How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal?

How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal; 3 Best Points | CIO Women Magazine

Start A Gratitude Journal does its magic by helping to get rid of bad feelings. It’s like white blood cells for the soul. It keeps us from becoming cynical, angry, or resigned. — Arianna Huffington, in Thrive

When you feel grateful, you get a lot of power and pleasure. Scientists have shown that being grateful for something or someone makes us happier and brings us more joy.

Here are 3 points How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal;

1. WHAT IS A GRATITUDE JOURNAL?

Start A Gratitude Journal is just a list of the good things that happened in your day. When you make it a daily habit to be thankful for the gifts of peace, grace, good people, and good things in your life, you get a general feeling of happiness that spreads throughout your life.

You can make a list or write in more detail about each good thing that has happened. Write down the things you’re grateful for.

What we pay attention to is what we make and what comes to us.

How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal; 3 Best Points | CIO Women Magazine

The first person I heard talk about how Start A Gratitude Journal? can help was Oprah. Oprah has been keeping a gratitude journal for 20 years, and she often talks about the gifts and power of gratitude.

She says, “I go through the day looking for things to be grateful for, and something always shows up.” I bet it’s pretty easy for Oprah to find things to be thankful for, but even the rest of us can learn from her example.

I’ve read about a lot of successful people, and almost all of them have gratitude in their lives.

Emma Watson says this about her gratitude practice: “I love the idea of starting the day by writing down three things I’m grateful for and ending the day by thinking about three great things that happened.” I believe that practicing gratitude can change your life.

Robert Emmons of Greater Good Magazine says that gratitude may seem like a simple feeling, but it leads to kindness, connection, and big changes in people’s lives.

Emmons’s work with Michael McCullough at the University of Miami has led to several important discoveries about gratitude. “We’ve found scientific proof that when people work on being grateful regularly, they get several mental, physical, and social benefits that can be measured. Some people have said that being grateful changed their lives in big ways.”

Emmons and McCullough asked people to keep Start A Gratitude Journal every day for two weeks as part of one study.

People who kept Start A Gratitude Journal said they felt “more joyful, enthusiastic, interested, attentive, energetic, excited, determined, and strong.”

Here is How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal;

2. WHY START A GRATITUDE JOURNAL?

A gratitude journal makes the following possible

Better sleep

Boosted immune system

Lessen your stress

How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal; 3 Best Points | CIO Women Magazine

A better feeling of peace Start A Gratitude Journal

More awareness of oneself

By thinking about what you are grateful for, you become more aware of what is working and what you want more of in life. You then start to focus on those things.

3. HOW TO BEGIN A THANKFULNESS JOURNAL?

Increase your happiness quotient.

These four successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and celebrities—Oprah, Tim Ferriss, Arianna Huffington, and Emma Watson—all know how to show gratitude.

Be grateful. Focus on joy.

“If you have a type-A personality, it’s easy to be obsessed with moving the ball forward, which makes you always think about the future. If anxiety is a focus on the future, then practicing gratitude, even for just two or three minutes, is a good way to counteract that.

How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal; 3 Best Points | CIO Women Magazine

Only 15 minutes a day is needed. The magazine Greater Good says to do it once a week for at least two weeks. Studies show that writing in Start A Gratitude Journal three times a week might make us happier than writing in a journal every day. This is much easier than writing once a day, but you can still do that if you want to.

The entries don’t have to be long or deep; they can be simple and only one sentence long. For example, “When I ran, my body felt good” or “I just finished a new book.” Studies have shown that writing a short list of things you appreciate is less helpful than going into more detail about what you appreciate. It’s more important to keep a gratitude practice and make it as easy as possible, so the fact that you might not have time to write for more than 15 minutes shouldn’t stop you from keeping Start A Gratitude Journal at all.

Write down everything that comes to mind. It’s your journal, so you can write just one good thing or twenty. Some people say that you should write about five things every day, but it can be more or less. Focusing on the people you are thankful for instead of things makes a bigger difference. Still, keeping Start A Gratitude Journal is a personal thing, and there is no “right” way to do it.

You can write in your journal at any time of the day. Some people keep a journal on their nightstand and write in it right before bed what they are thankful for. Writing at night gives you a chance to think about your day and can become a nightly habit. Writing before bed is a great way to put your thoughts to rest. Make it a habit to write every day, whether it’s in the morning or at night, and keep that promise.

The point of Start A Gratitude Journal is to remember the good things in your life, like a person, an experience, or an event, and to enjoy the good feelings you have as you write about them. Think of these as “gifts.” When you see them as gifts, you are less likely to take them for granted.

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