Gratitude Journals

Long time readers of this blog, I’m sure, have been thinking “I wonder what happened to Deanna’s friend Jen? She talked about her so much the first month of blogging and then hasn’t mentioned her since. Did Jen finally get tired of Deanna constantly talking about Hamilton?” The answer to that is “probably” but it hasn’t stopped me from continuing to discuss Alexander Hamilton. Although, I did almost have to cease our friendship because she sent me a snap chat incorrectly attributing the classic song I Write Sins, Not Tragedies to Fallout Boy instead of Panic! and the Disco, Jen has continued to be an important part of the behind the scenes of my blogging life.

My friend Jen is always doing cool things, like sleeping at concerts (that’s not true but we were just having a silly conversation about it). One of the real cool things she’s doing is most of the days in May she’s been doing Facebook Live videos where she discusses interesting and different ways to help improve your life and wellness. Whether it’s sleeping with your phone in a different room, tracking your steps, or fitness accountability buddies Jen comes up with a topic and discusses some pros about it and how to incorporate these different things into your life. She does ask me for advice on topics, but thus far has not discussed that all the children born to members of the BAU during the run of Criminal Minds have been boys and that two of those sons names are essentially the same. I feel like this is an important topic, but Jen does not.

One of the topics she has brought up recently is gratitude journals. I promised that I would start mine next week because this week is a terrible week to try to figure out things to be grateful for (you’ll learn more about that in my post on Saturday). So I decided that I would share the idea and toss it out to the blogosphere. Keeping this kind of journal is not easy, but I think that especially in a world where there is so much negative and mentally exhausting things are happening, it’s important to take a break and think about what makes you happy.

So I read a couple different websites about gratitude journaling and I’ve taken the basics formed this post. I got a really cute journal from DFTBA.com (the featured image for this post) and I’ve decided to make that my gratitude journal.

The “experts” say that it’s better not to over do it by writing every day but to keep it to three to five times a week. Thinking about it too much can add stress to something that’s supposed to help elevate it.

The biggest pointer that every website I read was to not rush it. Don’t jump into this kind of project looking to just put something superficial on a piece of paper to get it over with. Think about it and take time out of your day on days that you decide to write your entries and really think about what you’re grateful for.

The second piece of advice I found helpful was to think about things that surprised you. Write about the little things in your life that came up unexpectedly that brought a smile to your face. These are little moments to be grateful for.

Focus on the people in your life instead of just what happened. I’m grateful for Jen because Jen understands me when I send a string of emojis that don’t make any sense and deducts that it probably has to do with underpants. The things in our lives aren’t as important as the people. Gratitude journals should reflect that, but at the same time if you got a really awesome bicycle and now you don’t have to drive or walk everywhere, being grateful for the bicycle is also important.

Another piece of advice taking a few minutes at night to think about and write down why today was awesome– even of today wasn’t all that awesome, there was probably something that made you smile. That part is something stolen from the 5 awesome girls youtube videos that I always liked to think about. I had a blog back in the day that ended every post with why today was awesome. Why today is awesome can be superficial things or thoughtful things, just a reason why today was great.

I think that keeping this kind of journal can be extremely helpful when there are days when everything seems to just suck. We can look back at them and remember that everything doesn’t always suck and there are these amazing people and great places and silly moments that have happened along the way.

What do you guys think? Is this something you can do? Is it something you’ve done before? I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.

 

Until next time Internet,

 

Deanna