7 Powerful Reasons Why You Should Start a Daily Gratitude Journal
This post is all about the reasons why starting a daily gratitude journal can be beneficial to your overall well-being.
Giving gratitude is all about seeing and acknowledging the value of life and what is happening in it- big or small. This gives you not only a sense of contentment, but also feelings of joy and satisfaction of what is happening around you.
Gratitude is not only a state of being, but also a character trait you have the ability to practice and master. The more you practice, the better you become and the more beneficial it can be in your life.
| While positive thoughts and gratefulness may be sitting in your subconscious mind, making them known to your conscious mind is where the real magic happens.
Outwardly expressing thankfulness, showing appreciation or “counting your blessings” can be a simple, effective and FREE tool that can make an incredibly positive impact on not only you, but your spouse, friends, family and even your children.
What is a daily gratitude journal?
Gratitude journals are exactly like how they sound- a journal where you list out people, places and things that you are grateful for.
The things you write in this journal can be as obvious as your sense of sight, or as complex as your neighbor that brought you milk for your dinner recipe yesterday.
Expressing gratitude, in any way, is a type of mind exercise aimed to enhance ones emotions and outlook on life. Much like how physical exercise strengthens our body, giving gratitude strengthens our mind.
There are many different outlines to use when starting a gratitude journal, however, any way you choose to do it will pose significant benefits in your life.
What are signs I need to start a daily gratitude journal?
Unfortunately for many, negative character traits and emotions live in place of gratitude. Disappointment, anger and resentment are all examples of how someone may feel when not practicing gratitude.
Character traits that would benefit from starting a daily gratitude journal include someone with:
- a strong sense of self-importance, entitlement and narcissism
- excessive concern over physical image
- constant need for admiration and approval of others
- envy and jealousy of others
- strong impatience with others
- a tendency to manipulate and use others to their own advantage
Although it may be difficult at first, incorporating gratitude into the lives of someone with these emotions and traits could be a highly transformative experience.
Studies have found that when practicing gratitude, people with negative emotions and characteristics:
- had a decrease in materialism
- gave more money to charity
- had healthier eating habits
- had fewer negative emotions, depression and anxiety
- were more optimistic about possible life outcomes
- had lower cellular inflammation
- were happier and more satisfied in their place of work
- had lower alcohol and drug dependence
Let’s jump in to the 7 reasons why starting a daily gratitude journal can be so influential in your life:
7 Reasons to Start a Daily Gratitude Journal
1. Shifts the Negative to the Positive
Gratitude journaling helps you focus on the positive aspects of life instead of the negative. Overriding the brain’s negative tendencies to focus on the good FIRST is a concept called Positive Neuroplacticity.
Every time you express gratitude, dopamine, the body’s “feel good” hormone, is released. This gives you not only the feeling of joy but also the sensation of reward.
It also trains your mind to notice and appreciate the positive more-so over the negative, which will naturally reduces feelings of envy and resentment.
2. Improves Anxiety & Depression
Many scientific studies have found that gratitude journaling leads to significant improvements in mental health.
By recognizing and appreciating what you have, you can combat negative thought patterns of what you do not have or what is missing in your life. This leads to a healthier, more optimistic mindset.
3. Encourages Resilience Against Future Stress
In life, there will always be someone or something that will bring you down. Whether it’s being layed off from a job or a family member passing away- life will never be great 100% of the time.
Keeping a gratitude journal can help you navigate life’s challenges more effectively. By acknowledging the good even in tough times, you have the ability to build resilience and a stronger capacity to cope with stressful situations.
4. Strengthens Relationships
Regularly acknowledging the things you appreciate about the people in your life enhances your relationships and encourages a feeling of connectedness and empathy towards them.
You become more patient when your children want to read “just one more book” . You become kinder and more supportive when someone at work needs your help. You become more empathetic when you hear a neighbor has just lost a family member.
With gratitude journaling, your whole outlook changes on the small annoyances or inconveniences that happen in your relationships.
5. Improves Sleep Quality
Gratitude has been linked to many physical health benefits- the most influential being improved sleep quality.
At night, instead of your brain racing through all of the negative parts of your day- how much credit card debt you have to pay off or that stupid comment you made to your boss- gratitude journaling helps your brain to jump to reflecting on the positive.
This not only helps you fall asleep faster, but also helps you sleep soundly and wake up feeling more refreshed and energized.
6. Boosts Self-Esteem
When you regularly acknowledge your accomplishments and the physical and mental positives of your personality, health status, emotions, spirituality, etc, it helps decrease the tendency for negative self-talk and comparing yourself to others.
This strengthens your thoughts on your own value and gives you a sense of greater self-appreciation and self- love.
7. Enhances Mindfulness
Gratitude journaling brings your attention to the present moment, encouraging you to pause all of life’s stressors and acknowledge your thankfulness in what is happening right now. This awareness can lead to deeper levels of peace and satisfaction in your day-to-day life.
A heightened sense of the “here and now” subconsciously reduces worry of what is to come and what has happened in the past.
This creates a feeling of tranquility, calmness and acceptance in life.
How to Start a Daily Gratitude Journal
The health benefits to daily gratitude journaling FAR outweigh the time and money investment.
Here are the 5 easy steps to starting and continuing a daily gratitude journal:
- Choose a journal
- Set aside time
- Start with journal prompts
- Find the writing schedule that works for you
- Check in with yourself regularly
- Express gratitude/recite journal entries throughout your day
Incorporating a daily gratitude journal into your routine is a small daily practice that can lead to profound changes in your life perspective and overall psychological well-being.
As you navigate your way through this gratitude journey, remember- positive outcomes always come to positive people.
