Improve Your Life and Well-Being With A Gratitude Journal That Actually Works
GRATITUDE IS THE FASTEST WAY TO RAISE YOUR VIBRATION AND TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND. PERIOD.
We all want to feel better and be happy. That’s a given. Well, I can share from my own experience, and countless like me, that gratitude is the easiest and fastest route to get you there.
Years ago I began searching for a way to turn my life around. Happiness seemed like a foreign concept, and I was far from living my dream life. I didn’t want a quick fix. I wanted a permanent solution. And that’s when I started my gratitude journal.
After only a few weeks of writing in my gratitude journal, I started noticing things changing for the better. I was more positive and optimistic; little things that used to annoy me seemed less bothersome to me; my relationships were improving; I was attracting new, fun people into my life; opportunities were finding me; I was sleeping better; my self-esteem improved; I stopped comparing myself to others, and I felt calm and way less stressed!
I didn’t even recognize the person I used to be. My life quickly did a turnaround for the better thanks to my commitment to practicing gratitude on a daily basis.
So, in this article, I’m going to walk you through how to set up a gratitude journal, how to find things to be grateful for if you’re having trouble, and I’ll even give you a printout with some journal prompts to get you started.
I’ve even included some guided meditations and affirmations for you at the end of the article. So, come on. You’ve got no more excuses. Everything you need to get started is right here.
Now pick yourself up, make the commitment to change your world, and keep reading.
And if you want more tools and techniques to create happiness in your life, read my article 5 Ways to Manifest Your Best Life and Become a Better Happier You.
This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) when you click on those links. For more information, you can read my disclosure policy.
Table of Contents
- Benefits of Gratitude
- Gratitude is the Secret Key to the Law of Attraction
- What is a Gratitude Journal and Why You Need One
- Writing It Down Reprograms Your Mind
- What You Need to Start Your Gratitude Journal
- More Tools to Cultivate Your Gratitude
Benefits of Gratitude
Gratitude is tremendously powerful. Research shows that gratitude can make you happier, and being happy raises your vibration. Thus, you attract more high vibrational things into your experience.
But the benefits don’t stop there. It can also improve your life in so many other ways.
Benefits of gratitude:
- makes you happier
- rewires your brain
- shields you from negativity
- improves relationships
- reduces anxiety and depression
- enhances empathy and reduces aggression
- improves psychological health (reduces toxic emotions like envy, resentment, frustration, and regret)
- increases mental strength
- improves your physical health
- eliminates stress
- improves sleep
- boosts self-esteem
Gratitude is the Secret Key to the Law of Attraction
Do you really need another reason to practice gratitude? Well, if you do, here’s one more for you. Gratitude is a crucial component of the Law of Attraction.
When you express gratitude prior to receiving the things in life you desire, it magically attracts those desires and other positive changes to you. So, get ready to attract some pretty amazing things into your life.
Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.
– Eckhart Tolle
Life can get hard sometimes. You’re bombarded with work, family, bills, and all the things in between that pop up (sometimes all at once).
You get bogged down and overwhelmed with things that feel like huge problems. This makes it hard to stop and appreciate things that are good in your life.
Trust me when I say, I get it. I’ve been there.
But when you focus on appreciating the good in your life on a daily basis, you’ll begin to notice how much better life truly gets.
What is a Gratitude Journal and Why You Need One
A gratitude journal is an extremely effective, and simple, tool to change the way you look at the things in your life and feel genuinely invigorated to get out of bed in the morning instead of dreading it.
It’s a journal that is dedicated specifically to cultivating your practice of gratitude.
There are no set rules on how to write in your journal. But for the purpose of this article, I’m asking you to write a daily list of things that you are grateful for in your journal for 30 days.
You’ll start out with a small list of 3-5 things each day in the beginning. Then you’ll work your way up to as many as you’d like. The sky’s the limit.
I know it feels counterintuitive to be grateful for a life you would like to change. But that’s how the universe operates.
When you believe it, you will see it.
