There are many different recommendations that can help you change your life for the better and feel happier. One of these recommendations is keeping a gratitude diary, which will help attract positive energy to your side, which can become powerful support in all your aspirations and endeavors. In this article, we will look at what a gratitude journal is and how it can help change your life for the better. Let's look at 10 rules for keeping a gratitude journal.
What is a gratitude journal?
A gratitude journal is a type of personal diary in which a person writes about events that make him feel grateful. A diary of this format is recognized by psychologists as an effective tool for improving mood , increasing one’s self-esteem and changing ideological positions for the better. With the help of a gratitude diary, a person gets the opportunity to change his views on the world around him, setting himself in a positive mood. By entering into it notes about various events from your life, be it a conversation, a meeting or an action for which you would like to say “thank you,” you will take another step towards peace, happiness and success in life.
The result of keeping a diary is to enhance the emotional experience of the moments that are recorded in the diary. It is this aspect that is the most powerful psychological tool of influence that a gratitude diary has on a person and can change his thoughts. According to the observation of a number of experts, a stable habit of concentrating on positive events appears within just a few months of keeping a diary, after which it turns into a habit that can change life for the better.
In addition, such recordings contribute to the realization of the creative and intellectual potential of the individual, and also help in the treatment of depression, acting as an auxiliary tool. A gratitude diary allows a person to see not only the negative, but also the positive side of life , its bright moments and small joys. And this, in turn, gives a person a feeling of confidence, helps to increase self-esteem and teaches one to forgive others.
Additional Recommendation
From personal practice, I recommend that you sum up the results - the most vivid gratitude for the best events:
- once a week;
- once a month;
- once a quarter;
- once a year.
Why is this necessary?
The fact is that our subconscious is naturally programmed to focus on the negative (perceived danger) in order to protect us from possible threats. Our lives have changed significantly since the times of the cavemen, but this function has remained. That is why it is worth making extra efforts to direct the energy of your attention to positive events in life and not devalue the good things that happen in everyday life.
It is convenient to summarize by looking through the entries for the week and choosing those gratitudes for which you feel especially grateful.
How a gratitude journal can help you improve your life
In addition to boosting self-esteem, keeping a gratitude journal is a recognized antidepressant. Often a person is left alone with his negative thoughts, and when there are no loved ones nearby who can support him, it is a diary like this that can restore optimism and a sense of self-confidence. In addition, a person will learn to find good in everyday little things, filling them with pleasant experiences. Other beneficial benefits of keeping a gratitude journal include:
- Gaining the ability to notice the positive actions of other people. This is very important, since many people tend to give preference to criticism , focusing exclusively on the negative in the actions of another person and not noticing the positive, but they primarily harm themselves.
- A person learns to enjoy every event, even an insignificant one , with a positive connotation, which frees him from previous negative attitudes in life and allows him to consider many pleasant, but previously unnoticed little things that make up happiness.
- A sense of gratitude for one’s own achievements, skills, accomplishments and actions develops, which helps to gain the ability to value oneself.
- The attitude towards others changes radically, in particular, a person becomes more tolerant and begins to forgive past grievances, freeing himself from their unnecessary oppressive weight.
- There is also a reassessment of the attitude towards what you have experienced, towards past problems and difficulties, towards their role in life (after all, only difficulties can strengthen you).
All this will help you become a developed and positively minded person who will attract similar, harmonious and bright people to you, while at the same time repelling bile, angry and negatively thinking individuals.
How thank you notes work
Our brain is a very lazy organ, but if we set it up in the right optimistic direction, it will reciprocate.
You will notice that once you start keeping your gratitude journal, the positive things will be noticed much more often. A complete restructuring of consciousness onto the “thankful path” occurs within approximately 3 months. This technique has been proven to work great for depression, low self-esteem, and increased sensitivity. Such recordings again and again draw attention to the fact that life is not a black streak, but a multifaceted process with bright and joyful moments.
A grateful heart hurts less, sleep becomes stronger and healthier, and a person is able to independently and successfully overcome stress.
There is also interesting data: the practice of thanksgiving leads to wonderful changes in life, I would say, even worse than visualization. She develops:
- low self-esteem to adequate;
- satisfaction from little things;
- relationships with loved ones;
- stress resistance;
- attentiveness to the successes and experiences of others, without experiencing feelings of envy in the first case and gloating in the second;
- self-control: a person learns to restrain fear, anxiety and anger, trains to stop a barrage of emotions in time.
