How to Write a Gratitude Journal

Last Updated: February 23, 2021

There was a lady who thought that her life was pretty sorry until her best friend developed short term memory loss. One day during Christmas the lady received a call from her friend who said that she could not remember if her adult kids loved her. In fact, she was sure that they didn't and was filled with grief and despair. The lady ran to her friend’s side and starting looking around for clues of her friend’s kids. In her friend’s refrigerator she found a fruit box sent by her children with a note attached that said “We love you mom, Merry Christmas.” The friend was comforted greatly by this find. How often we forget about all the small things that mean everything to us.

Steps

1
Buy a notebook with lots of blank pages. Form the habit of writing in it every day.
2
Look at the basic things you have. We can all start with the things we take for granted. Such things as our memory, our eyes, our legs, our hands, and our good health are blessings. As you get older you will even be grateful for your teeth. Appreciate the fact that you can move, even if you need some form of help to do it.
3
Take notice of your talents and the activities you enjoy. Maybe you have a great talent for painting or dancing or playing music. All of this brings joy to your life. Record it in your journal.
4
Visit your loved ones. You may have cousins or grandparents you do not visit often. If your are older you may have grandchildren that you have not enjoyed. Be grateful for the time with them. Write in your journal all you did and the fun you had with them.
5
Listen to the sounds of the Earth. Listen to birds, or children laughing, or beautiful music. A deaf lady who was given back her hearing said that the best sound on earth is a baby making cooing sounds. Then be grateful that you can hear.
6
Taste wonderful things. Experience such things as grape jam, chocolate of any kind, peanut butter. Eat something like pasta and savor the sauce. You could write I had chocolate and peanut butter candy today and it was wonderful.
7
Smell great odors. Go to a bakery and smell the hot bread. Go to the mall and smell perfume or bath lotions. Then go home and write I smelled apple body lotion today and it was delicious.
8
Notice people’s kindness. Remember the kid at the fast food restaurant that said, “We missed you”? Your teacher who said, “You are the best in the class”. Appreciate the good things and refuse to focus on the negative. Tell yourself “I am not going to give any space in my book for any negative comment.
9
Touch things around you. Take time to hug others, pet your cat, pat the head of a child, and shake a hand with a smile. Feel the polished wood of your table or the fabric on your sofa.
10
Take a hard look at your life. Be grateful for this earth and all its beauty. Be grateful for a dishwasher that works, a car that runs, heat in your house and that you do not live on the street. In conclusion we become what we focus on. We can be beautiful people with a song in our heart or we can be Grumpy Gus and be all alone. It’s all depends on what you tell yourself. So start writing and tell yourself the wonderful things that you notice every day and people will flock around you because of your attitude. They too will want a great life filled with the passion of living rich. Now you know you always had it and didn’t realize it.