4 Ways to Keep a Gratitude Journal

Regardless of our personal circumstances or circumstances out of our control, there are days when we struggle to find the silver lining.

Although that is a natural response, sometimes we unexpectedly dwell in the negative for so long that we end up losing sight of the things we are grateful for.

Thus, to make sure that we always stay on the right path, consider keeping a Gratitude Journal that can help you record all the little things to remind you about the good in the world. But first,

What is a Gratitude Journal?

True to its name, a Gratitude Journal is a place to focus on the positive aspects of your life. As human beings, it is more likely that we remember the negative more than the positives, so maintaining a gratitude journal is a manual way of retaining the good in every situation.

By writing it down, you get to refer to it whenever you need pick-me-up and you get to see how far you have come.

How to keep a Gratitude Journal?

To start keeping a Gratitude Journal can be as simple as picking up any writing tool and medium! For instance, if you have one of our books lying around, pick it up and have a go!

A good tip would be to use tools and mediums you enjoy using to associate the feeling of positivity with them! Anyway, now that that’s taken care of, let’s actually start writing in it!

The whole point of creating a Gratitude Journal is for us to reflect on our gratitude in-depth. For example, think about questions like

• Who and what am I grateful for?

• What is the meaning behind my gratitude?

• How can I make this gratitude last?

By questioning yourself, this simple exercise can help you focus on the positive aspects despite your circumstances.

However, this does not mean you should not look at the negative side, it is merely acting as your North Star when you’re down.

It may be easy to have a shopping list of what we are grateful for, but it’s much better to be personal about them!

By describing a specific action or event that makes sense to you, it can trigger a memory that would better boost your gratitude.

For example, instead of writing “My Neighbourhood”, you could write “If I didn’t live in this neighbourhood…”

Do you see the difference? Just by changing the way you write things, you will be prompted to elaborate more and dig deeper into what you’re grateful for.

So be frank and personal as possible so that when you decide to flip through your journal in the future, it can bring back positive memories with it!

Some days when things seem a little blue, it may get increasingly difficult to recall what you are grateful for. This is when active gratitude comes to play.

Try looking around you, the animals you love, the people you surround yourself with, your coworkers or even the physical things, like the car that brings you from one place to another!

You can even look at photos and event tickets to dig up the past to be grateful for.

From there, be creative and make the process more fun to keep yourself on a roll! In this case, the world is truly your oyster and you can find the pearls in anything as long you pay attention to it.

Lastly, being grateful is not supposed to feel like a chore. So although you should set time aside to focus on your gratitude, feel free to write in it only when you feel like doing so!

You can make it a habit but as with everything, do things in moderation and your Gratitude Journal will work for you.

If you make yourself write something down everyday without actually feeling proper gratitude for it, you will then defeat the purpose of the exercise.

After all, gratitude written down is powerful but in the end, it’s what you keep in your heart that keeps you going!

The main point of a Gratitude Journal is to improve your well being and create a little vacuum in time for you to relax and reflect.

Practicing it regularly to your preference can help you set positive changes in your mindset. Over time, it can definitely be an activity that will improve your mood and well being. So, go ahead and start one today!

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Do you have a gratitude journal? If so, what is your experience of keeping one? If not, tell us one thing you are grateful for today! Let’s chat in the comments section below or feel free to DM us @mosseryco on Instagram!

Thank you to @angelynpeh and @cosuffeeshi for their lovely artwork and @lyn.spiration for her contribution in writing!