THE GRATITUDE ATTITUDE JOURNAL GUIDE If you want to find happiness, find gratitude -Steve Maraboli
WHAT IS GRATITUDE? This wonderful emotion defies easy classification. Gratitude, derived from the Latin word gratia (meaning grace, graciousness or gratefulness) eludes easy explanation by academics. Gratitude is the experience of counting one s blessings. It is the feeling that embodies the word Thank you. It is the unexpected reward of a kind deed that is magically produced by your brain. It s the cute, tingly feeling in your body that makes you smile at strangers. Why do scientists love gratitude? Even after cutting through the smoke of Law of Attraction-style belief systems, gratitude has shown to be quite transformative in humans. A recent study by Emmons and McCullough found that keeping a daily gratitude journal leads to a better sleep, reductions of physical pain, a greater sense of well being, and a better ability to handle change.
STARTING YOUR GRATITUDE ATTITUDE JOURNAL PREVENTING REPETITIVENESS The first week of adopting a gratitude practice may seem like sunshine and rainbows. You feel more positive. Good things start randomly happening. All is right with the world. And then it happens. Writing what you are grateful for each day starts getting repetitive. Gratitude becomes a chore. How many more ways can I say I am grateful for Mum? How many more ways can I appreciate the weather? These experiences are bound to happen. The following is how you can keep your gratitude practice fresh for years to come.
Get Specific The more detailed you get with gratitude, the more impactful it will be. Saying I am grateful for Mum is nice IF you connect with the feeling behind it. But it can quickly feel repetitive saying this for several weeks in a row. Sorry Mum! To remedy this, pick something specific like, I am grateful for my Mum s laugh or, I am grateful for Mum coming to visit me. You want enough detail so you can VISUALIZE the gratitude and FEEL it. This is key. Use Negative Visualization Odds are you have (or are considering) a gratitude practice in the first place is because you find it easy to be a critic rather than a celebrator. Most people do. In psychology, they call this the Negativity bias. Now is the time to use this to your advantage. Instead of visualising all the good in your life, imagine it was all taken away. Goodbye puppy (I wish I had a puppy). Goodbye good health. Goodbye dream job. Kind of scary, isn t it? Although this exercise can be hard it can be one of the most powerful.
Use Gratitude Categories For all you planners out there, you ll love this one. Instead of trying to randomly think of something you re grateful for each day, you ll add a bit of structure. It s simple. Pick a gratitude category for each day of the week. It could look like this: Monday = gratitude for relationships in your life. Tuesday = gratitude for family. Wednesday = gratitude about things you like about yourself. Thursday = gratitude about things you own. Friday = gratitude about the World. Saturday = gratitude about friends. Sunday = gratitude about your work. Pick a few categories. Pick a different category each day. Do what your heart desires. Using planned spontaneity can be an effective ally.
BONUS: Share your gratitude with others Although on the surface this seems simple, telling others how awesome they are can feel weird. Will they think I have an agenda? Will they think I m weird? They probably already know how I feel? Gratitude is all about the emotion. If you just intellectually THINK about gratitude without feeling, you are receiving little psychological boost. Sharing your gratitude with others can take the emotion to the next level.
21-DAY GRATITUDE ATTITUDE JOURNAL Print these next pages and use them for your first 21 days of your Gratitude Attitude journaling. Use the hashtag #gratitudeattitude and tag @girl_of_the_soul on Instagram to share your daily gratitude with me!
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the World are the ones who do. - Steve Jobs Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. Walt Whitman
Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow s reality. - Malala Yousafzai All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination. - Earl Nightingale
The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money. - Thomas Jefferson The power of imagination makes us infinite. - John Muir
Try to be a rainbow in someone s cloud. - Maya Angelou I dwell in possibility. - Emily Dickinson
I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me. - Zane Grey A pencil and a dream can take you anywhere. - Joyce Meyer
When the sun is shining I can do anything; No mountain is too high, no trouble to difficult to overcome. - Wilma Rudolph Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. - Jim Rohn
In a gentle way, you can shake the world. - Mahatma Gandhi Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls. - Joseph Cambell
Each day provides its own gifts. - Marcus Aurelius We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. - Thornton Wilder
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. - Oscar Wilde The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. - Jackson Brown Jr
What we think, we become. - Buddha Put your heart, mind and soul into even the smallest acts. This is the secret of success. - Swami Sivananda
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. - Aesop Visit my blog www.girlofthesoul.com for all things soulful.