Peek inside my journal
I have a confession….I’m not much of a journal-keeper. It’s hard!! Every January I buy myself a shiny new journal and a special pen, determined to keep up with it, and every year after a couple of weeks my multi-page entries start to taper off, until I’m left with another mostly-empty fancy book to add to the pile. The first 2 weeks of the past 20 Januaries are pret-ty well documented, thank you. (Februaries through Decembers? Not so much.)
Apparently The Journal is the thing. Walk into any Barnes and Noble and the first thing you see is a rack of Journals. There are Journals for Readers, Wine Lover’s Journals, Hiking Journals, Journals for Butterfly People (how they hold a pen I have no idea). But many of the positive psychology studies involve keeping a journal, where 150 people wrote about X and the other 150 people wrote about Y and the results show who was happier/more resilient/slept better, etc. So, I keep plugging away.
Then a few months back I made a discovery.
Keeping a journal isn’t about recording everything for posterity!
It doesn’t have to be a pretty book with nice penmanship, completely void of crossed-out or misspelled words. It doesn’t even have to be full sentences. Heck, it doesn’t have to be sentences at all! Some people keep a journal of pictures they’ve drawn or a scrapbook of things they find on walks around town. Me? I’ve started tossing things into a box. Little scraps of paper that I jot things down on throughout the day in the form of post-it notes, dry cleaning receipts, and beer coasters. Because let’s face it, sometimes our best thoughts come to us about two-thirds of a pint into a nice nutty brown ale with friends.
I know what you’re thinking. Really, Jody? A box full of paper scraps?
WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT?!
Don’t you want a nice tidy little journal that could one day turn into a fabulous memoir, with Hollywood big wigs vying for the movie rights ala Elizabeth Gilbert or Cheryl Strayed?
Well, no, frankly I don’t care about that.
You see, the purpose of a gratitude journal is to document the good things that have happened to you so YOU can remember them.
Because there will be days when everything isn’t so great. There will be days when your boss yells and the kids fight and the dog gets diarrhea just after you’ve had the carpets cleaned. It’s days like that you are keeping the gratitude journal for.
Because on days like that, it helps to remember that there is so much to be thankful for. So, keep track of the good things. Every day, document in some way 3 good things that happened and the people you are grateful for. Whether you call it a “gratitude journal”, or a “good things book”, or a “box of good stuff I want to remember”, just make sure you have a physical record of some kind of 3 good things every day.
You can download a FREE 30-Day Gratitude Journal right here.
Or, if you’re like me and not much of a journal-keeper, here are some other ways to keep track of those 3 good things every day:
1. Put up a piece of poster board on the wall or keep a piece of paper in your pocket and every day write down 1 word that represents the best part of that day. Challenge yourself to keep it to 1 word.
2. Use your phone. Take pictures of 3 things every day you’re grateful for or happy about. Be sure to print them out so you have a physical record you can put your hands on when you need to.
3. Write a song and record yourself singing it or playing it on your ukelele.
4. Paint, draw, or color 3 good things each day.
5. This woman embroiders 1 thing each day.
6. Use the 1 second every day app.
I’d love to hear how you journal! Share your favorite tips in the comments below.
