Why Gratitude Journaling can make you happier and how to start

The Gift of Gratitude

Gratitude is one of the sweetest shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on around us, there is always so much to be grateful for. If we live in gratitude every day, there is a calmness and peace to our lives that nothing else can bring.

Gratitude attracts more positive experiences, people and gifts into our lives. It will bring a joy to your life which is truly priceless.

Gratitude Journaling

I started a Gratitude Journal when my little girl who is six was just a few months old, and honestly  I am not sure whether I would have coped in that first year as a new Mum without doing it. I was completely out of my depth, felt so exhausted and overwhelmed with having a baby, but taking that time out every day to write down five things I was grateful for made me realise how blessed I was. Some days, I could barely write or think what I was grateful for and yet other days, the writing flowed and I would feel emotional at the blessing of this beautiful baby.

Over the last few years, there have been times where I have struggled to write, especially when I have had to face major life changing decisions without any family support, yet I have always tried to end the day with thoughts of what I was grateful for. It was mainly because of the habit of gratitude that I didn’t sink into depression after splitting from a long term relationship a few years ago. It was one of the hardest times of my life, yet remaining grateful for my children, my home, my friends and my life helped me feel happy with what I had.

When we look at our lives with open eyes, we see how much we already have. It humbles us to realise that we have so much abundance that we can take for granted every day especially living in a world where it seems to be about what is happening next rather than what is happening right now.

Gratitude has helped me slow down, enjoy every day and live in the moment.

How do I start Gratitude Journaling?

The best place to start is with a beautiful blank book, maybe one you can decorate yourself.  Treat yourself to a book you fall in love with, or treat yourself to some beautiful crafts that you can personalise a plain journal with. Here is a picture of my latest one which is a cheap plain book decorated with wrapping paper I loved and a Cath Kidston sticker. Inside I have stamped out a butterfly imprint on each page and used lots of little gorgeous flower stickers to personalise it with.

The first page of my journal is a commitment to myself with my signature.

‘I commit to writing five things I am grateful for in life every morning and every night five things I am grateful for that has happened that day’

If you are new to Gratitude journaling, start with making a list of everything you already have in your life, your health, your partner, your children, your friends, your home, good food, everything you can think of.

Keep going, list as many things as you can. This opens up the gratitude within you and will help you in the days and years to come.

If you have time, every morning try and write five things you are grateful for in your life. I realise how difficult  it can be to find the time to do this and I find I sometimes struggle with this with having my children around. What I have found though, is that as you begin to make it a habit, your family start to accept it as part of your daily ritual, in fact, often my little girl will cuddle up next to me in bed and write in her Gratitude Journal too. When we are running late, we talk about what we are grateful for on our journey to school instead. Even if time doesn’t permit it, we can change our thoughts to grateful ones any time of the day.

Each night before you go to bed, write down five things you are truly grateful for about that day. Some days your book will be filled with amazing things and other days, you might feel you are having to really think about simple things that you are grateful for. The more you do this though, the more you will realise how much you already have in your life which you can give heartfelt gratitude for. When each day is the same as the next, its because people fail to recognise the good things that happen in their lives every day. Writing helps us recognise all the magical amazing things that happen every day.

I generally start my sentence with ‘I am so happy and grateful that……….’, or ‘Thank you, thank you thank you for………….’

‘If you want to find happiness, find Gratitude…….it changes everything’

As you begin to focus on the abundance in your life exactly as it is, your life will start to feel amazing. It unlocks the fullness of life. You simply wont be same person a few months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for everything that exists in your life.  The incredible things is that as you do this…..you set in motion an ancient spiritual law, which is ‘The more you are grateful for, the more will be given to you’

I promise happiness and contentment will gently find you when you start journaling how grateful you are. It takes around 28 days to form a habit. Commit to it and it will become something that feels so natural to do as part of your daily routine.

Sarah ♥