More About Gratitude Journals

Thanksgiving season is the perfect time to start a gratitude journal.

In past Novembers, I've seen Facebook do what they billed as "Thirty Days of Gratitude," wherein members were encouraged to share on Facebook each day something they were grateful for. I've never participated, but it really is a good idea. I was reminded of the blessing of doing a gratitude or happiness journal by a friend. Her mother recently passed away, and she was reading her mother's happiness journal. Kathy had given her mother a journal one Christmas, and discovered the journal with her mother's things after she died. She was loving reading the journal, and learning even more about her mother.

So I put those ideas together. If you've never done a happiness or gratitude journal, November is the perfect month to start. And to remind you to also think about posterity. Family members will one day enjoy reading your journal, just as my friend is doing now.

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My friend sent me a picture of her deceased mother's happiness journal. Kathy had given this journal to her mother one Christmas.

Gratitude journals revisited~

During this month, I would encourage you to start a gratitude journal. It can also be called a happiness journal because, as social scientists tell us, gratitude is the KEY to happiness. And if you have done one in the past, but have discontinued it, I would encourage you to start it again. Not to sound corny, but it is the spark that reignites the fire in your soul. 

All you have to do is keep a little journal specifically for writing 3-5 things that make you smile on any given day. Or simply add those things to your journal or day book.

Bookmarks with ideas and writing prompts~

Last year to encourage my granddaughters to write in their journals and to give them ideas of things they could write about, I made them bookmarks with writing prompts. These writing prompts will also work in a happiness journal. Sometimes when you are filling in the blanks, it helps you take stock of things you're grateful for. Here are my bookmarks. You can either print them out to insert in your journal, or simply write down these ideas.

Make a copy of this bookmark and keep it in your journal.

Copy these one-word writing prompts into a journal.

Gratitude journals can be the key to getting through a difficult time~

Last night I was fortunate to go see a former high school classmate at a local entertainment venue. (I know--how fun was that!) He shared a song he had written with the Eagles' Don Henley. They had both broken up with girlfriends and were feeling pretty low. Times were also difficult in our country. They wrote a song together, and this gentleman told the crowd, "Our country is going through difficult times again. Sometimes it helps to focus on the good and to create something--get your mind off the hard times." I found it interesting that I'm not the only one who turns to writing, creating and refocusing on the good during such times. So if you're going through a difficult time, all the more reason to start a gratitude journal. Try it for thirty days--the whole month of November, and see what a change it can bring in your life.

Happy Thanksgiving season to all! And please feel free to share my blog with others.