Gratitude: The Benefits of Journaling
Posted by Lori Brown on Saturday, October 29, 2011
For our first week of gratitude we are going to discuss the benefits of practicing gratitude. As I mentioned in my November newsletter, practicing gratitude actually increases your level of happiness. How do we know this? Researchers, Dr. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullogh, among others, have researched the practice of gratitude. They found that "counting ones's blessings', and incorporating gratitude into one's day on a regular basis increased feelings of optimism and hope, helped build and solidify social support and optimized better health and productivity."
What does that mean to you? Those participants who kept a gratitude journal made more progress toward important goals, exercised regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms and felt better about life as a whole, reported higher levels of positive emotion, and had a reduction of stress in their lives thus leading to better overall life satisfaction.
Any of these benefits sound good to you? Then let's get started!
Keeping a Gratitude Journal is something many of us are familiar with, but didn't realize there were benefits or that it could actually make you happier. The first thing you need is a journal or a notebook. The idea is to take a few moments each day, morning or evening, and write down at least 3 things that you are grateful for. For example, if you were taking time at the end of your day, you could write 3 things down that happened during that particular day that you were grateful for. Perhaps you are grateful that your children are healthy, that you weren't late for a meeting and the phone you dropped on the concrete did not break! The idea is that you can have gratitude on a deep, emotional level or it could be gratitude for something very simple and mundane. The important aspect of this exercise is that you become aware of being grateful. The next step, if you have time, is to write down why you are grateful for these things. The act of writing down the why keeps it from becoming a quick exercise that you can check off of your "to do" list and allows you to internalize the gratitude.
After even a few days of practicing gratitude you will notice that your awareness of gratitude will begin to increase throughout your day. You will start to find things to be thankful for in many of your daily moments, even the ones that don't immediately seem that great.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out your journal and start being grateful! Afterall, 'tis the season for Thanksgiving.
Peace & Gratitude
What does that mean to you? Those participants who kept a gratitude journal made more progress toward important goals, exercised regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms and felt better about life as a whole, reported higher levels of positive emotion, and had a reduction of stress in their lives thus leading to better overall life satisfaction.
Any of these benefits sound good to you? Then let's get started!
Keeping a Gratitude Journal is something many of us are familiar with, but didn't realize there were benefits or that it could actually make you happier. The first thing you need is a journal or a notebook. The idea is to take a few moments each day, morning or evening, and write down at least 3 things that you are grateful for. For example, if you were taking time at the end of your day, you could write 3 things down that happened during that particular day that you were grateful for. Perhaps you are grateful that your children are healthy, that you weren't late for a meeting and the phone you dropped on the concrete did not break! The idea is that you can have gratitude on a deep, emotional level or it could be gratitude for something very simple and mundane. The important aspect of this exercise is that you become aware of being grateful. The next step, if you have time, is to write down why you are grateful for these things. The act of writing down the why keeps it from becoming a quick exercise that you can check off of your "to do" list and allows you to internalize the gratitude.
After even a few days of practicing gratitude you will notice that your awareness of gratitude will begin to increase throughout your day. You will start to find things to be thankful for in many of your daily moments, even the ones that don't immediately seem that great.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out your journal and start being grateful! Afterall, 'tis the season for Thanksgiving.
Peace & Gratitude