How To Create a Gratitude Journal

A gratitude journal is a way to consciously call attention to the things for which we are thankful each day. By focusing on gratitude, we become aware of those things and thus create a shift in our thinking to the positive. The following suggestions can help start a gratitude journal and a whole new outlook on life.

Instructions:

Step1
Choose a blank notebook or journal to write in every night. Consider a spiral-bound journal that opens flat for ease in writing. Select lined or unlined paper. Keep this notebook next to the bed or other quiet, comfortable place with a pen readily available.

Step2
Look for things during the day for which you are grateful. Make mental notes throughout the day. Notice how the gratitude journal shifts the focus to a more positive outlook.

Step3
Write five things you're grateful for each night before bedtime. Review the day and include anything, however small or great, that was a source of gratitude that day, It doesn't have to be anything big. e.g., a baby's smile, a flower in bloom, or the smell of a newly cut lawn. Make the list personal. Write a few words about the five benefits or blessings. Be brief and increase the length as time progresses.

Step4
Begin looking everyday for the positive angle in all things. View obstacles as opportunities to appreciate. You will even begin to appreciate things that you once may have taken for granted, like your car starting every morning.

Step5
Focus on the wonderful things in life to attract similar encounters in the course of the day. Use positive energy as a magnet to draw even more positive energy. Note these attractions in the gratitude journal.

Step6
Personalize the gratitude journal. You can format it anyway you want. One page per day or, several days per page. You can choose to date the entries or not. Expand it with clippings, photos, quotes or verses from magazines or other sources. Make it yours.

Here are two of my favorite Gratitude Journals