How to Keep a Gratitude Journal
A gratitude journal is a way to consciously call attention to the things for which we are thankful each day. By focusing on gratitude, we become aware of those things and thus create a shift in our thinking to the positive. The following suggestions can help start a gratitude journal and a whole new outlook on life.
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Instructions
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Choose a blank notebook or journal to write in every night. Consider a spiral-bound journal that opens flat for ease in writing. Select lined or unlined paper. Keep this notebook next to the bed with a pen readily available.
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Look for things during the day for which you are grateful. Make mental notes throughout the day. Notice how the gratitude journal shifts the focus to a more positive outlook.
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Write five thing you're grateful for each night before bedtime. Review the day and include anything, however small or great, that was a source of gratitude that day, e.g., a baby's smile, a flower in bloom, or the smell of a newly cut lawn. Make the list personal. Write a few words about the five benefits or blessings. Be brief and increase the length as time progresses.
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Begin looking everyday for the positive angle in all things. View obstacles as opportunities to appreciate.
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Focus on the wonderful things in life to attract similar encounters in the course of the day. Use positive energy as a magnet to draw even more positive energy. Note these attractions in the gratitude journal.
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Personalize the gratitude journal. Expand it with clippings, photos, quotes or verses from magazines or other sources.
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Comments
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Great practice to keep ourselves looking at the glass half full and remembering God's grace on the most difficult of days.
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be greatful.
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many of us go on rampages, I think a rampage of appreciation would serve us all better.
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I wanted to share this with all my friends. My sponsor suggested this assignment for me. It's impossible to be grateful and feel any other negative emotion at the same time. Feeling good and having good in your life is the most important thing you can do for yourself and others.
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nesspk
Jan 22, 2010
Thank you. I have found the information and ideas on this site very helpful and a Thank you also to others that have commented with ideas and other sites aswell. This has been a great inspiration to me starting my own gratitude journal which starts tonight!!
