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I had heard about gratitude journals from various sources for years but had not really connected with it. Listening to Oprah bang on about the difference it made to her life, frankly was not convincing me. Even though I am a big fan and ever grateful to her, for bringing personal growth to mainstream media. Deep down I knew that you can have everything from the outside looking in, but it doesn’t mean you feel blessed or grateful.
So it wasn’t until December 2020 in lockdown that I decided to give it a go. I received a ‘Gratitude journal’ in my Samaritans ‘ Feel Good Book Club’, so being a lady who hates to see a notebook not written it, started my gratitude journey. I began each morning writing down three things that I was grateful for. At the time I started this, lockdown had been put in place again and all plans for Christmas had been scuppered, so to be honest I was not feeling particularly grateful!
That was the beginning of my learning began, as I discovered there is always something to be grateful for, even if was just the fact that we and no members of the family had Covid, had hugs from hubby, food in my belly and a bed to sleep in. I have always suffered with periods of low moods and at times have not felt very grateful, especially in menopause where ‘Negative Nelly’, as I call her was around a lot more. The gratitude journal has really helped me to change that attitude as part of my ‘self care routine’.
At first I found myself really adverse to using the word ‘gratitude’. It was a trigger for me, as I am sure it is for many, as it had all these messages attached to it from childhood. ‘ You should be grateful, there are kids out there worse off than you’. At the time we were on the bread line, so could not really see that as a six year old or as an adolescence, when the people did have were flaunting it in your face too.
As I persevered, writing every morning my three things I was ‘grateful for’, the word no longer became a trigger, and the healing had taken place, magically. Nowadays I can easily call to mind 3 things to be grateful for each morning and now have added it to my evening routine too.
5 Steps to Gratitude
Find yourself a notebook that will become your ‘gratitude journal.
Put it in a place where you can reach for it every morning or evening.
Decide when is the best time for you to do them, depending on your time constraints.
Start doing your daily gratitude's as part of your daily routine. I number mine so I now have hundreds of gratitude’s to look back at.
Keep going, notice what it triggers if anything! If you miss a couple of days don’t stop , just pick it up and carry on.
Let me know how you get on? What I have learnt is that even on the darkest days, there is always something to be grateful for, a hug from a loved one, a call from a friend, sunshine or a smile from a stranger. Nowadays I notice things as I go through my day that make me grateful. I have a Gratitude attitude nowadays.
‘The real gift of gratitude is the more grateful you are the more present you become’,
Robert Holden