So, we must cultivate gratitude for the things that are present right now in our lives, which will raise our vibration to the level of the things we desire.
We’re all capable of being grateful for the wonderful things in our lives, but sometimes we need a bit of a nudge to practice it. And maybe sometimes we need to be forced, kicking and screaming, to open our eyes to see the good in our lives.
Either way, things won’t get better until you put on your rose-colored glasses and your happy hat and start singing the praises of the things that are already right in front of your face.
Writing It Down Reprograms Your Mind
Simply put, writing it down rather than just mentally making a list really helps cement it into your subconscious.
The act of physically writing something by hand (rather than typing on your computer or using an app on your phone) forces your brain to mentally engage with the information on a level that further impresses the new thought patterns into the mind.
To make real lasting change in your life, you must reprogram your subconscious. You have to retrain your brain to focus on the good and do it consistently.
Our brain is primed to notice the negatives and overlook the positive. When someone asks you how your day was, the first thing out of your mouth is how it went wrong. One little thing goes wrong and suddenly all the things that went right get pushed to the back burner or forgotten entirely.
Gratitude gives space for the positive experience to expand, or for us to ‘re-experience’ it, rather than having us quickly move on from it.
Plus, as an added bonus, your journal is a written collection of inspiring material to look back on when you are in need of a pick-me-up.
I’m not going to lie. It may seem like hard work at first.
If you haven’t been practicing gratitude, then conjuring up things to be thankful for is going to feel like a chore. And you’ll probably grumble and moan at having to write in a journal every single day trying to come up with new things to be grateful for (especially if you’re having a hard time even finding one thing).
But trust me. It’s completely worth it. And it gets easier over time.
Gratitude is like a muscle. The more you practice it the better you get at it. It gets stronger with daily use, which is where your gratitude journal comes in.
Once you get into the habit of noticing the good in your world and jotting it down in a journal, appreciation starts to flow through you like a sprung leak. You won’t know how to turn it off. But that’s a good thing!
Give it a go for 30 days. See what miraculous things can happen in just one month. I don’t think taking 10 minutes every morning to put a few sentences down on paper is too much to ask if you want to improve your life.
You probably spend that much time (or more) complaining about your life over your morning coffee. Isn’t it worth a try?
What You Need To Start Your Gratitude Journal
1. A Journal
You can get as basic or as fancy as you want with your gratitude journal. If you want to use a simple spiral notebook or a hardbound journal with your name engraved on the cover, it’s totally up to you.
Whatever lights your fire and inspires you to put pen to paper. But I do recommend that whatever you choose be used solely for the purpose of your gratitude journal. In other words, don’t jot your entries down on post-it notes, scrap pieces of paper, or in a notebook/journal you use for grocery lists or other purposes.
And if you decide that you’d like to purchase a pretty book to house your thoughts, here are a few options to inspire you and get those creative writing juices flowing.
Optional Bonus Tip: Have fun with it! Get your DIY on. Paste some pictures of things that make you happy or get your juices flowing (like a vision board), on the cover of your journal, or on pages throughout your notebook to provide some added inspiration.
2. Commitment
To be successful at anything, you must commit yourself to it. It’s like anything else — losing weight, learning a new skill, or even saving money.
You must muster up the willpower to do it every day and go after it like it’s nobody’s business. Thirty days is not a long time to devote to changing the rest of your life. Make it a routine. Make it a priority. And make it count!
3. A Positive Attitude
If you’re already telling yourself that this gratitude thing won’t work, then you’re right. It won’t.
You have to give it a shot and set the intention to succeed. You’ll never rewire your brain and make real lasting change in your life with a lackluster attitude. Don’t sabotage yourself before you even start.
Give it everything you’ve got and get excited about it! Emotion and repetition are the key ingredients to making any new thought pattern stick.
4. Just 10 Minutes Every Morning
Why do I suggest doing it first thing in the morning? Because it’ll start your day off on the right foot. The appreciation that you spark from writing in your journal will set a positive mood for the rest of your day.