Examples of gratitude
You can find a huge number of reasons and prerequisites for recording gratitude, but for the vast majority of people it is very difficult to find an average of ten such reasons every day. Therefore, below we will provide a list of the most common reasons for gratitude, from which you can start at moments when there seems to be nothing to express gratitude for. So, express your gratitude:
- to yourself, at the same time accepting yourself as you are;
- to your relatives, family and friends, for their support in word and deed;
- people who met you on this day and left a good impression;
- to the objects and things around you because they simplify your life and decorate your life;
- good experiences that gave you positive emotions on this day;
- nature, the world and life itself for having it.
In a word, learn to appreciate and love all the positive details of your everyday life, remembering that many people are deprived of even this. Celebrate every pleasant moment and reflect it in your notes.
Do you know this game - “Who will go to the North?”
The rules are as follows: participants sit in a circle and take turns saying what they will take with them to the North (for example, a thermos of tea, a hat, skis - anything), and the presenter evaluates the participant’s answer and makes a verdict - whether he is going to the North or not . The game goes round and round until gradually the participants begin to guess by what criterion the leader takes people with him, and when all the participants have already understood the principle, the game ends.
This is not a game of intelligence, but of attention and intuitive insight. The more a person uses logic and intelligence, the less likely he is to guess. Intelligent people are not always intelligent. The game is built on the fundamental Universal principle. If a person understands him, then he goes not only to the North - he has a green light everywhere. And if he doesn’t understand the principle, then take as many things as you like, it will still make no sense - the road is closed to you.
The trick of the game is that the outcome is decided before you even start playing. Even before you say anything, the presenter already knows whether you understand the principle and, accordingly, whether you are going to the North.
Not fair?
Maybe, but that's just the way things are in life. Why does someone win and live happily, joyfully and harmoniously, while others, on the contrary, are dissatisfied and unhappy? Wandering through life, I noticed that happy and unhappy people are separated by a whole abyss - it seems impossible to cross it. But looking closer, I see that there is still a way: a suspension bridge made of wooden poles leads across the abyss of despondency to the cape of happiness and prosperity.
These tablets are the keys to a happy life. Even though each of the planks is small, if you remove one or two, you will no longer be able to cross the bridge. The one who knows these keys and applies them in life wins.
Are you ready to take the step?
Today we continue the topic of astronauts (cosmonauts are those who are not afraid to be abnormal and do everything the same way as others) and talk about one of these keys. It is this key that underlies the game “Who Goes North”. So, do you want to know by what criterion the presenter determines whether to hire you or not?
As often happens, everything in life is much simpler than we imagine. The game demonstrates this perfectly. When we understand the principle, it turns out that everything is so simple that we cannot stop laughing - incredible!
So, the solution
What exactly you take with you to the North does not matter, it’s all just a cover. The game is completely different. In the game, participants pass each other some thing, for example, a stick or candy - it doesn’t matter what exactly. The wand has reached you, which means it’s your turn to answer.
And that's what really matters in this game (and maybe in life?)
It is important HOW you take the wand from another participant. However, let's not beat around the bush for too long.
The key word in the game is “thank you”
If you took the wand and thanked the previous participant, saying “thank you” to him, the host sees that you are on topic and understand the principle of the game. Then you can say whatever you want - it doesn’t matter anymore, you are still going to the North. And vice versa, if you took a stick and didn’t thank you, you’re not going anywhere, you can rack your brains for another half an evening with philosophical koans “why don’t they take me with matches, we’ll need them there?!”
conclusions
Each person understands happiness in his own way, because each of us has our own list of pleasant little things, memories and moments that are happy for an individual. Keeping a gratitude diary will allow you to see and capture even the smallest manifestations of love and kindness around you, previously completely invisible to you. And this, in turn, will give you the ability to notice the positive sides even in case of failures, not to lose heart, get rid of feelings of depression, and fill your life with harmony and positivity.
A selection of iPhone applications
Absolutely any note-taking application is suitable for smartphones, such as Evernote, Bear.app, Momento or any other.
But there are also special applications designed specifically for a gratitude journal:
- DayOne is a general journaling app with a ton of features, but you can create your own template with a reminder, and at the appointed time, the app will ask you to answer the question “what am I grateful for today” (or any other question you want)
- Gratitude Journal - made a simple thing complicated
