8 life changes from gratitude journaling

A few months ago, I tried out gratitude journaling. The ground rules I set for myself were:

a) I would journal at the end of each day,
b) I had to write a minimum of 5 things to be grateful for, and
c) I would not ignore negative emotions and still write about them when needed.

Here are some changes that occurred in my life:

1. Easier to ignore negative emotions. Because you are always ending your day on a positive note, any negative emotions during the day don’t impact you as strongly. You might even forget about them as you end your day by recounting the positive things. It’s like falling down, then getting up and dusting yourself off instead of sitting there focusing on your pain too much.

2. Harder to stay mad at people + give back. When you take the time to consciously acknowledge and write about the good things other people do for you, they become more prominent in your memory. After that, it becomes harder to hold grudges over small things. How can you stay mad at one annoying action when there were 15 great actions within one week? It also helps you be less self-centred and focus on giving back as you start to see that you’re already receiving a lot.

3. Harder to continue feeling generally negative about life. No matter any ongoing challenges in life, when you regularly make yourself write about the good things in life, you can’t help but cave into feelings of optimism and start developing hope, or at least appreciation for what you have now. Why complain when you already have so much that you might not have had in another kind of life?

4. Makes you a “bouncier” person. Because you’re starting to train your mind to see the good in life, it becomes easier to bounce back from rejections, bad social interactions, etc. I noticed that practicing gratitude helps you reduce your recovery time from the bad stuff compared to before. It helps you develop a certain level of elasticity or emotional resilience in your personality. You’re hopeful about better things coming your way.

5. Being more present. Because you need to remember things to be grateful for the daily journaling session at the end of the day, you must pay closer attention to the sweet stuff in life. That helps you take in and feel good within the moment.

6. Sometimes, you don’t feel gratitude in your heart. That’s fine. It’s just like how on some days people might feel indifferent about someone who they really love. Days like that come. Even if you don’t feel the gratitude in your heart for one or a few days, if you write it down, you’ll probably feel grateful about those things later when you’re feeling better overall. So gratitude does not just have to be a feeling, it’s a practice.

7. Gets easier to think like an optimist. This is similar to the points above. Whenever there’s a need to mentally reframe a situation more positively, it’s easier to do so if you have this habit. It’s easier to be less worried about the future because you know you’ll be able to find at least something good on any day of your life, no matter how small, and that the future is open to having good things come into life.

8. Helps you remember that overall, LIFE IS GOOD!

Caveat

Being grateful doesn’t mean you can never have negative emotions, or that you should completely ignore them. If you want to sit down, feel, and make sense of your negative emotions, it helps a lot to do that. Practicing positive thinking just helps you not get stuck in that place for too long.

Concluding thoughts

Overall, this is one of the key habits that has made an immense change in my life in terms of emotional “bouncebacks”. This is one of the anchoring habits that give back to you a lot whether you practice it in good times or bad times. It’s one of the most valuable habits to hold on to.

Additionally, gratitude doesn’t need to stay limited to your journal. You can amplify its good effects by thanking people for the favours they do you, or how they make your life easier in both personal and professional relationships.

You can also express gratitude for what you have by wearing your nicer clothes, sharing good food with others, celebrating each others’ successes, and benefitting others with the skills you have. There are many ways to introduce beauty into your own life and those of others around you so one can feel free to be creative 🙂🌻