It’s like when you watch the news first thing in the morning. After only a few minutes, it’s got you ready to jump off a bridge. And you just got out of bed.
So, turn off the negative programming and start your day off right with some positivity. Allow yourself at least 10 minutes every morning to appreciate the positive aspects in your world. If you want to give yourself more time, great! You’re a superstar!
Optional Bonus Tip: Set an alarm on your phone if you need an extra reminder to set aside some time. First thing when you wake up, while you’re eating breakfast, drinking your morning coffee, and after your morning meditation are all perfect moments to reflect on your gratitude.
5. Gratitude Journal Prompts
If you’re not sure where to start, grab the gratitude journal prompt printable below at the end of the article. I created it to help you find a starting point. To spark some ideas.
Because when you first start trying to come up with things, you may get stumped or find that your mind goes blank.
Nope. Nothing but cobwebs up in there.
So, in the beginning, these prompts will really help get the process started. But they’re just a guide. You’ll need to dig deep.
Things like “I appreciate my pet, Sparkles” or “I’m grateful for my husband, Jimmy John” aren’t going to cut it.
Don’t get me wrong. Those are both things you should be grateful for and will help grease the wheels in the beginning. But you’re going to have to get more specific if you want to really FEEL grateful for your life.
Try “I’m so grateful that my husband helps with the dishes when he sees I’m tired at the end of a long day and puts the toilet seat down” or “I love that Sparkles always runs up to greet me and her unconditional love always cheers me up.”
When you’re too general, it doesn’t spark an emotion — you know, that warm fuzzy feeling — within you. And it doesn’t give you any other direction to go in. It’s too broad.
When you get more specific, it sparks new ideas. That idea reminds you of something else, and that thing leads to another thing. And so on.
Don’t worry I’ll help you along the way. The prompts in the printout give some great ideas for you to run with.
Instructions for Writing in Your Gratitude Journal
1. Ok, so now that you’re ready to begin, print out the daily gratitude prompts below. Each morning you’ll look over the prompts to gather inspiration.
2. Then you’ll think about your life as a whole, the world in general, the things that happened yesterday and years ago.
3. For the first week you’ll write 3-5 things you love, appreciate and are truly grateful for. And you’ll be specific and detailed.
It doesn’t need to be more than a sentence, but put effort into it. (Read over the list at night before you go to bed to further reprogram your brain and to put a smile on your face at the end of a long day.)
4. For the last three weeks, I want you to gradually build your list up to at least 10-15 things you’re grateful for. I promise you. It’s not impossible.
If you’ve been putting in the work, it will come easily to you. You’re going to have to trust me on this. (Don’t forget to read over your list before bed and even glance through your journal throughout the day if you have time.)
More Tools to Cultivate Gratitude
Here are some extra tools to help you get started with your new gratitude practice. I’ve included a short, 10-minute guided meditation and a couple of videos with love and gratitude affirmations. Enjoy!
And here are two Affirmation videos to inspire you and get you started in growing your gratitude practice. Click on the links below to watch.
Morning Gratitude Affirmations by The Mindful Movement
Program Your Mind for Love & Gratitude – Affirmations While You Sleep by Rising Higher Meditation
Want More? If you’d like more resources on gratitude, journaling, and guided meditations, click here to find tons of articles and videos.
And be sure to follow me on Pinterest to get all the latest updates. I’m always adding new pins!👈📌💜
In Conclusion
And that’s it. Try this gratitude journal practice for one month, and if you commit to it and truly put your all into it, then I promise you’ll witness the wonders this invaluable tool truly creates in your life!
Hopefully, at the end of the month, you’ll fall in love with the habit of gratitude so much that you’ll make it a lifelong practice.
Your life is about to change. So get ready!
RELATED: 5 Ways to Manifest Your Best Life and Become a Better Happier You
Join the List
Stay in the know and sign up for more goodies.
Receive weekly updates, resources & inspiration sent straight to your inbox.
