Let's admit it, the first few chapters of 2020 has had a "BIG" plot twist, which none of us could have anticipated.
Even if you might have seen what was happening in China. I'm sure many of us thought that COVID will only stay in China as much as other flu's have. If you've read up on the Spanish Flu you would know. If you've read on ebola you would know that it only stayed in Northern Africa. None of us anticipated that the CORONAVIRUS would have infected up to a million people (at the time I was writing this post).
Nonetheless, it has definitely made me more mindful of life and what I am thankful for.
My country has now gone into a Lockdown, like many other countries, with the aim to flatten the curve and create our own human vaccine essentially, but I won't go into much detail on that, as it's not the purpose of this post.
So like I said, with the lockdown, I've had much time to reflect and most of the reflecting came to journaling the things I am thankful for.
So I thought I'd share with you how I started my gratitude journal and how I intend on keeping it.
I'll share with you some useful tips, which I will be using and inevitably I want to help you to start your own gratitude journal and KEEP IT!
SO HERE IT GOES:
1. START
Whether you want to find positive quotes, find it in scripture, there is no right or wrong method here, find what works best for you. The most important thing here is that you start!
Starting can be overwhelming for you and you might take time and overthink it (I know I do a lot of that) but, don’t let procrastination be the mother of all your….. (I’ll let you finish that one).
Next thing is for you to start small, don’t overwhelm yourself by making yourself commit to writing 30 things you’re grateful for each day. Just start by writing down one thing each day. As time goes on you will notice that you become thankful for more things, write them down! Because your mindset is changing and you’re starting to see the positive things in life.
2. REFLECT
Reflecting can be taken lightly as a word, but it’s really important to completely shut down from the world and spend some time to reflect.
Reflect on how well you’ve spent your week, reflect on the wise decisions you’ve made or even the bad. Reflect on how your health is, have you been eating well, or is there something you could change. Whatever reflection you need to do. JUST DO IT!
Then we come to the next part of reflecting!!! Changing your mindset. I’m pretty sure when I said "reflect", some of you were fearful because of all the negative reflection you have of yourself. Now, this can either be a self-inflicted or negative reflection about yourself perpetrated by others, either way, a Gratitude Journal is meant to break the cycle and eradicate negative thoughts. I’m sure you’re never thankful for negative things happening so, come on, change that mindset.
3. BE MINDFUL
Thinking of things to be thankful for can be very difficult when we’ve been stuck in negative thinking for so long. This is where your gratitude journal comes in. setting aside time every day to write down at least one thing that you are thankful for, not only makes you reflect but also makes you focus on the positive things you are thankful for, ultimately making you become mindful.
Your gratitude journal can also make you mindful of the things we tend to overlook in our everyday life and also help you attract the things you want and if you’re unfamiliar with the law of attraction, I encourage you to read about it for a happier and more fulfilling life.
Do yourself another favour, quit being on autopilot and rather, focus on being mindful of things to be thankful for, in life, you will thank yourself one day.
4. STAY CONSISTENT
Now, this is the hard part… staying consistent.
The key here is to stop making excuses! Trust me, taking 5 minutes of your day to journal what you are thankful for will not do you any harm.
Besides, you owe it to yourself.
I hope these tips on how to start a gratitude journal have helped you come up with a plan to get started.
Remember, you don’t have to be extravagant. 5 minutes is really all you need.
Let me know if you use any of these tips to start a gratitude journal!
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