relive the positive events and feelings I had during the day. |
| So far so good |
In the three weeks or so that I have been keeping a gratitude journal I have not had any great waves of gratitude or appreciation sweep over me. But, I have become much more aware of all that I have to be thankful and grateful for.
I also feel a sense of pride and the satisfaction that I have kept at the process every single day, although some days I didn’t feel like doing it.
I’m sure some epiphanies are coming, and I’ll report back in January 2010. |
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