Usually, I’m a pretty upbeat person. Well, I’m also really into complaining and being a moody b---you know what, I’m a human and I’m complicated. Ok? Maybe my sense of humor is a little different, but my partner in eye-rolls at people’s Christmas PJ pictures, my mom, and I tend to show our gratitude towards family during this time of year through the food we worried over a hot stove to bring them and gently kick them out the door as soon as the last Thanksgiving dish is dry. Ahh. Spending time with family is the absolute best.
Ahem.
Point is, I had never gotten into doing anything other than eating and either going home, kicking everyone out of my home, or moving on to the next relative’s home for the holidays. We are a small family who sees each other so no bigs. So, doing the whole “gratitude journaling” thing seemed pretty hokey to me. Until I needed to be grateful for everything I had. When I had to take a breather from life after a small implosion and moved very, VERY close to family for the first time in 20-something years. Then? Well, then I had to count my blessings one by one because I would have literally gone insane. God bless their pea-picking hearts.
Point is, once I started thinking about it, it made more sense in a scientific way to me, that I was feeling a little better. Recalling the GOOD things in my life, those small blessings, not only took my mind off the list of crap life was slinging at me and forced me to look at the light in the world. Making me not upset, all those feel-good chemicals came out again little by little, and every moment wasn’t as horrendous as it had been. The more we focus on the good, the more our brains let us have a little hit of that good good, making us happier. It’s a lovely take on a catch-22 really. A cycle of good chemicals from your noggin.
That’s just the tip of the ol’ iceberg though. There are a few great reasons to keep a gratitude journal and try to write in it most days.
Here are my fave five reasons to keep a gratitude journal!
Increased Positivity. Reflecting on the positive in life and what you’re grateful for and writing it down each day helps a person feel less stressed throughout the day thanks to those above-mentioned brain chemicals. Writing them down helps them go from the back of your mind and focus on them, putting thought into why it’s a blessing and how you can share that with others.
Plus, being positive just helps you feel better when faced with a tough situation or person. Keeping a smile on your face makes the interaction go that much quicker. (and usually, in my experience, really pisses the other person off even more. They look like a bully and you smell like a rose!)
Better Sleep. Studies show that taking approximately 20 minutes before bedtime to reflect on gratitude can help you catch those z’s easier. Research suggests that doing this regularly helps ramp up those sweet, sweet, serotonin levels, helping the old nervous system relax. Plus, keeping your mind occupied with positive thoughts before you slip into Dreamland keeps the brain off of the negative things it’s been dwelling on, helping to keep worries and anxieties at bay!
You Feel Happier. Acknowledging the people and things you’re grateful for means acknowledging and honoring good things in your life, or the lives of folks we love (I’m grateful my folks are still in good health or when my friend wins on a scratch-off.) Writing them down allows you to revel in these warm, fuzzy grateful feelings.
When your perspective is happier, your life, in general, is affected, helping build stronger relationships, feel better and even become healthier. Studies show those who keep a gratitude journal tend to be more optimistic and are more content with their lives than folks that don’t.
It Reduces Stress Levels. Happy and optimistic people tend to take self-care seriously as opposed to those who aren’t reflecting on their bright spots in life. These happy people tend to deal with stress better. Even science backs up that the person who focuses on areas of their lives in which they find satisfaction and contentment can experience their bodies countering stress almost on auto-pilot.
An Awesome Self-Esteem Booster. Being able to see and appreciate the good in life helps develop an “attitude of gratitude.” When your outlook on life improves, so does your outlook on yourself. Instead of seeing the negative in oneself and why that means we don’t “deserve” good things in life, we begin to see all the blessings received and we can then see we DO deserve them. Believing in yourself more than ever is a pretty awesome side effect of taking a little time to write down things that we are grateful for.
Even though I love my outlook on life and my theory of optimism (that’s another tale for another day,) writing down the things I find in my day to be thankful for isn’t going to change my brilliant and snarky sense of humor…it’s how I deal with things. If it allows me to be happier and more content in life, I figured I might as well give it a try. Things aren’t perfect in life yet, but I’m not a writhing mess on the floor as many times a week as I had been and things are being slowly but surely replaced by gratuity and hope for the future.
I’m hoping you guys will join me this Thanksgiving season by using this FREE printable Gratitude Journal and at least give positivity the old college try. Let’s check back in a few days and see if we can spend some time on a significant majority of those days with an entry, whether it’s short or long or just a word or two. Maybe we can prove this whole “optimism” thing might actually be not so bad.
Scan the code below for links to all the
places we are!
