EVERY DAY IS THANKSGIVING DAY!
this module is part of the Executive Coaching model for grooming the "Inner Self" and has given amazing results to the numerous participants in our Meta+Coach programs
A gratitude journal is simply a personal record of things, experiences or people in your life that you’re thankful for. The process is essentially about paying attention to the good things in life that we normally take for granted and are easily overlooked. Thankfulness is an attitude that you can practice and develop. Cultivating gratitude as the norm in your life will make keeping a gratitude journal much easier.
WHY KEEP A GRATITUDE JOURNAL????
Actually writing gratitude journal entries on
paper forces you to organize your
thoughts and dedicate time to thinking them over. This process helps
acknowledge what’s important in your life and cultivates a positive mental
attitude; the simple act of saying ‘thank you’ will help transform your state
of mind, even your health and
fitness. The positive effects of gratitude journaling have been
observed in scientific studies it was
found that generally, those people who recorded their gratitude reported an
overall higher sense of well-being, slept better and were reported to have more
energy than people who did not.
HOW TO KEEP A
GRATITUDE JOURNAL
Keeping a gratitude journal is needs recording the highlights that
you’re particularly grateful for each day ( not
more than 3-5 items) and capture the sentiment/ thought preferable in a single
sentence. Look in a different aspect of the days happenings. This will make writing in the journal more
challenging as time goes on, and your
awareness and thankfulness will grow. You'll be challenging yourself to find
new things to be thankful for that perhaps you never noticed before.
Some suggested topics are shown below; People who’ve had a
positive influence on your life or helped shape you as a person; Experiences you’ve had; Passions and
interests; Good health; Food and drink; Material goods or services; Money and
career success; Recent accomplishments and personal bests; Places you’ve been… the
list can go on; you will yourself discover some more points as your progress in
the art of the gratitude journal. The most important factor is to build the
habit of paying attention to gratitude-inspiring events in your life.
Here are some pointers for direction:
Many people start
by writing down basic material things that they are grateful for in their
lives. As a further step think about the extended abilities that are unique to you.
Think about skillful things like dancing, singing, writing, and features that
make up your character like your listening skills, your skills in cheering up
people, your skills in being a good friend. You may strech on to write about extended material things in your life. These
things vary from person to person depending on what you like and take interest
in. For example, if you love to paint, you may be grateful for the paint that
you have. Or, if you like music you may be grateful for your CD collections.
An important
aspect is to consider the people in your life. Think about all the people you care about,
like your parents, your friends, your significant other, your pets. Write why
you are grateful for each person and how they make you feel. This helps you to
appreciate them and see only the good in them. It's also good to write about
the people that you don't really like and find a reason to appreciate them.
This can be difficult as we don't really appreciate people we don't like but it
can be very uplifting. There is good in everyone and it's very mood shifting to
find the good in even people we dislike and feel grateful for them.
Write
about mundane situations and the new experiences
and feeling therefrom . There are
always situations that have made us happy. For example, you may be
grateful for a fun party, a good day at work, a fun vacation.
THE BENEFITS OF KEEPING A GRATITUDE JOURNAL
There’s
a surprising amount of research on the benefits of gratitude on health,
relationships and general well being - yet it only takes five minutes.
#1 You‘ll appreciate even small things taken for granted
You can write down anything to appreciate it; freshly
brewed coffee or nice weather.I’m usually goal-driven, but I can wind down a bit
when journaling, and my appreciation of small things keeps me grounded.
#2 What you write tells you what you’re
passionate about
My first topic tends to be about my job. Any achievement
on that day or any inspiring event that may lead to job opportunities. Thanks
to these notes, you will be learning more and more that my home-life balance r
is an essential part of yourself; or keep writing down funny remarks you little
children make; or include in your journal
some funny episodes.
#3 Journaling gives you a chance to express
your gratitude to others
Everyone feels
the urge to be thankful and say that
aloud, but journaling gives you an additional opportunity to show my
appreciation. For instance, I often write, “my wife took our kids to a park to play” on weekends.
Then, I tell him how much I appreciate that after jotting it down.
#4 Your mind will turn any adverse events into life lessons.
It is said “thank
God for tender mercies…” here you express gratitude that a bad situation did
not get worse; for example an skirmish while driving and it did dent the bonnet
of your car; but you did not suffer any grave injury . You can start rephrasing any unpleasant event as a
life lesson or a disguised blessing in
the journal.
CONCLUDING
What if you’re just not a naturally grateful person? Luckily for you, you can “learn” gratitude by practicing it.
A sustained month long plan helps you foster a new attitude of gratitude by pushing you to look for the good around you and express thankfulness for it. However don’t feel the need to write something unique each time and avoid something common or forceful that happened today. Keeping a gratitude journal is often very repetitive and it should be a reflection of what you’re thankful for at that time. If you’re thankful for it, add it to your gratitude list!
The nicest part of gratitude journaling is there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Simply starting and finding what comes most naturally to you is the best start. Begin TODAY!
Dr Wilfred
Monteiro
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