September is here, whether you have kids or not, September is the month where, were stepping into a new season, we want to put things in order, a lot like January, after the fun of Christmas and our so-called Summer we want some structure. Going back to school personally reminds me of fond memories of buying new stationery and notebooks.
One book I recommend all my clients to buy, is a gratitude journal and whilst you’re at it, buy yourself a new pen too; a pen you look forward to writing with every day. Because that’s what gratitude journaling is, it’s a daily practice of reflecting and writing down specific things maybe, 3 or 5 you were truly grateful for that day.
The book should feel special (perhaps buy a leather covered one, one that you wouldn’t want to throw away) and because you’re writing in it by hand with an ink pen, the words you write will mean so much more as you can’t delete the sentence as you could if typing them on your laptop.
So why even bother having a Gratitude Journal? Well, it’s all about getting into the right frequency. You attract what you feel, not want you want and by getting into the feeling of gratitude you are indirectly drawing in more things to be grateful for.
Keeping a gratitude journal encourages a positive mindset. By regularly acknowledging the things you were grateful for, you are training your brain to look for the good in every situation which in turn reduces stress, because even if a negative situation has occurred, if you are training your brain daily to look for the ‘gratitude’, it will look for the silver lining in that situation.
Three rules would be:
- Be specific, write what you were grateful for and why, feel it, then write it down, so that more good feeling things can be drawn back to you.
- Be grateful for certain people and how they made you feel, but don’t forget to be grateful for yourself too; every time you’ve shown up for yourself, by eating better, going to the gym, or doing something towards your goals or not sabotaging your progress appreciate that about yourself.
- Establish a regular time to write in your gratitude journal. It could be in the morning, before bed whichever suits your schedule and preference. Remember it takes 21 to 40 days to create a habit, this isn’t a once-a-month task but a daily practice. But perhaps once a month, read back to some entries and see and appreciate just how far you’ve come…
Nisha x