How To Take Your Gratitude Journal To The Next Level
I admit that I’m spotty when it comes to keeping a gratitude journal. I recently picked it up again after a two-year hiatus. I don’t remember why I stopped, and I don’t remember why I started again.
I have a hard time doing much of anything consistently for more than a little while, so that two-year hiatus is exactly me. I usually don’t pick up something I’ve dropped . . . ever. But with my gratitude journals, I’ve stopped and started several times in the years I’ve been keeping one.
So why even keep a gratitude journal?
The benefits, of course. One of many articles on the topic, this NPR article quotes experts who say it’s good for your health. It says:
“There’s a growing body of research on the benefits of gratitude. Studies have found that giving thanks and counting blessings can help people sleep better, lower stress and improve interpersonal relationships.”
For me personally, I find keeping a gratitude journal helps me put the events of this chaotic time we’re living in into perspective. In other words, it helps me focus on what I can change.
I write in my gratitude journal in the mornings, usually 2–3 times a week. I’ll list 3–5 things I’m grateful for. Things like:
1. I’m thankful autumn is finally here!
2. I’m thankful for the blue pumpkin the man in my life gave me as a birthday gift.
3. I’m thankful to be able to fill my days however I want.
4. I’m thankful for the beautiful walnut Native American flute I enjoy playing.
5. I’m thankful for the work of the January 6 Select Committee.
You get the idea. It can be anything, really. Anything you’re truly grateful for.
However, in my experience, keeping a gratitude journal can do more than help us sleep better, lower stress, and improve interpersonal relationships.
Keeping a gratitude journal can help us visualize a better future and focus our attention on defining our goals, as well as motivate us to reach them.
Visualization has been in the mainstream for quite a while, but if you’ve not been in its orbit it’s all about imagining what you want in the future as if it’s already happened.
When we visualize, we use all of our five basic senses — sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing.
Sit quietly and imagine you’ve reached your goal as if you already have it. You have that new car, that graduate degree, the cottage with the white picket fence, the ideal relationship, the first chair in your local orchestra — whatever it is you want. It’s your target, your ambition, your destination, your passion, your reason for living.
How does it * F E E L * ?
As you picture having your heart’s desire, take a look around in your mind’s eye and notice everything. Do you see the audience mesmerized by your violin playing? Can you smell the flowers in the garden of that cottage you want? How does it feel to sit in that new car? Can you taste the breakfast your new love interest made for you? Can you hear your name being called as you accept your new degree?
Putting your emotions into your visualizations will also give a metaphysical boost to help make it so. Feel the satisfaction, joy, love, and passion you have for your dream as you visualize. It’s okay to ramp up your feelings, to give them an energetic boost.
What you’re actually doing by visualizing is programming your brain. It’ll believe what you tell it to believe. When you imagine your future with all your senses, your brain is hard at work reworking your neuroimagery and recording the future state you’re imagining as if it’s true this very moment.
This motivates you to act accordingly, to take the steps you need to move forward and accomplish your goal.
Here’s how I incorporate visualization in my gratitude journal . . .
After I’ve written the 3–5 things I’m thankful for in my gratitude journal, I start another list on the facing page. This list is of 3–5 things I want to bring into my future. I write them as if they’ve already happened. Here are some examples of what I’ve used in the past:
1. I’m so grateful it was easy to write a personal essay about transformation to submit to anthologies.
2. I’m so grateful to have saved the money to buy the new SUV in my garage.
3. I’m so grateful I found my tribe.
4. I’m so grateful I can play my Native American flute without squeaking.
5. I’m so grateful to have healed my childhood traumas (with the help of my therapist) centered around trust.
They serve as a regular reminder of what’s on my agenda. It puts what’s important to me front and center. It’s a regular daily nudge to get it done, to take the steps to get there.
Some of my goals take longer to achieve than others, of course. Some of my goals morph over time. Some of them I decide at a later time aren’t really for me after all. And some of them never happen.
But the important thing is I’m reminding myself to invest my time in what’s valuable to me.
Is it worthwhile for you to give it a try? You’re the only one who can answer that.
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And if you really, really liked it, you might want to check out my ebook, The Grapes of Dementia: My Journey of Love, Loss, Surrender, and Gratitude, available worldwide through Amazon.
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