Friday, July 28, 2006

Gratitude Journal

Silly me! I forget sometimes... I mentioned gratitude journals yesterday and have been inundated with emails about what I meant ... sorry! And thanks for asking ...

Sarah Ban Breathnach introduced me to the concept in her book Simple Abundance ... it is about having an open heart and mind to see the great things in your day (and thus your life). At the end of each day you write five things you are truly grateful for. Often just the little things in life ... but some days there is some big stuff too.

Now this sounds like
a simple exercise. But it is really quite powerful. When you first start this daily habit you find yourself looking for things you might want to record as your day unfolds. And then, looking for the great things & the serendipity in your life, becomes a habit after a while. What a great new habit to have huh?

Don't expect radical changes over night. I suspect it is really about rescripting the messages in your brain, to eventually be more positive as a habit. So it doesn't happen overnight.

Be warned ... there are some days it is hard to find five things. You will still have those days. I have one entry when I was really sick that I actually listed "Breathing" as one of my items to be grateful for! Other days? You wish you could write more than five. But this is also an exercise in being disciplined. So you must find five ... and only five. And they must all be positive things you feel grateful for ...

For those of you who aren't in to the the whole book-journal thing (I still find that hard to believe but there you go!) ... try the on-line version here ------>
On line gratitude journal

1 comment:

rebeleyeball said...

Excellent post, better advice.